Sammi Cheng

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Sammi Cheng

Chinese name 鄭秀文 (Traditional)
Chinese name 郑秀文 (Simplified)
Pinyin zhèng xìu wén (Mandarin)
Jyutping zeng6 sau3 man4 (Cantonese)
Birth name Cheng Sau Man
Ancestry Chaozhou, Guangdong
Origin Hong Kong
Born August 19, 1972 (1972-08-19) (age 35)
Hong Kong
Other name(s) Mi
Occupation Singer, Actress
Genre(s) Cantopop
Instrument(s) Singing
Label(s) Capital Artist (1988-1995)
Warner Music (1995-2005)
East Asia Records (Amusic)
Years active 1990s, 2005-present

Sammi Cheng Sau-Man is a Hong Kong actress and Cantopop singer. Having enjoyed much success in the Hong Kong music industry, Sammi has been known as a diva.[1]

Contents

[edit] Name

Sammi Cheng was previously named Twinnie Cheng.[2] Contrary to popular belief, "Twinnie" is not her birth name. The name came about when Sammi was still schooling and her English Language teacher wanted everyone in class to have an English name. When Sammi turned to her sister for help, her sister came up with the name "Twinnie". The name was later changed to "Sammi" as "Sammi" sounds a little like "Sau Man".


[edit] Beginning

Sammi Cheng Sau Man entered the entertainment industry through a high profile, annual TV singing contest, New Talent Singing Awards in 1988, when she was only 16.[3][4] Although she came in third in the competition, the sponsoring record company, "Capital Artist", saw potential in Sammi and offered her a recording contract. Sammi was still in school at that time, and had to balance her studies with her rising singing career. Before finishing school, Sammi had managed to release 3 full-length studio albums: Sammi, Holiday and Never Too Late.[5] The sales of each of these albums surpassed the previous. Holiday, which was released in 1992, surprised many by managing to stay on the Top 10 Albums of the Week Sales Chart for a record-setting 10 weeks (despite merely lurking around in the bottom half of the chart). The gross sales of these albums were considered successful for a new artist, but didn't launch Sammi onto the playing field of A-list artists.

[edit] Reinvention

Audio samples of Sammi Cheng

In 1993, Sammi realized that in order to rise from a top B-list artist to an A-list artist, she had to create a unique image for herself. At the time, another rising female artist, Faye Wong was a rising star in the music industry. Capitalizing on the attention she had been getting from her duet with the A-list artist Andy Hui, "其實你心裡有沒有我" (Do you really have me in your heart?), Sammi went through a complete 180-degree transformation. She dyed her hair orange, and changed her life.[5] Sammi then came out with her 4th studio album, "鄭秀文的快樂迷宮" (Sammi's Happy Maze), which included the hit single, "Chotto 等等" (Chotto Matte).[5] Her new image fitted well with the new single, which was a remake of a very upbeat Japanese song by Maki Ohguro. The success helped Sammi and boosted her singing career making her almost an A-lister.[5]

In 1994, Sammi continued to capitalize on her wild, new image. Her first album of that year was "大報復" (Big Revenge). The album included the mega hit "叮噹" (Ding Dong), which became one of Sammi's all-time signature songs. But with her new fame also came a lot of backlash from the media. Critics pointed out that Sammi purposely westernized her Cantonese: instead of saying "Ding Dong", Sammi pronounced it as "Deen Dong".[5] Despite the criticism, the song was one of most popular dance songs of that year. Throughout the rest of 1994, Sammi continued to release hit single after hit single, such as: Ten Commandments, Not Your Typical Love, Passion Island, Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo, Amnesia and Bitter Love. The racy and controversial cut of Ten Commandments (which includes tiny bits of what can be recognized as a porn soundtrack) was banned from the radio a few days after its initial airplay.[5]

[edit] Rise to Superstardom - Warner Music era

In the beginning of 1995, Sammi did not renew her contract with Capital Artists.[5] The record company reacted by putting her on the sidelines, using marketing resources previously dedicated to promoting her to promote the labels' other artists. Sammi disappeared from the public eye for nearly half a year.[5] Later in that year, it was revealed that Warner Music had signed Sammi as their recording artist. Sammi wanted a fresh start. She let her hair color return to black and temporarily abandoned the wild image she used to have.[5]

Her first album with Warner Music, "Can't Give You Up - 捨不得你" was extremely well received by the public. That album released 3 hit singles, "Gentlemen, you are so fine today - 男仕今天你很好", "Can't Give You Up - 捨不得你", and "The Mourning Song for Love - 愛的輓歌". In that same year, Panasonic also signed Sammi as their spokesperson for their latest CD walkman, using "Can't Give You Up - 捨不得你" as the theme song for their CD Player's TV Spot. It turned out to be a huge success for both Panasonic and Sammi. The song gained tremenous airplay and its popularity boosted Sammi straight back into the spotlight.[citation needed] The album and the singles swept most of the big awards in that year's annual music award shows. "Can't Give You Up" won the honour of Best Single of the Year at almost all of the year-ending music awards show in 1995. With "Can't You Give Up", Sammi became a household name in Hong Kong.

In 1996, Warner Music decided it was time for Sammi to expand her market and fan base beyond Hong Kong. They released her first Mandarin album, "Worth It - 值得". The album remains one of the best selling albums for a new artist in the Taiwanese market. The song "Worth It - 值得" also gained tremendous amount of airplay in many Mandarin speaking countries.[citation needed] During the summer blockbuster season, Sammi also launched her career on the big screen with the romantic comedy, "Feel 100% - 百分百感覺", with Ekin Cheng and Gigi Leung. This movie was a huge box office success with its great appeal towards the 20-something demograph. In conjunction with her newfound success on the big screen, Warner Music released Sammi's second album, "Can't Let Go - 放不低". The album was a huge success with hit singles, "Beware of Women - 小心女人", "Can't Let Go - 放不低" and "Owe Nothing - 不拖不欠".[citation needed] Panasonic decided to use Sammi's latest hit of that year "Can't Let Go - 放不低" to be the theme song for another TV spot for their latest CD walkman.

With the pop divas such as Sally Yeh and Faye Wong prioritizing their family life over their music career, the HK music industry was eagerly looking for the next pop diva. In the mid-1990s, in order to secure her place among the diva competitions with Cass Pang, Amanda Lee and Vivian Chow, Sammi finished her much successful year with her first concert, titled "Sammi's X-Dimension Concert - 鄭秀文X空間演唱會". The concert was very successful and Sammi created unforgettable styles by doning the Nike swoosh-shaped eyebrow, the Golden Bra and the Big Rose.[citation needed] At the same time of the concert, she released her last album of 1996, "Deep Passion - 濃情" which produced more hit singles such as "X Party - X派對", "Tacit Agreement - 默契", "The Angel of Calcutta, Mother Teresa - 加爾各答的天使-德蘭修女", "Let's Talk About Love (duet with Sally Yeh) - 談情說愛" and "Hesitation - 猶豫". By the time the year-end music award shows come around, Sammi came out as the biggest winner with her very first, "Most Popular Female Artist of the Year", "Top 5 Best Selling Artists of the Year", "Top Selling Female Artist of the Year" and also an accolade of awards for her singles, "Can't Let Go", "Owe Nothing", "Worth It" and "Tacit Agreement".

By the time 1997 rolled around, Sammi's status as a top pop diva in Hong Kong is confirmed.[citation needed] She started out the year with a brand new Mandarin album, "Waiting For You - 為你等". She followed that up a couple of months later with another new Cantonese album, "Our Theme Song - 我們的主題曲". Both of these albums were very successful. Continuing to spawn out hit singles one after another, Sammi made her 4th movie, "Killing Me Tenderly - 愛您愛到殺死您" with Leon Lai. Many singles from "Our Theme Song" can be found in the movie. Shortly after the release of her movie, Warner Music announced Sammi's second concert, titled "Sammi Star Show" and her last Cantonese album of the year, "The Language of Living - 生活語言". Sammi broke the record for being the only artist to host two concerts within a year.[citation needed] The concert was well received and like her first concert, she donned more styles like the black shiny bra, the devil's horns and the leaf bra.[citation needed] Toward the end of the year, Sammi once again dominated the award shows.

[edit] Box Office Miracle

During the slump in the HK film industry of the late 1990s, Sammi Cheng staged a box office revolution by starring in the film 孤男寡女 - Needing You, helmed by acclaimed director Johnny To and co-starring Andy Lau, in 2000. The film, raked in HKD 6.5 million during its 1st 3 days of opening in Hong Kong, and amassed a total of HKD 35 million in Hong Kong alone, rivaling Mission Impossible II which screened during the same period in Hong Kong and triumphing all other Hong Kong films screened for the past few years. In the same year, 夏日的麼麼茶 - Summer Holiday earned HKD 21 million, which was ranked 2nd best-selling local film after Needing You in Hong Kong.

Although Sammi Cheng starred in movies like Feel 100%, which raked in more than HKD 40 million in 1996, the success of Needing You, amidst the gloom and doom of the Hong Kong film industry at the time. Following the success of Needing You, Sammi went on to star in more box office hits like (Summer Holiday, 2000), 鍾無艷 - (Wu Yen, 2001), 瘦身男女 - (Love on a Diet, 2001), 嫁個有錢人 - (Marry a Rich Man, 2002), 我左眼見到鬼 - (My Left Eye Sees Ghost, 2002) and many more, including the latest film, 長恨歌 - (Everlasting Regret, 2005), which earned her a nomination for Best Actress in the critically acclaimed Venice Film Festival.

In 2001 (and Hong Kong) alone, the movies Sammi starred in raked in a total of HKD 85 million, making her the best-selling actress of the year, falling behind Andy Lau with only HKD 3 million. She lost the title in the years after (except in 2004), some say due to her taking on less movies. In terms of box office per movie, she has maintained the accolade among Chinese actresses of having movies hit an average of HKD 22 million in 2003.

As a testament to her new title of Queen of Box Office, movie investors were willing to pay her as much as HKD 5.5 million to star in a movie, which was a 7-fold increase from her taking on as the role of Kinki in 孤男寡女, and placed her among one of the most highly sought-after actresses seen in the Chinese film industry.

There was even a report which stated that Sammi Cheng was the best-selling HK actress with a box-office taking of HK 360 million during the decade between 1997 and 2007.

Following her comeback in 2007, Sammi Cheng is poised to claim her long-lost reigning position in the Hong Kong film industry when she starts filming for her new movies at year-end.

[edit] Return to fame in 2007

After taking a break for about 2 years, Sammi re-invented herself once again, and held her 6th concert in HK from 18 to 25 May 2007 titled "Show Mi" ('Mi' being the nickname of SamMI given by her fans). Due to the huge demand for the tickets,which were all sold out for the four nights in one day, the concert went from four performances to eight. The concert was both commercially and critically successful. According to news sources, many audience members stood up, cheered and danced along with Sammi throughout the entire performance. At the end of the first show, audience members continued to shout 'encore' for 15 minutes until Sammi came back out and sang "Our Theme Song - 我們的主題曲".She has released her Show Mi Concert, and became the first Hong Kong Singer to release a concert in blu-ray, which has much higher video quality and sound quality. Sammi recently rededicated her life to be a born again Christian and has quit smoking in late 2007.

[edit] Show Mi World Tour

With the success of her Show Mi concert in Hong Kong, Sammi made her way to the following countries for her world tour concert:

22 - 23 Jun 2007: Genting Highlands, Malaysia
29 Jun 2007: Toronto, Canada
7 Jul 2007: Las Vegas, US
13 Oct 2007: Singapore
20 Oct 2007: Shanghai, China
23 March 2008: Mohegan Sun (Connecticut, U.S)
28 March 2008: New Zealand
02 May 2008: Melbourne
04 May 2008: Sydney

[edit] Charitable Efforts

Sammi participated in China Snow Storm support effort where many artists including Andy Lau, Alan Tam, Kelly Chen, etc. recorded a song called "Warmth in the Snow" in support of those effected by the snow storm in China.
Since becoming more devoted to her Christian faith, Sammi has been participating actively in the activities of World Vision. She traveled to Laos with singer and actress Gigi Leung, also a World Vision volunteer, to experience for themselves the struggles of the local people and children. They also visited the local children there to find out more on their situation where food and supplies are lacking. When Sammi returned to Hong Kong, Gigi and her were invited to the radiobroadcast program 903 to talk about the experience and she responded she has "adopted" 13 children.
In May 2008, Sammi also recorded a new song, written by Andy Lau, with other artistes including Andy Hui to help raise funds for the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. In addition to making a private donation fo HK$300 000, she will also be visiting parts of Sichuan to provide relief and comfort to the victims.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] TV drama

  • The Monkey Sun Wu Kong 齊天大聖孫悟空(2002) :as (觀音大士)
  • Man's Best Friend 寵物情緣 (1999) : as Susan (歐子珊)
  • Detective Investigation Files II 刑事偵緝檔案 II(1995) : as Ivy
  • Journey Of Love 親恩情未了 (1994) : as 張家慧
  • Return of The Vampire 大頭綠衣鬥疆屍 (1993): as 飄雪/飄紅/Kitty
  • File of Justice I 壹號皇庭 I (1992): as Fong Ga Kay (方家琪)
  • Life Of His Own 浪族闊少爺(1991) : as 施敏

[edit] Discography

Main article: Sammi Cheng discography

[edit] Concerts

Year Title Format
1996 TCBY 鄭秀文X空間演唱會 VCD 鄭秀文X空間演唱會; CD 鄭秀文X空間演唱會'96
1997 Texwood 鄭秀文 Star Show '97演唱會 VCD,DVD 鄭秀文 Star Show '97演唱會; CD Sammi Star Show '97
1999 Chase Sammi I Concert '99 VCD,DVD Sammi I Concert 99; CD Sammi I Concert 99
2000 鄭秀文台中 His ＆ Her 眉飛色舞演唱會 VCD 鄭秀文眉飛色舞2000台北演唱會; CD 眉飛色舞
2001 電訊盈科 Trendy Eye 鄭秀文 Shocking Colours 演唱會2001 VCD,DVD Sammi Shocking Colours Live 2001; CD Sammi Shocking Colours Live 2001
2004 景福 How Collection Sammi VS Sammi 鄭秀文 '04 演唱會 VCD,DVD Sammi VS Sammi; CD 鄭秀文 04 演唱會"
2007 景福Show Mi鄭秀文2007演唱會 VCD,DVD.BLU-RAY 景福 Show Mi 鄭秀文 2007 演唱會; CD Show Mi 鄭秀文 2007 演唱會

[edit] References

  1. ^ Urbanwire. "Urbanwire." Sammi Cheng – You Gotta Show Mi. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  2. ^ HKSS. "HKSS." Sammi Cheng. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  3. ^ International Herald Tribune. "International Herald Tribune." Hong Kong superstar seeks more serious roles by Alexandra A. Seno. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  4. ^ Thefirstcn. "Thefirstcn." 鄭秀文：生命與奧運同行. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Modelcruz. "Modelcruz." Biography of Glamorous Sammi Cheng. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.

[edit] External links


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