Samuel Tai

Samuel Tai
Background information
Chinese name 邰正宵
Chinese name 邰正宵 (traditional)
Pinyin Tái Zhēngxiāo (Mandarin)
Jyutping Toi4 Zing3 Siu1 (Cantonese)
Birth name 邰正霄
Origin China, Hong Kong
Born (1966-11-06) November 6, 1966
Hong Kong
Other name(s) Ah Bee
Occupation Singer, songwriter, record producer
Genre(s) Mandopop, Cantopop
Instrument(s) Piano, Guitar
Voice type(s) Tenor
Years active 1988-present
Children Henry Tai (邰真)
Parents Tai Li-ren (邰立任)
Ancestry Dangtu, Anhui, China

Samuel Tai (Chinese: 邰正宵; pinyin: Tái Zhēngxiāo, born 1966) is a Hong Kong-born singer-songwriter in Taiwan.[1] Samuel Tai is also known as the The Prince of Roses or The Prince of Love-song in Numbers. He is now living in Taipei, but he is also active in Hong Kong and mainland China. Blessed with his good looks, vocal and songwriter talent, Samuel debuted in 1988 and then released his first solo album Good Boys (理想男孩) in 1990. In 1993, he wrote the song "999 Roses" (九百九拾九朵玫瑰), which turned out to be a huge success and big hit. His most popular songs include "999 Roses", "Thousand Origami Cranes" (千纸鹤), "1001 Nights" (一千零一夜) and "Let You Hear My Heart Beating" (心要让你听见) etc. He subsequently released 30 albums. His dedication and love to music made him continue to compose and sing songs. His latest album, In the Beginning was released on 31 August 2012.

Biography

Tai was born in Hong Kong and is a singer-songwriter in Taiwan. He is also known as the Prince of Roses. He is now living in Taiwan, but he is also active in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Tai spent his childhood on Shanghai Street in Mong Kok. He was educated at Min Guang College and Wellington English secondary school. He admires Bruce Lee and has studied "Yong Chun" from Luo Yao for many years. While practicing Taekwondo he is qualified with Black Belt. Due to an injury he had to stay at home to rest. During that time, his father bought a guitar to let him pass the time. Ever since then he becomes attached with the music.

Tai's father Tai Li-ren, is a Chinese medicine practitioner. Influenced by his father, Samuel Tai also intended to become a doctor. Unfortunately he couldn't continue his study at the Faculty of Medicine of HKU, so he went to the Kaohsiung Medical College in Taiwan for his medical study in 1985. He sang in the cafe and pub weekly as a part-time job to support his study. Though it was hard, he continued with it.

After graduation, Tai got a medical technician[1] license in Hong Kong. But his heart has never stopped for longing for music. In 1988, Tai participated in a Pop music contest in Taiwan and won the 5th prize. After that, he signed a contract with UFO Records for 2 years. But it was not so successful. In 1993, he wrote the song 999 Roses (九百九拾九朵玫瑰),[1] which turned out to be a huge success and big hit. His most popular songs include: 999 Roses(九百九拾九朵玫瑰), Thousand origami cranes (千纸鹤), 1001 Nights (一千零一夜) and Let you listen to my heart (心要让你听见), and others.

Once being under foot in pop music, he published too many first braise Sunburn population song. He is popular not only in Hong Kong,Taiwan and Singapore, but also in mainland China. Tai retreated behind the scenes for a while and is actively involved in church work. In recent years he is very active on stage in mainland China. His new album, In the Beginning was released on 31 August 2012.

Music career

While at Taiwan Kaohsiung Medical College studying medical technology, Tai also sang folk songs in restaurants. In 1988 he participated in the first session of Popular Music Competition and is one of the Winners (together with other winners, famous singer Chang Yu-sheng, Wang Jie, Yao Canjie),. Since then he entered the pop music field and became a singer. He published albums like Nomad, Ideal Boys, Devoted to You, Cheer for Me, and others.

In the early 1990s, Chinese songwriter-singers from Taiwan became more and more noticed. In 1993, Tai published the album To find a word to replace. The main hit song "999 Roses" became a big success, and s recognized as typical Chinese love song. He is to the top of his career. He also gained the title " The Prince of Roses" . After the launch of the songs "Feel so lonely when thinking of you", "Thousand origami cranes", "Let you listen to my heart" and "1001 Nights" , Tai was adored by the fans all over the world.

With Tai becoming so popular, his creative talent is well recognized. Even some songs that other singers covered were also regained concern,[1] such as the "Blue street lights" and "Love Movies play" by Leon Lai, "Devoted to you as usual" by Leo Ku and "Goodbye means tears" by Alan Tam. Tai also re-interpreted of the two songs sung by Leon Lai in Cantonese and included them in the album Rekindle Love. He thanked Leon Lai for making his songs so popular.

“Feel so lonely when think of you" became a great hit on various radio station in Hong Kong in 1994. It's more than welcomed there in Hong Kong. Only by then the Hong Kong fans knew that Tai is a native Hong Kong person. Many of Tai's Mandarin songs were successfully introduced into the market of Hong Kong, making Tai more confident to expand the musical territory. He formally signed a contract with Cinepoly, and he returned to the Hong Kong stage. Tai's song "How can I make you like me"," Has to steal love" and " Soul too deep" were very popular. His debut Cantonese album "Soul too deep" was on the top sales charts after release.

In 1996, Tai launched his second Cantonese album. His company Cinepoly invited his idol Sam Hui (許冠傑) to write the hit song "Moonlight Ocean Dream". The album of the same name was with impressive sales.

1997 was the year of Hong Kong's reunification with mainland China. Tai's creation, "Pearl of the Orient – New Millenium", was selected as the theme song of the reunification event. Tai was welcomed and popular in Hong Kong, but the Cantonese song market is very small, so he decided to move his career center back to Taiwan.

In 2008, he released a charity song called "Smile Again",[1] which was dedicated to the survivors of the 12 May Sichuan earthquake. With the song, Tai hoped to raise money for Sichuan reconstruction and help the survivors of the devastating tragedy to find the strength to rebuild their lives.

In 2011, after 15 years, Tai re-introduced his third Cantonese album Love Songs. and he tried his best to let both fans and the younger generation in Hong Kong and Guangdong to know him again. It also said the Mandarin album, originally scheduled to be launched in early 2012.

In March 2012, Tai attended the event in Guangzhou, and revealed that his new Mandarin album In the Beginning would be released in September.

Tai knew that he cannot perform on stage forever. So he worked behind-the-scenes few years after he became famous. He started to explore new and talented singer. He successfully made Wallace Chung a super-star. After marriage, Tai focused on song production and behind-the-scenes work, but meanwhile he began to be more active in Mainland China. He is not only active himself on stage, but also established the "heart-strings" music studio. He keeps on finding talented young singers. Gelijiefu (Inner Mongolia ) is one of these contracted promising singer.

Church work

Tai is a devout Christian.[2] Besides published many Gospel albums, he also involved in the gospel movie "Source of Love" performances. He played a stuttering problem youth, and his acting is superb. Is worth mentioning that he wrote many gospel songs: "Source of love","Love is endless","I am special","Emptiness","This world is in countdown". These songs are very popular sung in the church.[2]

Personal life

Tai has always kept a clean-cut image. He keeps a low profile personal life even after becoming a popular singer. Tai and his girlfriend got married in the United States after a decade-long relationship. The wedding was held at a Seattle church in 1988. In 1999 they welcomed the birth of their son Tai Zhen, also known as Henry.

Discography

Featured/compilations

Played roles in TV/films

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Samuel Tai, the prince of love songs". gbtimes. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  2. 1 2 "基督日报". 基督日報有限公司 (The Gospel Herald Ltd.). 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
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