Michael Lai Siu-tin (; 8 November 1946 – 1 December 2019) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

music

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and actor. Lai was born in 1946 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

to the composer and his literary critic wife, and he later became friends with Cantopop band leader

Joseph Koo Joseph Koo Kar-Fai (; 25 February 1931 – 3 January 2023) was a Hong Kong composer. He used the pen name Moran (莫然) for Mandarin songs early in his career. According to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Koo was one of the most ...

. Lai attended

La Salle College La Salle College (LSC; zh, t=喇沙書院, j=laa3 saa1 syu1 jyun2) is a boys' secondary school located in Kowloon City District, Hong Kong. It was established in 1932 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Catholic re ...

.Alt URL
/ref> Lai first appeared on the music scene in the 1950s, but would also make a number of small but notable appearances as a film actor from the 1950s to 1990s.

Life and career

Lai was born in 1946 in

. His father, , was a

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

, and his mother was a literary critic. He first worked in the entertainment industry as a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

, making his first appearance in ''Juvenile'' (1953). Lai attended

Entry into music with Rediffusion Television

As a teenager who wanted to explore pop music, Lai joined a band performing in a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

, where he first met

. In 1973, he entered a songwriting contest hosted by

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

, coming in third place behind Koo and

James Wong Jim James Wong Jim (; 18 March 1941 – 24 November 2004, also known as "霑叔" or "Uncle Jim") was a Cantopop lyricist and songwriter based primarily in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2,000 songs, collaborating ...

. By 1975, Lai had become the music director for

Rediffusion Television Rediffusion Television (, RTV) was a defunct television station in Hong Kong. It was the city's first broadcaster and the first in any British colony or majority-Chinese city.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). ''Television, Regulation and Civil Soci ...

. That year, he gained popularity as the co-host of the

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

, ''Nancy & Michael'' (), sharing hosting duties with actress

Nancy SIt Nancy Sit Ka-yin ( zh, 薛家燕; born 30 March 1950) is a Hong Kong actress on the TVB network. Her acting career dated back to the 1960s, when she was a popular teen idol alongside Connie Chan Po-chu, and Josephine Siao. Sit recorded many ...

. During his time at Rediffusion, Lai worked on various theme songs for the channel's

television dramas In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular sup ...

. With

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

, who started working at the television station in 1978, Lai composed many theme songs that placed in the

RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards () is one of the main C-pop music award in Hong Kong. The award is sponsored by RTHK. Beginning in 1978, it is the oldest major award in Hong Kong, even earlier than the Jade Solid Gold Awards. The ceremony is ...

during the late 70s and early 80s. The theme song for the 1979 television series ''Reincarnated'' placed in the top 10 of the Gold Songs Awards of that year. The following year, three compositions by Lai and Lo appeared in the top 10 of the 1980 Gold Songs Awards: "Tear Drops on a Journey" (), "Decrepit Dream" (), and "Drama of Life" (). In addition, the Lai-composed song "Unable to Find an Excuse", from the series ''Hong Kong Gentlemen'', won Jimmy Lo the inaugural Best Lyrics Award at the 1981 Gold Songs Awards.

Move to Capital Artists

In 1982, Lai began working for the

Capital Artists Capital Artists is a Hong Kong–based record label owned by eSun Holdings, a subsidiary of Lai Sun Development. Founded in 1971, Capital Artists signed some of the biggest names in the Cantopop industry, including Roman Tam, Anita Mui, and Le ...

record label, a subsidiary of TVB. In this position, he played a significant part in helping

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hon ...

singers achieve success in the industry. Lai produced

Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (born Cheung Fat-chung; 12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential cultural icons in the Sinophone, Sinophone world, Cheung was known for his debonair demeanor, flamb ...

's second Cantonese album, ''Wind Blows On'', which propelled the singer to newfound popularity and was certified gold by the

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...

. He also helped organise the

New Talent Singing Awards New Talent Singing Awards ( zh, t=新秀歌唱大賽) or ''NTSA'' for short, later re-organised into New Talent Singing Awards International Finals ( zh, t=全球華人新秀歌唱大賽 or ''NTSA International Finals'' for short), and most curr ...

, which helped scout talent like

Anita Mui Anita Mui Yim-fong (; 10 October 1963 – 30 December 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actress who made major contributions to the Cantopop music scene and received numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout her career, and i ...

, the winner of its inaugural year in 1982. Lai composed some of Mui's songs, such as "Fiery Tango" (), from the 1987 platinum-selling album of the same name. In addition to working with singers and television series, Lai also composed works for films. He won Best Original Film Score and Best Original Film Song at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards for '' Rouge'' (1988), which featured both

Cheung Cheung is a Cantonese language, Cantonese romanization of Chinese, romanization of several Chinese surnames, including (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified ; ), (), and (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified ). It is a fairly common Am ...

and Mui. Throughout his career, Lai has been credited with 30 original musical scores for Hong Kong films from the 1970s to 1990s, as well as 700 original songs. Lai received a Hall of Fame Award from the

Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Ltd. (; CASH) is a copyright collection society in Hong Kong established in 1977 which aims to administer and enforce collectively the rights of composers and authors (lyricists) of musical works subsist ...

in 2006.

Personal life

Lai was married to

Susanna Kwan Susanna Kwan Kuk-ying (born May 3, 1958) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. Background She has recently been an actress for a number of TVB shows. Her nickname is "Big Doll" or "Small Sworn Mother" (as her performance in Wong Sau-kum of ''Heart ...

from 1982 to 1984. Lai died on 1 December 2019, in St.Paul Hospital due to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

. He was survived by his son from a former relationship.

Musicianship and composition style

Lai often start songs with simple melody and a natural flow. He also likes to set a 7-chord repertoire, then set a

key change In music, modulation is the change from one tonality ( tonic, or tonal center) to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature (a key change). Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as ...

at the final chorus. His preferred instrument for composition is piano. While most of his songs are slow ballads, but mostly experimented with songs with traditional Chinese instruments, but doesn't use as many

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to heptatonic scales, which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient ci ...

did.

Works

Film

* '' Project A '' (1983) * '' Police Story'' (1985) * '' Armour of God '' (1986) * ''

Project A Part II ''Project A Part II'' (; aka ''Jackie Chan's Project A II''; released in the Philippines as ''Super Fighter'') is a 1987 Hong Kong action cinema, Hong Kong action film starring and directed by Jackie Chan. It co-stars Maggie Cheung, Bill Tung, ...

'' (1987) * ''

Police Story 2 ''Police Story 2'' ( ), also known marketed as ''Police Story Part 2'' is a 1988 Hong Kong action film starring and directed by Jackie Chan, who also wrote the screenplay with Edward Tang. It is a sequel to the hit 1985 film '' Police Story'' ...

'' (1988) * ''

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'' (1989)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Michael 1946 births 2019 deaths Hong Kong composers 20th-century Hong Kong male actors Hong Kong male film actors 20th-century Hong Kong musicians Hong Kong Buddhists Deaths from pneumonia in Hong Kong