The Star Online

Sally Yeh's long, illustrious career

By MICHAEL CHEANG
Sally Yeh is one Queen of Pop who maintains a low profile in the Hong Kong music scene. MICHAEL CHEANG charts her singing-cum-acting career that spans over two decades.

BORN in Taipei on Sept 30, 1961, Sally Yeh was a wee four-year-old when her family emigrated to Victoria, Canada, where she received her education before returning to Taiwan at the age of 18.

It was in 1979 that she was allegedly discovered by a talent scout while buying fried chicken (of all things) and asked to appear in a movie. Subsequently, she began to sing the theme songs for her movies, which eventually led to her releasing her first Mandarin album, The Sculptures of Spring, in 1980.

What was most remarkable about Yeh’s singing career was the fact that she could not read Chinese, having grown up in Canada. Therefore, while recording her albums, producers and lyricists would translate their work into English phonetics on big poster boards. Nevertheless, that did not stop her from becoming one of the biggest stars in the Asian entertainment industry in the 1980s.

After releasing several albums in Taiwan, Yeh moved to Hong Kong in 1984 to further her career. Her eponymous first Cantonese album proved to be a huge hit, and one of the biggest hits from it was Ten Past Midnight, which won best song in the year’s Jade Solid Gold music awards. Little did she know then that she would later marry the man who wrote the song for her – George Lam.

Yeh never looked back since. Throughout her career, she has released 17 Cantonese and 13 Mandarin albums, with the most recent being Inside Out in Mandarin. One of her biggest hits was Walking Past Gracefully, which would become the anthem for 1991. It was released during what was acknowledged as her golden years in the early 1990s, when she became the only Hong Kong female singer to win the most popular female singer award for four consecutive years from 1990. Her latest award was last year, when she won most popular Mandarin song for Have You Heard.

Her ties with Western music went beyond the many cover versions of English songs she did throughout her career (including Janet Jackson’s Love Won’t Do Without You and Black Cat), as she was also one of the first Asian singers to collaborate with Western singers such as Tommy Page in Dreaming of You (1992) and James Ingram in I Believe in Love (1993).

Besides singing, Yeh has also starred in 17 movies, mostly either comedies, action flicks or romantic ones. She made her silver screen debut in Marianna, in 1982, but the highlight of her film career would only come in 1986 when she earned a nomination for best actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for her role in Peking Opera Blues.

Yeh also worked with acclaimed director John Woo on The Killer, in which she was hit by a bullet shrapnel while filming one of the gun-fight scenes. Yeh ended her acting career to concentrate on her singing in 1991 with Sisters of the World Unite and a cameo playing herself in the comedy, The Banquet.

Her happiest moment came when she married Lam on July 17, 1996, in Victoria, after a much publicised love affair. The couple now jets between their two homes in Hong Kong and San Francisco, while maintaining a low profile and showing up for concerts occasionally.

Filmography

1982 – Marianna, Crimson Street

1983 – Seven Black Heroines, Just for Fun

1984 – Teppanyaki, The Occupant, Shanghai Blues

1985 – Cupid One, Welcome, Seven Foxes

1986 – Aces Go Places IV, Peking Opera Blues

1988 – I Love Maria, The Diary of a Big Man

1989 – The Killer

1991 – Sisters of the World Unite, The Banquet

Discography (Cantonese)

1984 – Sally Yeh

1985 – My Love Goodnight

1986 – Cha Cha Cha

1987 – Sweet Honeyed Words, Blessings

1989 – Face to Face

1990 – Cherish, Autumn Comes and Goes

1991 – Care

1992 – Red Dust

1993 – Another Day with You

1994 – A Woman’s Weakness

1995 – Simple Black and White

1996 – True

1997 – Apology

1998 – Trust in My Heart

2002 – You Hear

Discography (Mandarin)

1980 – The Sculptures of Spring

1981 – Love Poem

1982 – The Starting Point of Love, Promise Me

1983 – Even a Good Farewell Will Still Be Missed

1991 – Walking Past Gracefully

1992 – Lead Life True Heartedly

1993 – Moon Heart

1994 – Days with a Lover Are Gone

1995 – Wishes

1996 – Candlelight

1997 – Caring

2003 – Inside Out

The Star Online

Sally Yeh's value as a singer

By LI EE KEE

Sally Yeh: "People still come to me because I can sing and I want to be able to do that at my concerts - sing my heart out."

Sally Yeh celebrates her 25th year in show business with a series of shows in countries such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and China. LI EE KEE met up with the singer-actress who was here to promote her Now’s My Prime 25th Anniversary Concert.

THERE are times when words fail to do justice to an artiste’s talent. When this occurs, it is best left to her feat to speak for itself.

A month before Sally Yeh’s concert at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands, tickets for the 6,000-capacity amphitheatre has been sold out. This is a record that will go down in Genting’s concert history.

Last month, her three-night performances in Hong Kong ended with a resounding success notwithstanding the fact she had not staged one in almost a decade.

And last year, her song Shang Shi (literally translated as Hurtful Death) from the Cantonese album You Hear Sally Yeh (2002), was among the best 10 gold songs at Jade Solid Gold 2003. It was her first album after being away from the limelight for the past four years.

While the significance of these events is not lost on Yeh, she offered this rational: “People do want to hear singers sing well and that is what some of the younger entertainers are lacking.

“People still come to me because I can sing and I want to be able to do that at my concerts – sing my heart out and ensure that they get their money’s worth.”

Yeh was in Genting last Friday on a two-day visit to promote her Now’s My Prime 25th Anniversary Concert as well as meet Malaysian fans. Her last performance here was in Genting in 2001 where she did two shows with her husband, renowned Hong Kong actor-singer George Lam.

On the concert’s theme, Yeh commented that she couldn’t believe how quickly time has flown by.

“I didn’t realise it has been that long,” she said, laughing. “It feels a little sad because of the big figure but at the same time it is good because of the experience. Whether they (the experiences) were happy or sad, they were worth going through. I wouldn’t want to change a thing.”

With no ticket sales to worry about, the youthful looking 42-year-old revealed she will concentrate on giving a fine performance.

Although there will be slight adjustments made to her concert here, Yeh foresees it will be a long (her Hong Kong concerts exceeded three hours) and fun show. “Audiences can expect a musical performance of singing and dancing.”

While Lisa Wang was her special guest at the Hong Kong leg, Anthony Wong Yew Ming will be sharing the stage with her here.

Yeh revealed that she was delighted when Wong, who produced her Mandarin album Inside Out (2003), agreed to be her guest. She quipped it must be difficult for him, being a star, to be just a guest in her show, but reckoned that half the people who bought the tickets are probably his fans.

Malaysia is her second stop after which she will head to China, America (“to visit the kids”) and Australia where she and her husband will be staging a few shows.

So where is Lam? Yeh cheekily replied: “We have been married too long for him to be following me around,” adding on a serious note that he is busy filming and managing several projects.

On her making a comeback, the talented singer said she missed singing and her fans. “Furthermore, as an artiste if you don’t work, you will become bored and feel a sense of loss.”

No thoughts of retiring then? “Probably not. Even if I do retire from the entertainment scene, I would still be doing something that is meaningful.”

During her hiatus, she has been spending time getting to know her husband.

“I was actually afraid of marriage but I knew if I didn’t get married then I would probably not marry at all. We worked at making our marriage a success and it took about three years to achieve that.”

According to her buying furniture is the best way to understand one’s spouse. “We bought a house in America and we took three years to decorate it. When we were shopping for furnishings, we realised how different we were. Despite our differences we were still compatible.”

Now that she is performing again, Yeh is not sidelining her wifely and motherly duties. Work and family remain equally important. When it is family time, all work is cancelled. But when it is time for work, there is no stopping her.

To organise her Hong Kong concert, she worked relentlessly for three months. Yeh admitted she was lucky to have people willing to go the distance with her.

“After much rest, you learn to appreciate the hectic schedule and lifestyle. When you are young, life should be hectic. I feel that I am at the prime of my life. Being busy and not having time on my hands is something I enjoy.”

On preparations for her concerts, Yeh said that she set high standards and put a lot of pressure on herself.

“Pressure is good. I tend to get lazy when there is no pressure. But the pressure is only on myself and not on others.”

Some might feel Yeh has quite a challenge ahead of her as she competes with newer and younger performers.

The gorgeous beauty disagreed. “I’m not competing. Everything is based on credibility. When you are on stage, the audience do not look at your age but your performance. I have the experience to handle the stage while some of the younger singers may be lacking in that.”

As for her future plans, Yeh said she has something up her sleeve but will not reveal much except that it does not involve the entertainment industry.

However, she was a little more forthcoming with her beauty secret. “I think it is because I feel happy and lucky that people are good to me. And the happiness just radiates from within. I don’t know what I have done to deserve it,” Yeh concluded.

Sally Yeh’s Now’s My Prime 25th Anniversary Concert is organised by Genting – City of Entertainment and will be staged at Arena of Stars, on April 24 at 8pm.