The two stars of the concert are both from Hong Kong—one was Alan Tam, or Tan Yonglin, who has been known as the Pop King for almost twenty years, and the other was Hacken Lee, or Li Keqin, who is one of the most popular singers in Hong Kong at the moment. Last year, the two singers, one old, the other young, held their first "Alan Tam and Hacken Lee Concert" in Hong Kong. The concerts were big successes and sold out 28 performances, so it was no big surprise that Beijing's fans wanted to hear more of this interesting duo.

That was Neighborhood from Alan Tam and Hacken Lee.

Alan Tam is a legendary figure on the Chinese pop scene and as early as twenty years ago, he had already established his star status among male singers in Hong Kong. Over the following years, many famous singers appeared and disappeared, but Alan has continued to become a permanent fixture of Hong Kong's pop scene.
Alan's father was once a footballer in the national team and took part in the Olympic Games in 1936. But his father didn't teach him anything about soccer. Maybe Alan felt he should try to be more successful than his father, and years later, Alan proved himself with his musical talent. But when Alan first started performing, his father was very unhappy. He sang with several bands during a time when English songs dominated the pop scene in Hong Kong. Have a listen to two of his English songs.

Before becoming a professional singer, Alan did a good job as a salesman. Every day he would work from eight in the morning till seven in the evening. From eight in the evening to two in the morning, he would perform in the nightclub in Wan Chai, while from three to six in the morning he would have another performance in Tsim Sha Tsui, which means he could only have had one and a half hours sleep a night! Nowadays Alan looks back with disbelief at those days, but he thinks all the hard work paid off as he had gained experience, made a lot of friends and became more mature.

When people ask Alan if he feels the pressure after being on the pop scene for so long, he always says "no". He says however successful someone is, it is never certain that success will continue and everyone needs to prepare psychologically. He says if someone can't deal with failure, they should never try to do anything. Since the end of the 1980s, he has decided not to receive any awards or prizes any more. He began to try some innovations in his concerts, for example, combining old and young singers.

This song, named Red Sun, is Hacken Lee's most famous song. Released in 1992, the song has been echoing in the ears of pop fans for more than a decade, but Hacken Lee's fame didn't last as long as the Red Sun. Let's finish this song first.

The release of the album Red Sun marked the peak of Hacken Lee's singing career. Some music critics honored him as the successor to Pop King Alan Tam. Maybe such praises were too much pressure for him, and over the following years he found life very difficult. He says he never forgets how much half-full venues damaged his confidence. As his career slowed, he turned to other media and started to act in TV dramas, hosted a music and sports programs, as well as a beauty pageant, hoping that he could be successful again!

Hacken Lee is really lucky, because during his most difficult time, his idol Alan Tam gave him a hand and told him never to give up. The encouragement from the Pop King helped Hacken regain his confidence. He turned again to music and in 2002 and 2003, his songs ‘Tall Girl' and ‘I Can't Sing' both won the Most Welcomed Male Singer Award in Hong Kong and marked his comeback to pop success.

The idea to hold the concert involving two singers came to Alan Tam after a joke with friend, who said that Alan Tam and Hacken Lee are such close friends that they should sing together. The success of the 28 Alan Tam and Hacken Lee Concerts at the beginning of 2003 created a new brand for the pop scene in Hong Kong. The success wasn't only a result of the excellent performances of the two singers, but also because of the real emotional bond between them. Some say they are like brothers, some say they are like father and son, and some say they are like master and apprentice. The most distinctive feature of the concert is that the two singers are on stage together for almost 90% of the whole performance. Both singers can easily sing the other's songs. Hacken Lee thinks that there hasn't been a concert of such strong emotions for a long time in Hong Kong. It is easy to understand that if the two singers don't have common feelings and attitudes toward life and music, it would be impossible for them to work on such a concert, not to mention having such success!

That was Always Miss You, co-performed by Alan Tam and Hacken Lee.
I'll leave today with another two songs with their cooperation. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments and suggestions, please don't hesitate to write to us at English Service, China Radio International, Beijing, China. The post code is 100040. Our email address is chinabeat@crifm.com. And you can also logon our website at www.crienglish.com to have an online listen to our program. I'm your host, Shen Ting. See you next time.