Leslie Cheung

Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing ({{zh-ts|t=張國榮|s=张国荣}}; Cantonese {{IPA2|ts??55 kw?k33 w??11}}, Jyutping: zoeng1 kwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wades-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung)

Retirement and Come-back

He left the music business in 1990 and immigrated to British Columbia, Canada at the peak of his career after he had finally reached superstar status in Hong Kong. He was the first person ever in Cantopop history to have a retirement concert series, which ran for 33 consecutive nights (as he was 33 at the time) at Hong Kong Coliseum, although he continued to act. In 1992, he gained Canadian citizenship and soon returned to Hong Kong and his film career after the long hiatus. After much deliberation, in 1995 he finally recorded his first post-"retirement" album, "Beloved", which was released by Rock Records, signalling a tenative return to the music industry (as it only had songs from movie soundtracks). A number of Cantopop celebrities were against his return and many fans overseas felt betrayed that he had reneged on his retirement vow: they had wholeheartedly spent a great deal of money to witness his farewell concert back in 1989. His 1997 album "Red", however, was the true "point of no return", after which he released a few more successful albums and held two more series of concerts.

Related Topics:
1990 - British Columbia - Canada - Hong Kong Coliseum - 1992 - Beloved - Rock Records - Cantopop - 1989 - 1997

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Some of his later films didn't appeal to the general Chinese entertainment world as they are unconventional, as well as uncharacteristically daring, in terms of flamboyance. Films like Temptress Moon are also severely criticised by film enthusiasts and it was even disapproved of at the Cannes Film Festival, despite his powerful performance.

Related Topics:
Chinese entertainment - Temptress Moon - Cannes Film Festival

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