Hacken Lee

Hacken Lee (李克勤 born December 6, 1967), is a Hong Kong Cantonese male singer.

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December 6 - 1967

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Lee won the 1985 Hong Kong 19 Hong Kong District Singing Contest with the song "Love In The Fog" (霧之戀), Alan Tam's megahit, and launched himself to moderate stardom within the industry, signing for Polygram. Despite a staggeringly sensational voice, at first, he was a relative unknown and the sales of his first EP album "李克勤 (EP)" did not even cross the 5,000 mark in sales. In 1988, he acted in a TVB television series "Teenage No More" (不再少年時). This ignited his popularity and his career steadily took off.

Related Topics:
1985 - Hong Kong - Alan Tam - 1988 - TVB

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In 1992, he reached one of the highest points of his career. His song "The Red Sun" (紅日) is still widely recognised to this day as the prime "feel-good" song in Hong Kong society (he wrote the lyrics himself). In fact, this song appeared right at the moment when the golden age of Cantopop was blooming and his music was well-received. His maiden concert in 1993 held at the HK Coliseum was also very successful with tickets sold out.

Related Topics:
1992 - Cantopop

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His fortunes turned for the worst after 1995 though after various contract disputes with his record company and a concert with a very low turnout. For a short while with no recording contract and he was reduced to demeaning presenting for TVB, such as the music programme "Jade Solid Gold", Miss Hong Kong and numerous sports events, notably soccer. At the same time, he also filmed dramas for TVB from time to time. Although his music career can be said to be in the doldrums then, he made a name for himself as a host and actor.

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He signed for Universal Music (環球唱片, his current record company) in 1999 and released successive hits, including "Flying flower" (飛花), "Feet of Fortune" (前後腳)-2001, "I Don't Know How to Sing" (我不會唱歌)-2003 and "The Grasp of Love" (愛不釋手)-2002, among other supreme pop songs, all catalytic to his current deserved super-stardom.

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To be precise, the turning point of his career came in 2001, after a joint collaboration with the Hongkong Philharmonic Orchestra. Tickets to the concert sold remarkably fast and the concert, together with the subsequent sales of its recordings were a runaway success. Thereafter, his 2002 solo concert was also a success, an impressive achievement considering that the overall music scene was at an all time low. The TVB drama, Legal Entanglement, which he co-starred in, also achieved high ratings and was amongst the most-watched dramas for that year. He won a Most Favourite Character award for this role subsequently. He was also appointed the host of the 2002 World Cup and sang the themesong, which dominated the airwaves for quite some time. The TVB Jade Solid Gold Award for Most Popular Male Singer can be said to be the icing on the cake for his high-flying career that year and helped him to scale greater heights in his career. He has since won the award twice in succession (2002 and 2003).

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In 2003, he cooperated with Alan Tam in a series of successful concerts in world tour including multiple shows in Hong Kong and Las Vegas. The concerts are named "Neighbors" (「左麟右李」) which is a play of word with a well known Chinese four character idiom 「左鄰右里」 using homonyms 麟 and 李 in the artists' names. The concert became known for the "happy culture" which it inspired, especially in a period of economic downturn and pessimism on society as a whole.

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He also partnered with Joey Yung for the first time in 2004, of which the combination is better known by a four-character idiom "Urgency cannot afford delay" (克不容緩) which is a play of word with 克 and 容 in the artists' names.

Related Topics:
Joey Yung - Four-character idiom

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Other hits (among hundreds) from an artist who best performs slow pop ballads include:

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• "The Half-Moon Serenade" (月半小夜曲)-1986 (re-released in 1989)
• "The Exhibition Hall" (大會堂演奏廳)-1988
• "Unchangeable In My Lifetime" (一生不變)-1989
• "Deep Deep Deep" (???)-1989
• "A Thousand and One Evenings" (一千零一夜)-1990
• "I Just Want Your Consent" (只想您會意)-1992
• "Regress" (回首)-1993
• "I Love No Other" (一生不愛別人)-1993
• "Hope" (希望)-1994
• "Lone Flyer" (一個人飛)-1996
• "By My Side" (在我身邊)-1997
• "The Football Chronicles" (球迷奇遇記)-1998
• "Tall Girl" (??)-2002
• "Position Of Goodbye Kiss" (?????)-2004
• "Flying Trapeze" (????)-2004
 
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