Baby Artistes 2

Leslie Cheung, Stephen Chow, Tony Leung Chu-Wai, Andy Lau

Decided to do the second page for the baby artistes pictures - just click here or the image above (can you guess who is who?) to head on over! Oh, and the names are of course, listed below, in English. Or English romanization if the artistes don't have 'English' names.

Kelly Chen, Victor Chen, Barbie “Big S” Hsu and Dee “Little S” Hsu, Esther Kwan, Rosamund Kwan, Amy Kwok, Kenix Kwok, Lo Ta-Yu, Karen Mok, Maggie Siu, Charmaine Sheh, Joyce Tang, Leehom Wang, Nicholas Wu, Anne Heung, Jolin Tsai and the last pic (the banner above) Leslie Cheung, Stephen Chow, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Andy Lau.

Oh and thanks to the webmaster (that's just a link to her e-mail) for compiling these photos, of course.

Baby Pics of Artistes

Left to Right; Top to Bottom: Maggie Siu, Kenny Kwan, Gillian Chung, Emil Chau.

Cute Alert! Head over to this link here to have a look at what these artists looked like when they were kids. It's funny, some of them haven't even changed that much. But here's the list of names for the artists pictured (a mixture of movie actors, singers, TVB actors and more). Enjoy! 

Boys:
1st row: Chow Yun Fat, Hacken Lee, Shawn Yue, The Hui brothers

2nd row: Dicky Cheung, Aaron Kwok, Benny Chan, Bowie Lam

3rd row: Adam Cheng, Raymond Lam, Danny Chan, Edwin Siu

4th row: Leon Lai, Andy Hui, Eason Chan, Leslie Cheung

5th row: Alex Fong Lik-Sun, Anthony Wong Yiu-Ming, Edison Chen, Emil Chow

6th row: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Edmond So, Patrick Tang, Alex Fong Chung-Sun

7th row: Roman Tam, Bobby Au Yeung, Sunny Chan, Gallen Lo

8th row: Remus Choy, Roy Chow, Gregory Lee & Augustine Lee

9th row: Stephen Chow, Cheung Tat Ming, Jay Chou, Joe Nieh

10th row: Tony Leung, Vic Chou, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung

11th row: Leo Ku, Julian Cheung, Jordan Chan, Jackie Chan

12th row: Ekin Cheng, Nicholas Tse, Daniel Wu, Wyman Wong

13th row: Kenny Kwan, Steven Ma, Ron Ng, Louis Koo

14th row: Louis Yuen, Steven Cheung, Victor Chen, Eric Suen
Girls:

1st row: Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung, Gigi Fu, Michelle Yip

2nd row: Gigi Leung, Bobo Chan, Kelly Chen, Claire Yiu

3rd row: Maggie Siu, Bernice Liu, Joyce Tang, Maggie Cheung Ho-Yee

4th row: Emily Lo, Ada Choi, Sally Yeh, Maria Luisa Leitão,

5th row: Nicola Cheung, Florence Kwok, Alice Lau, Mango Wong

6th row: Athena Chu, Charmaine Sheh, Marianne Chan, Tiffany Lee

7th row: Barbie Hsu & Dee Hsu, Vicki Zhao, Sandy Lam, Stephanie Sun

8th row: Christine Ng, Kenix Kwok, Charlie Yeung, one of the Twins (it was noted that the webmaster didn’t even know if this photo was of Charlene Choi or Gillian Chung – I’m leaning more towards Gillian)

9th row: Faye Wong, Elaine Ho, Annie Man, Louisa So

10th row: Amanda Lee, Fiona Sit, Kary Ng, Nancy Sit

11th row: Amy Kwok, Linda Chung, Miki Yeung, Myolie Wu

12th row: Cass Phang, Carina Lau, Gloria Yip, Vivian Chow

13th row: Jessica Hsuan, Shirley Yeung, Esther Kwan, Yumiko Cheng

14th row: Sofie Rahman, Winnie Yeung, Rosamund Kwan, Theresa Fu

15th row: Sandra Ng, Sammi Cheng, Sonija Kwok, Felicia Wong

16th row: Carol Cheng, Leila Tong, Mandy Chiang, Zhang Zi Yi

17th row: Gigi Lai, Jade Kwan, Priscilla Chan, Michelle Reis

18th row: Joey Yung, Miriam Yeung, Anne Heung, Denise Ho

19th row: Emme Wong, Yvonne Lau,Teresa Mak, Samantha Lam

20th row: Anita Mui, Jolin Tsai, Mandy Cho, Michelle Yeoh

21st row: Winnie Shum, Yoyo Chen, Yvonne Yung, Yoyo Mung 

Thanks to cherrie from this forum for providing the English names. Of course I did a bit of formatting and filled in the names of some of the artists that cherrie didn't remember. And credit goes to the webmaster (you can contact her if you want) who compiled all of the photos. 

The Rise and Fall of Cantopop

While surfing around on the Internet I’ve read some remarks about Cantopop that would make the typical Cantopop fan fume. But I think you could do without the angry insult mode like some netizens in certain forums do when someone is pro or anti-Cantopop. Honestly, I could probably argue for and against Cantopop within this forum thread, given the lack of actual evidence for their views (though I agree that few do back up their statements thoroughly). But I won’t. Scathing comments about pop music in general have always been made but it’s still a lucrative business. And whatever works, sells. And for music everywhere around the world, I believe it’s got more to do with the talent behind the music. Yes, the singers, the musicians, the producers, the arrangers, the composers and the lyricists. When you’ve got a lack of talent, of course your music is going to suck. Still, image sells. If you don’t have talent, well, at least you have the looks. And as shallow as it may sound, you know it’s true. When you’ve got a picture of someone that you’ve never met before and never heard of (or from), how are you supposed to know that you like them? You’re going to judge a book by its cover, even though nobody told you to.

Gone too soon: Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Danny Chan

And that’s what I think caused the downfall of Cantopop in the first place. Image. When everyone became so obsessed about the way an artist looked (I mean, in terms of natural physical beauty of course, not in terms of fashion) and buying albums, it shouted to the music companies that physical beauty was more important than beautiful melodies and compositions. Or even a singer with the ability to belt and tell stories with such emotion that captivated the audience. Gone. Perhaps, people’s standards were too high. The fact that the Cantopop scene was dominated with superstars like Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui and Danny Chan during the golden era of Cantopop probably set the mold for other budding performers and somehow we gained an expectation that we could easily find others just like them: good-looking, charming and talented. But unfortunately, Hong Kong lost some of its most beloved stars to death with the Cantopop music industry suffering dearly too. You’ll notice I never shorten Cantopop to C-Pop because I like to make a clear distinction between C-Pop, which stands for Chinese Pop music (which could encompass everything from Mandarin songs or Mandopop to other Chinese dialects) and Cantopop, which is distinct to the Cantonese dialect. And I think it is this distinction that amplified how much the world of Cantopop wanted to fill a deep void in its soul.  

However, even to this day Hong Kong has not been able to find a singer with the looks that could sing, dance and act. And well, I mean. Some TV actors may have converted themselves to singing but they could never be a great singer or a great performer. At best, they may be good, but I have yet to see a perfectionist all-rounder. And I find it rare these days to hear compositions with melodies so strong that could hold out on their own or lyrics that have been wonderfully crafted.  

One of Cantopop’s greatest lyricists, James Wong had actually realized this decline in the quality of Cantopop and even wrote a thesis about it. But I suppose he was writing as someone with a lot of musical sense (I mean, he could write lyrics – I mean, really write lyrics) in an academically acceptable manner. I’m just writing about it as an observer, well, listener, actually, and therefore I can write about it from my perspective and talk about it from a typical point of view.

90's Cantopop Era : Leo Ku, Eason Chan, Miriam Yeung and Sammi Cheng

The trouble like I said, was a lack of talent or an influx of it. Forget about the looks for a moment. First off, can they sing? Singers in the golden era could bust out a tune easily while doing a dance number. Okay, now, looks. Maybe some so-called “singers” have this department sorted out, but they’re really not so different from a model who’s given a chance to sing. Someone in a forum actually pointed out that some current singers struggle to stay in tune while singing and it’s more than a couple of notes – it’s the whole song. I’m not talking about those singers that debuted in the 90’s, like Leo Ku, Eason Chan, Miriam Yeung and Sammi Cheng. They all had excellent role models in music to learn from. And the singers of today should have followed suit. They should have taken after the singers of the 90’s. It’s almost like a tier for each type of artist, with 70’s/80’s being at the top followed by 90’s artists and finally artists of the millennium. Actually, it’s more like a pyramid. Few standout artists at the top tier, followed by good artists and then finally, a shipload of, well, I don’t want to say untalented (because I do believe that some of those artists do have talent but in other areas that don’t have to do with singing), just artists.

Even with talent, I doubt G.E.M could save the whole of the Cantopop industry.  The rivers run much deeper than that. 

There are exceptions, of course. In my opinion, G.E.M. certainly has the vocal chops to go out there and sing. Oh, and she can play piano and compose too. But still, in comparison with artists in the 80’s who did everything from acting, dancing and singing, general all-round performers, artists these days can never really measure up. Are our expectations too high? Perhaps. But once you’re exposed to things of such high standard and caliber, do you go back to less sophisticated things? And we, of course, expect things to get better or at least not to get worse as time goes by. Unfortunately, I cannot say past standards are being maintained in the world of Cantopop. Now I’m not writing this to put any artists down since I’m not sadistic like that, but rather, because I want to see a change; an improvement in the industry.

I  can't believe they actually call this their new logo. 

The thing is, the artists of the 90’s are getting old and on the road to retirement. They may show up every now and again but it’s still unlikely appearances because of the tension between the Big 4 record companies in Hong Kong and TVB. And this is where the television station, the record companies, the artists, the audience and the music industry of Hong Kong loses out. But like many of the forum-goers, I don’t believe that a few artist appearances can save shows like Jade Solid Gold (JSG) which has been suffering. And it’s not because of the disagreements between the record companies and TVB or royalties. It’s because there’s nothing exciting about JSG anymore. I mean, I only watch it because they’re doing that whole celebrating the last 30 years of classic hits and I wanna know what the charts were like then and hear a few old songs. And I suspect that’s one of the reasons why JSG ratings have not fallen down completely to 0. In fact, they may have done that in a desperate bid to save that programme. The sad thing is, that’s the only part of JSG that I look forward to. The rest is just introducing some no-name singers to sing some forgettable love songs. Yes, just what I want to see. And no, I’m not against newcomers. In fact, I welcome them with open arms because I want to believe that there is someone that can bring Cantopop back to the way it was.

Not just a pretty face: Priscilla Chan & Vivian Lai

The singers of the 80’s can’t come back. And that’s mainly because some of them have left the industry for good, either through retirement or death. It’s unfortunate that singers who were more than just a pretty face, like Vivian Lai and Priscilla Chan left the industry so abruptly. Vivian announced her retirement as a singer to get married, just as she was cracking into the market and Priscilla went on a hiatus to study psychology at Syracuse University. By the time Priscilla came back, she had lost her grounding, although she had recorded and released a few albums during summer vacations and such. And of course, there were those singers who met their untimely deaths, like Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung. People could try and emulate their style and image but that would not fit well with the public. Did I mention that composers of the 80’s are getting old too? And there are not many songs these days that can prove that there are actual songwriters behind them. Although a lot of tracks in the past were originally foreign compositions, the lyrics were written to fit hand-in-hand with them to create good pop songs. Yes, people asked for faster tracks. But the simple copy-and-paste lyrics method over foreign compositions does not work. And to think, people are actually passing themselves off as lyricists.

Some of the best people in the music industry (singers, musicians, composers and such) have been discovered through the magic of competition. And even though Hong Kong has shows like The Voice, singing competitions like The New Talent Singing Awards, have all been taken over by contestants from Mainland China. And this has encouraged even more singers from Mainland China to steal the show and prompt even those from places where Cantonese is the main dialect to switch over to songs in Mandarin. How about following singers like Teresa Teng? She recorded songs in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian and Japanese. A lot of singers dared to be multi-lingual back then. The thing is, I don’t have any problem with Mandopop singers. In fact, a lot of excellent songs have come from Mandopop. I’m just saying that perhaps it would be important to keep Cantopop alive first rather than venturing straight into Mandopop.  

Note: Oh it looks like Krazy Kranky Ken wrote about the rise and fall of Cantopop about 4 years ago. And it seems that things really haven't improved since then.
Image credits: asianstarbiz.com, bonnielai58.mysinablog.com, celebritygalleryphotos.blogspot.com, chinese.altocelebs.com, dianying.com, facebook.com, hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jamesgor2001, musicasia.net, newprophecy.net, spcnet.tv, xes.cx