He was the national singing champion in Hong Kong 1984 with the song Fatherland, ousting more than ten thousand other contestants. He was signed by the then Polygram Records, now Universal Music Group. Although encouraged by a bright start, he was not yet able to achieve immediate supremacy in Cantopop, then dominated by 譚詠麟, 梅艷芳, Leslie Cheung and 陳百強. Cheung suffered a nosedive in his career in 1988 after a best-selling first two albums. That year he did not have a single song awarded in the annual TVB JSG. His subsequent sales record dipped and one of his albums in the late 1980s managed just around ten thousand in sales. The reason for the fall in his CD sales was partially attributed to his alcohol problem - he could get drunk 5 times a week. After disrupting his friend's birthday party while being drunk, Cheung vowed in public that he would not consume alcohol again till he was 40. He kept that promise.
His recording career subsequently returned to its track. Then, in 1991, with the song 每天愛你多一些 (Loving You More Everyday), his career took a massive upturn. The album, 真情流露True Love Expression in 1992, as well as the succeeding release, 愛火花Love Sparks in 1992, became the two most successful albums in Hong Kong history, achieving audited sales of over 400,000 copies in Hong Kong alone and turned Cheung into a superstar, paving the way for himself and his contemporaries, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok, to take Cantopop to even greater heights. Subsequent albums continue to be a hit like 我與你True Love Expression 1993, 餓狼傳說 Wolf Tale 1994 etc. Since then his career has grown from strength to strength, and Cheung has managed to garner thousands of fans overseas as well as numerous music awards both in Hong Kong and elsewhere, including the best-selling Chinese singer in the Worlds Music Awards. Cheung has also been elected one of the world's Ten Outstanding Young Persons.
Among his most famous songs are Amour, 只想一生跟你走 (Only Thinking of Going Through Life With You) and the everlasting 吻别 (Goodbye Kiss) which confirms his status as one, and many consider the pre-eminent member, of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop. Goodbye Kiss, a Mandarin number, was also one of the best-selling albums of all time, achieving more sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia such as not attained before, with an astounding 5 million copies sold in 1993 alone, a record that has remained yet unbroken. Goodbye Kiss was also instrumental in helping Cheung to break into the mando-pop market, and it also prompted other Hong Kong singers who wanted to gain a wider market to follow suit, even though, to this very day, very few indeed have been able to approach Cheung's level of success.
His work on the ground-breaking cantonese musical, Snow, Wolf, Lake musical (1997), was also enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics. Cheung not only played the male lead, but was also the artistic director for this production. The female lead was played by Sandy Lam and they achieved 43 full-house performances at the gigantic Hong Kong Coliseum. In November 2004, Jacky and his concert manager, Florence Chan Suk-Fan, worked on a revised Mandarin version of Snow, Wolf, Lake so as to bring it to a wider audience. The estimated budget for this revised production was HK$100 million and the show premiered on 24 December 2004 in Beijing. The production subsequently toured China and other Asian destinations to huge acclaim.
Cheung won, for the umpteenth time, the Best Selling Cantonese Album Award in the Hong Kong IFPI Awards of 2005 with his live album, Jacky Live Performance. In the fast-changing scene of canto-pop, Cheung is able to maintain his popularity and sales power for more than 20 years after his debut, which is unparalleled in the history of Hong Kong pop music.
Cheung acted in many films, although singing has always been his priority. His versatility and acting skills have enabled him to play a lot of diverse parts. He received the Best Supporting Actor Golden Horse Award for his work in Swordsman (1990). He also received the Best Actor Award at the New Dehli Film Festival for his portrayal of the protagonist in July Rhapsody. His song Perhaps Love, which serves as the theme song for the multi-award-winning film Perhaps Love, also won the Best Song Award at the 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards.
He is married to May Lo with two daughters.
Cheung was named spokesperson for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2004. As the theme park's spokesperson, Cheung took part in a number of large-scale marketing events organized by The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, beginning by hosting a TV program, Magical World of Disneyland. [1] He also recorded a song for Hong Kong Disneyland, a multi-lingual song entitled One. The music video for One was filmed at Hong Kong Disneyland.
甜夢
張學友 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
每一深夜 云向我每个甜梦飘涌
I can dream about you
惺忪的眼睛中有你
I can dream about you
深情里翻起过去
I can dream about you
漆黑的冷空中有你
留在脑海不可过去
脑的波动 每晚眼里渐朦胧
暖的黑夜 心底里每一刻
只想你到我侧相拥
oh oh oh oh
I can dream about you
心底的记忆中有你
I can dream about you
只想捉到每一过去
I can dream about you
月亮是风中翻飞的追忆的种子
I can dream about you
无论是那个深夜
心中都想起
脑波转动 每晚我眼睛朦胧
每一深夜 云向我每个甜梦飘涌
脑际飘飘闪过
留在我心中的当天(当天即那一深夜)
你的浅笑
常往我懊悔心底里充满
常在我心中
I can dream about you
惺忪的眼睛中有你
I can dream about you
深情里翻起过去
I can dream about you
漆黑的冷空中有你
在我心内有你
留在脑海不可过去
I can dream about you
The song 甜夢 by 張學友 begins with describing the singer's state of mind, where his brain waves keep turning and his vision slowly starts to fade as he drifts off to sleep. Every passing night, clouds seem to hover over him and travel towards each of his sweet dreams. The singer then goes on to sing that no matter how bleary-eyed he may be, his mind still holds on to memories of his loved one. It is in these memories that he keeps rediscovering his tender and affectionate feelings towards her. The singer then states that the moon is a symbolic manifestation of this recurring memory, constantly reminding him of his own bittersweet memories every passing night. In the end, he sings about his constant desire to have his loved one next to him, to embrace and to be embraced.
Line by Line Meaning
脑波转动 每晚我眼渐朦胧
As my brain waves shift, my eyes slowly become heavy every night
每一深夜 云向我每个甜梦飘涌
Every deep night, clouds drift towards me in every sweet dream
I can dream about you
I can dream of being with you
惺忪的眼睛中有你
You are in my tired eyes
深情里翻起过去
Every deep feeling stirs up memories of the past
漆黑的冷空中有你
You are in the dark, cold air
在我心内有你
You are in my heart
留在脑海不可过去
You remain in my mind and cannot be forgotten
暖的黑夜 心底里每一刻
Every moment of the warm night is in my heart
只想你到我侧相拥
I only want you to embrace me by my side
oh oh oh oh
This line just signifies a vocalization without any specific meaning
心底的记忆中有你
You are in the deep memories in my heart
只想捉到每一过去
I just want to grasp every moment of the past
月亮是风中翻飞的追忆的种子
The moon is a seed of memories flying with the wind
无论是那个深夜 心中都想起
No matter which deep night, I think of you in my heart
脑际飘飘闪过 留在我心中的当天(当天即那一深夜) 你的浅笑
The flicker between my thoughts of your shallow smile remains in my heart of that day (i.e., that deep night)
常往我懊悔心底里充满 常在我心中
My regretful heart is always filled with thoughts of you, always in my heart
留在脑海不可过去
You remain in my mind and cannot be forgotten
I can dream about you
I can dream of being with you
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Chi Kin Li
永遠懷念陳百強!