Johnny Yip

Johnny Yip
葉振棠
Born (1944-02-07) 7 February 1944
Portuguese Macau

Johnny Yip Chun-tong (Chinese: 葉振棠, born 7 February 1944), nicknamed "Tong Gor" (Chinese: 棠哥), is a Hong Kong singer who gained fame for singing songs for many Hong Kong TV dramas in the 1980s.

Background

Early experience

Yip Chun-tong was born in Macau, grandparents are Vietnamese overseas Chinese.[1] At the age of ten, he had a high fever due to scarlet fever, which damaged the nerve cells in his eyes and caused his vision to deteriorate.[2] He attended the Chinese school Macau St. John's College Primary and Secondary School (Primary 1 to Secondary 1; now closed) , and from Secondary 2 to Secondary 6 he switched to an English school Pooi To Middle School.[3][4]

After graduating from secondary school at the age of 18, Yip Chun-ting went to Hong Kong and wanted to find an office job. However, Hong Kong did not recognize his Macau academic qualifications. With the introduction of an Indonesian Chinese friend in Macau, he had no choice but to work as a part-time night bassist in the Tsim Sha Tsui bar "KK Club" and also worked in a bar in Wan Chai. At that time, there was a band craze and European and Western English pop songs were popular. In the mid-1970s, Yip was invited by Chung Ting-yat to form "The New Topnotes" with Chan Kit-ling and others. He served as the bass guitarist and lead vocalist of the band for 4 years. He has released five English albums through EMI Records and was twice selected for the Top Ten Singers Golden Camel Award jointly organized by Overseas Chinese Evening News and National Paint Factory.[5][6]Later, the band's craze was replaced by the disco style brought about by the movie "Saturday Night Fever". In addition, Yip Chun-tong was not used to the life of performing in Europe, so he decided to leave the band and return to Hong Kong for development, and "New Trio" was disbanded. Yip then sang as the lead vocalist at Furama Hotel, and then formed a band called "Ma Cheng Tong" with former Ming band drummer Wu Mali and independent keyboardist Huang Zhengguang. They sang popular Cantonese songs, but the development was not as good as expected, and they broke up soon after.[2][7] During the same period, he worked in Singapore for half year.

Entering the industry and becoming famous

In 1980, Yip Chun-tong was hired by Michael Lai Siu-tin, the then music director of Rediffusion Television, for his sad and vicissitudes of life voice. He recorded his first two TV drama songs, "Gone With the Wind" and "Drama Life", and made his mark. With the help of Lai Siu-tin, Yip Chun-tong signed an exclusive TV drama singing contract with Rediffusion Television, in which he was neither a singer nor an artist. Yip Chun-tong was assigned to sing five more theme songs for the original TV dramas produced by Rediffusion Television, a total of six theme songs. All six theme songs were composed by Lai Siu-tin, with lyrics written by the then Rediffusion Publicity Director Lo Kwok-jim, and arranged by Filipino arranger Eugenio "Nonoy" Ocampo. These six TV series and their theme songs include: "Gone With the Wind", "The Heroes of the Palace", "Tai Chi Master", "Hong Kong Gentlemen (I)", "The Ranger Zhang Sanfeng" and "The Legendary Fok" ("Theme song of the same name"). In addition, Yip Chun-tong also sang some of the interludes of these TV series, including "Drama Life" from "Gone With the Wind" and "No Excuse" from "Hong Kong Gentlemen (I)", and released several personal albums through EMI Records.[2]Since the record company only wanted Yip to focus on his singing career, Ye resigned from his position as a resident singer at the Furama Hotel, where he had worked for two years.

In 1982, Yip Chun-tong left Rediffusion Television and signed a singing contract with TVB, as TVB had many variety shows promoting songs, such as "Enjoy Yourself Tonight", "Jade Solid Gold", and "K-100".[8]

After joining TVB, Yip Chun-tong often collaborated with the station's then music director Joseph Koo, singing TV drama songs composed by Koo: "The Troupe Boy" (Chinese: 戲班小子), "It's Hard to Determine the Boundary Between Good and Evil" (Chinese: 難為正邪定分界, duet with Mak Chi-shing), "Forget All the Love in My Heart" (Chinese: 忘尽心中情), "I Wish to Live Alone All My Life" (Chinese: 我願一生孤獨過), "When I'm Gone" (Chinese: 當我人去後), "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" (Chinese: 笑傲江湖, duet with Frances Yip), etc.; among them, "Forget All the Love in My Heart" became his first famous song.

「我喜歡葉振棠的聲音，比較中國化，唱我創作的旋律都很配。因為他懂得彈低音結他，而且在樂隊中工作過，對我的音樂要求掌握得很快，因此演繹得特別好。」[9]

顧嘉煇的評價

In addition to TV series songs, Yip Chun-tong also tried to explore new routes. The albums "Waiting Again" (再等待, 1982) and "This Leaf is for You" (這片葉給你, 1983) both used non-film and television songs as the theme. In 1983, "Yip Chun-tong Love Songs" did not include any film and television songs[10]。"Flute Girl", "Wait Again" and "Moon God" have topped the Chinese Songs Dragon and Tiger Chart (weekly) chart. The song "Flute Girl" (笛子姑娘) was released in 1981. It was written by Lam Chun-keung. It tells an ordinary love story and secretly expresses his longing for his deceased sister Lam Ngan-nei.[11] Among them, "Moon God" uses electronic arrangement, and its lyrics are full of "cinematic feeling". Commentators pointed out that the song should be influenced by the New Age Music composer Kitaro.[12]

In 1982, Yip Chun-tong represented TVB in Tokyo, Japan, to participate in the 11th Tokyo Music Festival, with "Waiting Again" as his entry song,[13] finally won the "Asia Special Award".[2]

References

  1. ^ 杜淑霞 (2015-03-02). "那些年—葉振棠難忘七十載情". 頭條日報. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14.
  2. ^ a b c d "【獨家專訪】葉振棠．誰是我的眼". 明周. 2017-09-02. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14.
  3. ^ "葉振棠與澳門學生分享人生經驗". 濠江日報. 2018-09-14. Archived from the original on 2021-05-22.
  4. ^ "對抗命運 但我永不怕捱 葉振棠". 壹周刊. 2011-07-28.
  5. ^ "十大歌星銀星揭曉 皇牌陣容權威無敵". 華僑日報. 1977-09-12.
  6. ^ 1977 香港年鑑. 華僑日報.
  7. ^ "盲俠走天涯". 東周刊第90期. 1994-07-13.
  8. ^ "華語音樂顛峰對話（二） 70不老的"大俠葉振棠". chinesemusicawards. 2014-03-10. Archived from the original on 2021-05-22.
  9. ^ 亞洲電視 (2012). 《香港百人》上冊. 中華書局(香港)出版有限公司. p. 196.
  10. ^ 黃夏柏 (2017). 漫遊八十年代：聽廣東歌的好日子. 香港: 非凡出版. p. 55. ISBN 9789888463138.
  11. ^ Yuebashi; 月巴氏 (July 2019). Lin Zhenqiang. Xianggang. ISBN 978-988-8573-05-9. OCLC 1117274763. Archived from the original on 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-02-09.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Muzikland (2018). 香港流行音樂專輯101．第一部. 香港: 非凡出版. p. 22. ISBN 9789888513710.
  13. ^ 羅 (1982-03-24). "東京音樂節本週末舉行 葉振棠昨赴角逐 以廣東歌參賽". 香港工商日報. No. 19479.
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