Alan Tam

Biography

Early life Tam was born on 23 August 1950 at Healthy Village in North Point. He is son of football player Tam Kong-pak, who represented the Republic of China national team during the 1936 Summer Olympics. He attended Shau Kei Wan Government Secondary School and Chi Lin Buddhist Secondary School. Then, he majored in Economics while attending Ngee Ann Technical College in Singapore.

Personal life Tam married Sally Yeung Kit-mei in 1981. They have no children. Tam met his partner Wendy Chu in 1991 and had a son in 1995.

Career

Early years Tam developed a passion for music in his secondary school years in Hong Kong. He formed a band called "The Wynners" with his friends. The Wynners performed mostly in English. Tam was one of the two lead singers in the band until it split in 1978. His 1984 albums of , "Foggy Love" and 1985 "Love Trap" formed a successful trilogy of albums. From 1981 to 1988, he won a top 10 song award every year. This was in addition to his winning a top 10 song award every year from 1983 to 1987 for the Jade solid gold awards. In 1993, he released the English album "My Love", in collaboration with Korean singer Kim Wan-Sun.

The Hong Kong press frequently reported a fierce rivalry between Tam and fellow singer Leslie Cheung. Although both artists were at peace with each other, it was the fans who created the spectacle of a musical feud. In the late 90s, the singers brushed aside any doubts about their friendship, and even appeared together in galas and other special programmes. In 1999, Leslie Cheung, together with other 17 singers, participated in the Album "Paying Tribute to Alan Tam" and collaborated to produce the single remix of Tam's popular songs "Illusion" and "Foggy Love" .

In 2003, he teamed up with fellow artist Hacken Lee for a major world tour entitled Alan & Hacken (, or "Left Alan Right Hacken"). The name is a play on a Chinese idiom which means "neighbours" . Up to 2013, they have performed around the world in countries like China, United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia, and Japan with over 100 concerts. Since 2006, he has been helping his godson Kelvin Kwan establish a career in the Hong Kong pop industry.

One of his signature fast songs "Love Trap" earned him the 25th Anniversary Jade Solid Gold song honour award in 2006. By 1995, he had already sold more than 20 million albums. By 2005, he had launched more than 104 albums, and 800 songs. He has taken part in 264 concerts, of which 189 were individual concerts. Just a month after he was elected, the Edison Chen photo scandal caused a media storm. The Guild condemned the increasing circulation and uploading of obscene photos on the Internet. Tam was interviewed daily by different media on the handling of the case. He stated, "The circulation of such obscene photos has created a bad atmosphere in society."

After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Tam helped set up a relief committee to look after the livelihood and schooling of orphaned children. He was on a HK committee along with Eric Tsang, Jackie Chan, and Eason Chan.

Entrepreneur In 1997, an announcement was made in Admiralty, Hong Kong to launch a Star East Entertainment restaurant concept boasting 40 celebrity investors. It was one of the most publicised investments made by Tam in collaboration with his best friends Natalis Chan and Eric Tsang. In 2000, a merger was made between Star East and Planet Hollywood.

Politics

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, and after "worldwide coverage for Hong Kong’s police force utilizing heavy-handed tactics against student demonstrators", Tam sided with the police and attended a pro-police rally, saying "No one in the world has ever seen law enforcement officers attacked like that". A backlash from fans followed quickly, with some fans smashing his records in public.

YouTuber On 11 April 2024, Tam put a verification video on his official YouTube account after posting old video of his live performances in the past 13 years.