In Hong Kong in the late Seventies, singer-songwriter-actor Sam Hui revolutionized the bland local music scene by taking colloquial Cantonese lyrics and fused them with his love for the music of the Beatles, the Animals and the Kinks.The end product was dubbed Canto-Rock and Sam Hui became the pioneer of this musical movement, one that finally gave Hong Kong a voice and sound of its own.
With hits from movies starring Hui and his two brothers Michael and Ricky such as Games Gamblers Play, Private Eyes and the series of Aces Go Places films, Sam Hui became the Voice of mainstream Hong Kong.
Following a few reclusive years looking after Number One, Hui made a comeback about two years ago and brought his two sons, Ryan and Scott, each educated in LA, for company, and both of whom joined their father onstage for his concerts. In many ways, they were his safety valve.
Over a year ago, the elder son, Ryan, decided to make a go of by launching his own singing career by releasing an EP featuring him singing in Cantonese and English.
With his parents deciding that he and his younger brother Scott had to learn to sink or swim for himself and without trading on the Hui name and with only his gremlin younger manager to guide him, the older Hui has done everything to make a name for himself by appearing at every possible local ‘live’ gig, doing radio interviews and making numerous television appearances.
Despite all of this, Ryan Hui remains somewhat of an enigma- a bit of an oddity whose LA-Rock-influenced music sung in Cantonese being difficult for local radio to programme- and for consumers to understand.
Make way now for Scott Hui.
With a background in film and creative arts, the youngest Hui is making himself heard with a track titled Proud To Be Chinese- or, in short, P2bC.
Written by Hans Ebert, Executive Director of EMI Music South East Asia and who wrote some of Sam Hui’s best-known English hit recordings, the track has the youngest Hui rapping about everything and everyone Chinese- the late martial arts legend Bruce Li, basketball star Yao Ming, film directors and actors such as John Woo, Wong -kar-wai, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung to dim sum, kung fu and the fact that he’s proud to be who he is. To paraphrase the late great Godfather of Soul, Scott Hui re-affirms how he’s Chinese - and proud of it.
With his career at a crossroads, Scott got talking to EMI’s Ebert who explains, "I’ve known Scott since he was a kid and knew that he was creative, but was looking at ways to harness this creativity. I had the idea for a multi-media-driven concept build around the theme of Proud To Be Chinese and with a music track to launch this concept. The question was, so who should sing the song?
"After speaking and getting to know Scott all over again, I thought, ‘Yeah, why not him? The kid’s proud to be Chinese though he can’t sing in Cantonese or Mandarin, his English diction is perfect and he was game to try recording it despite having no knowledge of music theory. Most importantly, Scott has a larger-than-life personality. It’s very infectious, he’s a different kinda artist for this very image-conscious music industry and one whom I believe will connect with today’s consumers."
With the backing tracks done in Singapore by The Sonic Room and the vocals recorded in Hong Kong at Schtung Studios, the sessions became a creative match of give-and-take.
"Everyone from Hans to the guys in the studio gave me the chance to make or break it," adds Scott. "We did the Raps in a few takes and the recording session was fun- and I hope that this comes through. Pride is a serious matter, but I feel we tempered this pride with some humour. Life’s too short to be taken seriously- no matter what one’s nationality is."
With upcoming support from MTV plus interest in Scott Hui from a range of advertisers regarding endorsement deals and interest in the track being used as mobile content and as part of synch deals, P2bC, scheduled for release in March, looks like being a sleeper of a hit that has come out of nowhere- and with it, a new artist.
Adds Ebert, "The track is timely and the concept has universal appeal. After all, depending on who we are, we can be proud to be French, Italian, Australian- whatever. And with the upcoming Olympics coming up, what better theme?"
With Ebert planning Remixes of the tracks, with a Mandarin version of the song sung by the mysterious Mahjong, writing new material for him, working on future collaborations with some International artists and Scott to perform the song ‘live’ when his father starts off his next round of concerts, Scott Hui’s talking about his generation in his own style and just might replicate the success his father had with the rule-bending Canto-Rock.
If not, he’s given it a darn good try.
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About EMI Music:
EMI is the world‘s largest independent music company, operating directly in 50 countries. Its EMI Music division represents more than 1,000 artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Blue Note, Capitol, EMI Records, EMI Classics, Mute, Virgin and Parlophone.
