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Pittsford native a star — in China
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:50 am    Post subject: Pittsford native a star — in China

Pittsford native a star — in China


Pittsford singer rises to top of film, music in parents' homeland

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

(November 8, 2007) — As a résumé writer, Leehom Wang is a flop.

"He was telling me, 'Oh yeah, I'm in this little movie,'" recalled his friend and former vocal teacher, Jodi Zajkowski, 38, of Fairport.

Yet that movie is hardly an afterthought when it's directed by the same fellow who gave us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. "I said, 'ANG LEE?'," Zajkowski shrieked. "Are you kidding me?"

Wang may be lacking in self-promotional skills, but little else appears to be languishing in this Pittsford native, the son of Chinese immigrants, who has become a huge pop star a half a world away.

In Lust, Caution, an espionage thriller set during the 1942 Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Wang plays a drama student turned would-be assassin. It is finishing up its local run tonight at The Little Theatre as well as Pittsford Plaza Cinema, where, Zajkowski notes, Wang often attended movies as a teenager.

But it is as a pop star that the 31-year-old Wang is internationally recognized. Wang has won four Golden Melody Awards, the Chinese equivalent of the Grammys. He was 22 when he was named Best Producer and Best Male Vocalist in 1999, the youngest performer to ever win those honors.

The prolific Wang has released 10 albums in Mandarin, two in Japanese, been a part of numerous film soundtracks and recorded duets with Tony Bennett, Kenny G and Julio Iglesias Jr. His 2005 release Heroes of Earth sold 1 million copies in its first 10 days, with the supporting tour setting a record for Shanghai Arena, selling out 80,000 seats.

His latest album, Change Me, came out this summer, with themes that include ecology and global warming. His musical curiosity has previously included traveling to remote villages in Tibet, China and Mongolia, loaded down with equipment, in order to record the indigenous music.

For this loaded résumé, Goldsea Asian American Daily recently put Wang on a list of "The 80 Most Inspiring Asian-Americans of All Time." Move over, Mao Zedong and Bruce Lee.

"I really am not surprised," said Harold McAulliffe, 63, of Pittsford, Zajkowski's father and Wang's music teacher at Pittsford-Sutherland High School. "In my 40-plus year career, I would have to say he is the single-most talented student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. He has such a positive personality, such an eagerness to please and a want to get ahead. I don't think a lot of people understand, he is to China and Taiwan what Leonardo DiCaprio is in the U.S.

"But he's very modest about it, even though he is probably the biggest heartthrob over there. He's always faithfully keep us posted in what he was doing. He always remembers where he came from, and very grateful from what he got from a teacher."

"He's still just Leehom," said Zajkowski, adding that his family still lives in Pittsford. (Wang and his parents were unavailable to comment for this story.) "He comes home and just sort of blends into the fabric of the community. I think he likes coming home because no one knows who he is."

Now making his home in China, Wang went from an early career of singing R&B-influenced, romantic Chinese ballads to having created a spectacularly intoxicating — bewildering, almost — hybrid combining pop with Chinese opera and folk, western rock, Tibetan music and Chinese drums, with Wang rapping in Mandarin. It is a new sound in China.

"I never suspected that he would become a hip-hop artist," Zajkowski said. "I always thought he would go into classical."

Wang, well aware he's subjugating a racial epithet in much the same way black hip-hop uses derogative slang, has labeled his most-recent sound "Chinked-out." The title track of Heroes of Earth fuses a sample of Peking Opera and an even older Chinese opera tradition, the 500-year-old kunqu, with Chinese-American rapper Jin and his own rapping in what amounts to a mission statement:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/NEWS01/711080361/1002/NEWS
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:36 pm    Post subject:

Leehom performs another english song "Pianoman"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC5IZKsx4nQ&feature=related
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:49 pm    Post subject:

Leehom playing random (10+)Instruments



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXAglbJUFyE&feature=related


He looks like he's having so much fun - makes me smile Smile
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 3:21 pm    Post subject:

Wang Leehom - mix song..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5d18sgZgoA



Lee Hom - Fang Kai Ni De Xing (Release Your Heart)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyBmKbuXt3c



Leehom - Mile High (Unreleased English Track)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7muwbEdaq8




Lee Hom - Bamboo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asQD0Umk9LY



LeeHom - Hua Tian Cuo (English & Pinyin Subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSNVCPkNl4U



Wang Lee Hom - Beside The Plum Blossoms MV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lZ4iDc1hVw



Lee hom-shangri-la

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae20wC4eIdw



different versions of shing zhong de rui yue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ykGiQJM8xs


I get a kick outta this one -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdLlynb_trk


Last edited by summertime on Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:33 am; edited 2 times in total
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:50 pm    Post subject:

Leehom on CNN part1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxg76BPOMdM&feature=related


Leehom on CNN part2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4GEtsZ3Y8&feature=related


Leehom on CNN part3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mdfgCNoZzw&feature=related


lee hom teaching choir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfCeN5paNP8&feature=related
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:07 pm    Post subject:

Mary Says --- Leehom Wang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHxesfM97ys


Emo Leehom - Performs Wei Yi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILBxhiOWj2g


Wang Lee Hom - Forever Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_sQaiSRYD4
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:11 pm    Post subject:

Leehom (english songs) - singing with the Gospellers - looks like they're having fun -

not quite sure what happened on that last note though . . .


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Lm6eTovso&NR=1



Wang Lee Hom Chinglish Joke! - in English - Xmas Concert @ SF-12/23/2007

video not the best quality, but . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF87oAoLbuk&NR=1


Last edited by summertime on Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:34 pm    Post subject:

Wang Lee Hom - Xing Qi Liu de Shen Ye (Saturday's Midnight)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJJxfQubPCs



Wang Leehom - Come and Get It - unreleased song - the MV is for a different song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfSfLI5HBo0



王力宏 Wang LeeHom - 一首簡單的歌 [A Simple Song] [MV]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTnUtSArJB8&feature=related
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:50 pm    Post subject:

kiss goodbye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dITqnSJ-4HU
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:40 pm    Post subject:

Lee hom performing LoveLoveLove

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCh23n5GiE&NR=1
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summertime



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Posts: 923

PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:18 pm    Post subject:

王力宏--安全感 - An Quan Gan - Sense of Security


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u79vehxidaA&feature=related
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:07 pm    Post subject:

王力宏 - Like_A_Gunshot(《蜘蛛侠》亚洲版主题曲)MTV - English song - Asian Soundtrack for Spiderman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzWOgx-PvN0&feature=related


Wang leehom - ( MV ) China White - English song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcTQ0mq3MAU&feature=related


王力宏-打開愛 - Da Kai Ai - Open Love - Mandarin song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0WiMm9M2u0
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:49 pm    Post subject:

LOL - at work -

王力宏 2008年新專輯正在全力製作啦~


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E-4gOe984
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summertime



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Posts: 923

PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:34 pm    Post subject:

王力宏《摇滚怎么了》MV完整版 - Yao Gun Zen Me Le - What's Wrong With Me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQItnSFdOx4
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summertime



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 923

PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 10:24 am    Post subject:

Lee Hom - Incomplete Melody (English & Pinyin Subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPUEiRGypb0



Lee hom 王力宏 - Last Night - English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRw8HlXpNo



王力宏 Selina 合唱你是我心内的一首歌 - You're A Song In My Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6ZcDYMe7A


20060121 Zhong Yi Da Ge Da 綜藝大哥大 - Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21lSkdDlvtg


Last edited by summertime on Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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