The Making of the Asian
Queen of Pop
Born
in Taipei, Taiwan on 30th September 1961, Sally lived there till she was 4 years
of age before her whole family moved to Victoria, Canada. There, she received
her education till the age of 18 before heading back to Taiwan. Often going
back to Taiwan for holidays, one day whilst buying fried chicken 
at a fast food store during her stay, Sally was approached by a movie agent
with an offer to play a role in a movie. With an ambition to become a singer
since young, the offer seems to be a good starting point for entering into the
entertainment industry. Subsequently, she was then asked to sing the theme songs
and soundtracks of the movies she's starring in and that paved her way into
the music scene. Little does she know that she'll become the Queen of Pop in
ASIA one day, reigning the title through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s.
In the movie scene, Sally mainly acted
in comedy/action/romance roles. Her movie credits include "Shanghai Blues",
"Peking Opera Blues", "I Love Maria", "The Killer",
"Cupid One" and many others. Her role in "Peking Opera Blues"
had earned her a nomination for Best Actress in 1986 where else "The Killer"
has attained international recognition for its directorship by John Woo. All
these achievements did not come without a price. Sally had to go through weeks
of tough wu-shu training to cope with the fighting scene demands in "Peking
Opera Blues" while suffering from back injuries with all those bashing
and thrashing around in "I Love Maria". She was also injured by a
bullet shrapnel during one of the 
gunfire scenes in "The Killer". With "Sisters of the World Unite"
sighted as her last movie in 1991, Sally has since departed from the movie scene
to concentrate on her singing career.
Her singing career started in Taiwan in 1981 where she was attached to First
Av Production Company, singing mainly mandarin folk songs such as "Yi Gen
Huo Chai", "Ai De Chu Fa Dian", "Chang Fa Gu Niang"
and "Da Ying Wo". She also sang some
popular English songs such as "The Dolphin Song", "Reality"
and the infamous chinese folk song written by Sun Yi, "The Olive Tree".
Unfortunately,First Av wasn't a company that exactly knows how to improve the
prospects of budding stars nor does it know how to expand its artists' popularity.
Sally's talent was still buried and self-contained within Taiwan.
In order to further her career prospects,
Sally moved to Hong Kong and was attached with Warners. Her first cantonese
album produced was a huge success with Lam's first written piece of music for
her, "10 past Midnight" 
,
scoring huge popularity with the Asian community. Amongst the songs included
in that album, was a cover version of the popular english song sung by Donna
Summer, "She Works Hard for the Money" and Sally's first english duet
"Never Gonna Let You Go" with Lam. Her subsequent albums continue
to include many other chinese-translated english cover songs ranging those from
Janet/Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston to older groups such as ABBA and The
Carpenters. With much vested interest put in by Warner to promote Sally's music
and top lyricist such as Zhong Ting Yi and Chen Shao Nan writing her songs,
she soon improved and developed her style of singing which is loved by so many.
Being brought up with western education,
Sally is well versed in English. However, she is illiterate in terms of reading
Chinese though she did know how to speak both mandarin and minimal amount of
cantonese. She had to learn everything from scratch using "sound alike"
english words to aid in her singing. Till this day, she still has difficulty
reading chinese. Surprisingly, her unconventional aid has allow her to achieve
successful depiction of the tones of words while her over flowing emotions transmits
through her resonant voice like wonder. Matching this with her friendly, bubbly
outlook and beauty, it's no surprise that her popularity soared across the Chinese
community, earning several awards, multiple sellout concerts and gold platinums
under her belt for songs
such as "Zhu Fu", "Xiao Sa Zou Yi Hui", "Qing Ren Zhi
Zi" and many more. Her other popular hits
include "Tian Yan Mi Yu", "Yuan Si Ye Wei Qing", "Wan
Feng", "Nuo Yan" and "Liu Jing Sui Yue"
Sally is also one of the earliest Asian
singer to have collaborated with singers of the western world such as Tommy
Page and James Ingram in duets production, namely "Dreaming of You"
and "I Believe in Love" in 1992 and 1993 respectively. These songs
are well-received by the public and became highly popular as a result, paving
a way for future developments of other artists in the music industry who wish
to do the same.
Currently blissfully married to loving
hubby, George Lam, since 17 July 1996 in Victoria, Canada, both Sally and Lam
has been alternating their lodging between Hong Kong and their residence in
San Francisco, America throughout the year. Sally has entered into a semi-retirement
stage since the mid-1990s, taking things rather slowly and easily. She is currently
concentrating on her health development, becoming heavily involved in golf 
,
badminton and gym sessions. She still holds joint concerts with Lam from time
to time across America, Malaysia and Australia.
Sally is non-arguably the most dedicated
artist I've known, together with Lam. To her fans, she is always showering her
love, care and concern over them. She even interacts personally and constantly
with us fans in the message board and have chat
sessions 
held!
I mean which artist(s) do you know that does this sort of communication on a
constant basis?!
Though some claim that she might have
already entered into full retirement, Sally maintains that she will continue
singing till the day no one wants to listen to her no more. Well Sally, I'm
sure there are many die hard fans out there that will constantly want to listen
to your songs and watch your performances. We are all in anticipation to your
next album and appearance. We will support you always!
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