It has been 17 years since Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing passed away, tragically killing himself after suffering from depression. Although he was only 46 when he died, Cheung lived an incredible life – he was a Canto-pop icon, an award-winning actor recognised around the world and an
pioneer.
On the anniversary of his passing, April 1, it is fitting to pay tribute to this incredible Hongkonger. Whether you’re a diehard fan who knows every word to every song or someone who only recognises him from Wong Kar-wai’s Days of Being Wild, here are some facts you may not have known about “Gor Gor”.
He initially had no interest in show business
Cheung grew up in a large family, the youngest of 10 children. His father, Cheung Wut-hoi, was a tailor in Central of some renown, who had made suits for the likes of Marlon Brando, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock. As a result, at university Cheung studied textile management. Cheung admitted all this in an interview with RTHK, saying, “Fate played a very important role. If you look at all the courses I was studying, they had nothing to do with show business. If I really had an interest in show business, I would have studied music when I was overseas, but that was not the case. In the end, there was no way of escaping my destiny to be in show business.”
His local idols were Cantonese opera actors
Cheung had many “overseas idols” that he confessed to admiring. The likes of Jane Fonda, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand were among those he name-checked in his youth. Movies more than music were where he found his idols.
Closer to home, the performers he liked best were Cantonese opera actors, specifically Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin, since his nanny frequently took him to watch operas when he was growing up.
He began his musical career singing American Pie
In 1977, Cheung took the first steps of his professional career by entering the Asian Amateur Singing Contest held by Rediffusion Television (the future ATV). At the time he had been performing with a folk band called Onyx – “which stands for a unique and brilliant black stone” – and so he went with the familiar Don McLean song American Pie, even though he was aware that the typically seven to eight minute song would have to be truncated for television. Famously, Cheung did not win and had to be content with second place.
He was initially a flop as a singer