Henry Huo

Henry Huo (; born 18 September 1990) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actor.

He gained fame by placing in the top three in singing competition Asian Wave 《声动亚洲》 He became popular nationwide by winning the first season of Sing My Song (中国好歌曲 第一季), a competition for songwriters to sing their own compositions. His original 'Rolled-up Pearl Curtain' (Juán Zhū Lián) drew praise from both judges and audience alike. The song was awarded Song of the Year. 13 days after his win, Henry was asked to perform in the CCTV Chinese New Year Eve Gala, which was broadcast worldwide, thus cementing his position as China's newest composing prodigy. Meanwhile, Henry claimed the main prize in the Tianjin Satellite Channel Drama Contest Season 1 (《国色天香》第一季) by playing a dan (男旦) in the Peking Opera. He was awarded the title '2014 Drama King'.

Biography

Early life

Henry was born and raised in Shanghai, China. He also lived in Guangzhou and Shenyang for a period of time. His father, Feng Huo, is from Shenyang and his mother, Xiaoping Zhong is from Shanghai. Both were famous singers from whom he inherited his musical talent. His first language is Mandarin, but he also speaks the Shanghai dialect and English fluently. He sings in Mandarin, English, and Japanese.

Henry's mother quit her job to raise him. She was his first music teacher and took care of Henry throughout childhood. Henry expressed the deep bond between him and his mother in his introduction on Sing My Song. Mrs Huo loved the songs of Michael Jackson and Teresa Teng so much that Henry grew to be influenced by their music. He was also influenced by Cape No. 7 of Kousuke Atari and finally developed his own singing style. Henry is known for his crystal clear healing voice and vocal technique, similar to that of Hong Kong singer Anita Mui.

Musical journey Henry started to learn piano at the age of 10 years and soon showed his affinity for music. He won the Individual Vocal Group Silver Award at the Shanghai Student Art Contest in 2004. In 2005, he placed third in the Middle School Group at the Shanghai 10th Youth Piano Contest.

In 2010, Henry was recommended by his college to participate in the Shanghai University "Zhiyin Cup" Piano Contest, where he won the Gold Award.

In 2011, Henry performed La campanella on piano for the University's New Year concert. The show was a huge success and made Henry popular on campus for his musical talent. In the same year, Henry was approached by the owner of Universal Music Group during a singing performance. Although he was soon signed by Universal Music Group, Henry stayed in SHU-UTS SILC Business School until he earned his bachelor's degree in Business Management.

In the summer of 2012, Henry finished within the top three in the Asian Wave music talent show, where he was awarded the Glory Star. Soon after this song was first heard, Henry was recommended to perform again in 2014 CCTV Chinese New Year Eve Gala, which was broadcast worldwide, further expanding his fame.

Film and television While Henry is known for his singing, he has also acted in films. In 2013, he played the role of a singer in the film Ashes to Ashes, 《从哪里来 到哪里去》 (lit. From Whence One Comes, There One Will Return). This is a film about children with reading disabilities and the singer turns out to be an angel at the end. He composed and sang the theme song "Duì Niǎo" (《对鸟》, Singing Birds).

In 2021, he joined the cast of Call Me By Fire as a contestant. He subsequently withdrew from it in light of recent controversies, shortly after the show's premiere and his first performance on it. He would then be blurred and censored out in later episodes.

Full-house performance On 25 October 2014, Henry Huo held his first full-house performance at the Nanjing Red Bull Unplugged Concert. He sang his famous first audition song and other traditional Chinese songs such as Huāxīn (《花心》, The Flower Heart), Tiānyá gēnǚ (《天涯歌女》, The Wandering Songstress), Mo Li Hua (《茉莉花》, Jasmine Flower), Tào mǎ gān (《套马杆》, The Horses Shot), and Teresa Teng's classic ballad "The Moon Represents My Heart".

Performance abroad In 2015, Henry went to North America to sing at the Chinese New Year Gala. On the night of 12 February, he was invited to sing 《卷珠帘》 at the United Nations New York Headquarters where representatives from 47 countries watched the performance. On the night of 22 February, he sang three songs, including "Chuánqí" (《传奇》, The Legend) in the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver, which received wild applause from the audience.

Songs Henry's original songs include 《You Are Everything to Me》, Xǐng (《醒》, Wake up), Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》) Fàng kāi nà sānguó (《放开那三国》, Let Go of The Three Kingdoms), Duì Niǎo (《对鸟》, Singing Birds), 《A Poem of Tang 唐诗》, and Dōngfēng yǐn (《东风引》, Inspired by the Wind from the East).

He published his first EP on 8 July 2014. The EP includes the theme song Qiàhǎo (《恰好》, What Is Appropriate) for the theatre drama (《山楂树之恋》, The Love Under the Hawthorn Tree), Qī duǒ liánhuā (《七朵莲花》,"Seven Lotuses"), and Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》, Pearl-decorated curtain rolled up).

Henry is also the first singer of Yù fú chuándēng (《玉佛传灯》, The Jade Buddha is Passing the Light), Méiguī bǎolěi (《玫瑰堡垒》, The Rose Castle), and Huā yǎ chán (《花雅禅》), The Zen in Grace and Flowers).

The songs Huo sang in the Asian Wave included Lí Rén (《离人》, The One Who Left), Mo Li Hua (《茉莉花》 The Jasmine Flower), Only You (《我只在乎你》), Fly Apart (《各自远扬》), Wúyǔlúnbǐ dì měilì (《无与伦比的美丽》, Unparalleled Beauty), Scarborough Fair, Chuánqí (《传奇》, The Legend), Dàn Yuàn Rén Chángjiǔ (《但愿人长久》, I wish you could stay forever), Wǒ Yuànyì (《我愿意》, I Will), Wǒ De Chéng (《我的城》, My City), Xǐng (《醒》, Wake), and Jìdé (《记得》, Remember).

In the 2014 Taiwan TV gala titled Matsu Light in My Heart (《妈祖之光：在我心中》), Henry sang Wǒ Qídài (《我期待》, Never say goodbye).

Ceremonies On 9 April 2014, Henry sang the theme song So Young(《致青春》) from the film So Young at the Fifth Annual Awards of Directors Association ceremony.

Controversy In August 2021, Huo's ex-girlfriend Chen Lu, a dancer, came forward claiming that Henry had cheated on her throughout their 9-year relationship. She also alleged that Huo had multiple one-night stands with different women whilst they were together. She claimed that when she confronted Huo, he asked "How much do you want me to pay you?". She also professed that he told her to "delete all traces of him on my (Chen's) Weibo" when she wanted to publicize their relationship.

Later that week, Chen also exposed Huo's distaste for reality television, including Sisters Who Make Waves and its male counterpart. In their conversations leaked by Chen, Huo expressed that "The price they’re offering is not bad. But I’m still thinking about it because it feels like I’ll be making myself look very 'low' (…) I really dislike stuff like Sisters Who Make Waves. I’m a musician and artiste, but I’ll have to turn myself into a trainee again just to be part of some idol group made up of has-beens." Netizens concluded that this show that he referred to was "Call me by fire" which he participated in. They thus called for his leave from the show. Afterwards, it was announced that he was withdrawn shortly after the series pilot, and his appearance in two performances were pixelated.

In light of the controversy, online fan groups dedicated to Huo were shut down, and his Weibo account was disabled.

On 22 December, Chen Lu was arrested by police for extortion. Civil suits for libel will follow after the criminal case for extortion.

Major awards 2012 summerTop Three in Asian Wave (《声动亚洲》前三强) and awarded Glory Star(荣耀之星). 21 March 2014, Championship in Sing My Song (中国好歌曲) first season and Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》, Pearl-decorated curtain rolled up) awarded The Song of the Year. 16 January 2015, awarded Tiānlài zhī mèi ("天籁之魅", Charm of Heaven) at Most Charming Chinese Awards Ceremony from Southern People Weekly (《南方人物周刊》中国魅力榜颁奖盛典). 30 March 2015, awarded The Best composer and Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》, Pearl-decorated curtain rolled up) listed in Annual Top Ten Golden Music from the 22nd Dōngfāng fēngyún bǎng (东方风云榜,'Oriental Billboard'). 12 November 2017, awarded of Best Chinese Artist at the MTV European Music Awards 2017 in London. 2017 MTV, EMA大中华区最受欢迎艺人

Album

Song Titles Published Songs Publishing Dates Tian Yun(《天韵·霍尊》,Melodies from the heaven) Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》, Pearl-decorated curtain rolled up) Bù sòng tiē (《不送帖》, Do not send posts) Dié (《蝶》, Butterfly), The poet written for the Tang (《唐诗》), Mùmián (《木棉》, Kapok) Qiàhǎo (《恰好》, What Is Appropriate) Méiguī bǎolěi (《玫瑰堡垒》, The Rose Castle) Huā yǎ chán (《花雅禅》), The Zen in Grace and Flowers) Qī duǒ liánhuā (《七朵莲花》, The Seven Lotus) piano version Juǎn Zhū Lián (《卷珠帘》, Pearl-decorated curtain rolled up) 2015-04-25 Wan Le(《玩乐》,Playful Music) Xing(《醒》,Awaken) Chuan Yue(《穿越吧！猛犸》,Traverse! Mammoth) Shao Nv Yu Hai(《少女与海》,Young girl and the sea) Zhui Feng Zheng De Ren(《追风筝的人》,The one who's chasing the kite) Ling Ding(《伶仃》,Loneliness) Wei Zhai Hua(《未摘花》,The flower that has never been picked up) Jiu Se Lu(《九色鹿》,The dear with nine colors) Li Hua Song(《梨花颂》,Ode to Pyrus flowers) Taiqi Zen《太极·禅》Ze Po(《泽泊》,The lakes) and the accompaniment for Jiu Se Lu(《九色鹿》,The dear with nine colors)2018-12-18 Gui Yi(《归一》,Normalization) Zing Luo(《星落》,The star has fallen) Bu Si Niao(《不死鸟》,The bird who's never dead) 《IDUN》 Zi Ding Yi Shao Nv(《自定义少女》,Self-defined young girl) Wo Yi Wei(《我自以为》,I think...) Zhai Ge(《宅歌》,Songs from an otaku) Xi Yang Xia De Ben Pao(《夕阳下的奔跑》,Running in the sunset) You Yuan San Yue Chu Jiu(《游园三月初九》,Visiting a garden at 9 March) Gui Yi(《归一》,Normalization)《幼虫》2020-11-02