Leon Lai

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Ekin Cheng said: Although the market is not good nowadays and singers cannot only rely on releasing albums to earn money, many people encouraged me to sing again. Like before while filming "Heroic Duo" with Leon, he gave me a lot of inspiration. We didn't have chance to chat before, while filming the movie, we talked about a lot of things. I've asked Leon's opinion whether I should sing again, he said that I should continue to sing and also have to put my heart to it. I agreed the most with his saying that even though times have changed, I still have my existing value.

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Leon Lai's yesterday pix. (The news will be up-date later.)

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Leon attended a press conference in Beijing the day before for Flyke athletic shoes and was officially announced as its spokesperson.

The organiser arranged for Leon to sign on a pair of athletic shoes and put it up for auction. In the end, it was successfully bidded at $100,800, and the amount will be used for charity purposes.

About being the spokesperson for this new brand, Leon's biggest feeling was, "We are all Chinese, and should support the good things of our China, support them venturing out of China."

Leon was asked about the sales of "Leaving Me Loving You" OST and when he would be releasing his new album. He said that he was preparing for the album now and half of the recording work had been completed. Possibly, it would be released during the summer holidays.

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In 100 days, it will be the opening of Olympic 2004. TVB held a press conference yesterday to announce a series of Olympic prelude programmes. The first programme is the Olympic Charity Walk which will be held on 16 May. As known, TVB had already invited Leon to be the guest of honour. Also, the president of the sponsor, Pacific Century Insurance, Richard Li, will attend the event to give support. The government will be sealing off the road from Kwun Tong Bypass leading towards Kowloon, and many celebrities will form 20 teams to compete, making it a big event.

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While Leon was in Beijing as the spokesperson for Flyke Sports Shoes, a Shanghai TV media asked Leon whether he took up the commercial for Flyke because his movie "Leaving Me Loving You" had made a loss and he had financial problems. Leon said that this rumour was not valid as the box office of "Leaving Me Loving You" was not bad and he had already signed the contract for Flyke before filming "Leaving Me Loving You". Leon stressed that he did not mind being asked about negative news, if it was true, he would definitely admit. (10 May 2004)

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To welcome the 2004 Athens Olympics, TVB and Community Chest would be jointly organising "Entering Athens - Community Chest Charity Walk" this Sunday. Singers who would be participating in this event includes Leon Lai, Andy Hui, Alex Fong, 2R. etc. (14 May 2004)

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The United Buddy Bears Exhibition opened at the Victoria Park yesterday. The funds raised in this event were donated to Hong Kong Community Chest, UNICEF and Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. Leon attended the event yesterday, representing UNICEF to receive the cheque.

As there were a lot of Leon fans, once Leon arrived, he had caused a stir. During the cheque presentation, Leon fans were still very orderly. However, when the various guests had to move to another place to conduct the opening ceremony, Leon fans took the chance to move near to Leon and surrounded him. Reporters also swarmed towards him to take photographs. The commotion lasted for 10 minutes, Leon could not move a inch and the security could not do anything.

Seeing this situation, Jackie Chan came to the rescue. He went into the fans crowd and ordered the security to form a human wall to block the fans. Then he pulled Leon out of the crowd. Nevertheless, the fans managed to crowd around Leon again, and Jackie Chan had to come to the rescue again. After much difficulties, they finally managed to take the group photograph.

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As the Hong Kong Community Chest Campaign Committee member, Leon attended "Community Chest Charity Walk" yesterday. As they had to gather at 6 am, Leon had to get up at 5 am, but he still looked very fresh.

Recently, there were reports which said that Leon had lost his temper with reporters in Shanghai, as the reporters had asked him whether he was shooting the sports shoe commercial to compensate his loss with making "Leaving Me Loving You". Leon said that he had not gone to Shanghai, he said without taking offence, "Actually I have gone to Yangzhou previously, and there were really two reporters who asked me why I shot the sports shoe commercial. I felt very odd, because if the price is right, I would shoot the commercial. I don't understand why for a first meeting, instead of shaking hands, they were giving a slap over. At that time, the working crew tried to push away the reporters, and they immediately apologised to me and said that they were only doing this to earn their keep."

Leon continued to say that reporters' main purpose in asking him questions was to anger him, but usually there would be two situations, one is he would be very angry, another is he would not be angry at all. Asked whether he would not be angry with any questions nowadays, he said, "No, but I would only be angry for that day."

Asked about his good friend Faye Wong being rumoured to commit suicide recently, he laughed and said, "I could also say that Leon had come back to life after committing suicide and walked out of the morgue!"

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Leon will be attending another Olympics promotional show by TVB this coming Sunday.

i not leo fan......but i like few of his song

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The Athens 2004 Olympics will open in August. Last night, TVB held a special live programme "Entering Athens - Torch Igniting Night". Leon was the first performer. He sang two songs and led 50 children from the studio to the carpark.

About Maggie Cheung winning the best actress award in Cannes, Leon said, "I'm very happy for her. I would like to call her, but I don't know whether her phone was switched on. Maybe I'll wait till she come back to Hong Kong to congratulate her face to face." About Wong Kar-Wai's "2046" not winning any awards, Leon said, "I didn't watch this movie, so I can't comment. But I guess he would be disappointed, since he had spent so much time to film this movie."

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The night before, Leon was the first performer for TVB's programme "Entering Athens, Torch Igniting Night".

Has Leon thought of going to Cannes himself? He said, "If there's suitable films, of course I hope to, but currently there's none. (Will he cooperate with Maggie again?) I haven't thought about it for the time being. I don't have time to think about movie matters recently because I hope to produce a good album first. Producing an album really needs time and effort."

It had been more than one year that Leon had not released an album, when will his new album be released? Leon said that not only he himself must prepared for it, the music composers and lyricists also needed a lot of time. As they emphasized on inspirations and mood, they needed even more time. He was also waiting patiently. Was it like as rumoured that Mark Lui had fallen out of love and could not produce his work as he was not in a good mood? Leon asked the reporters instead, "Who said that his mood is not good? I don't feel it. From what I know, he loves composing music, and buying cars and clothes. The only thing that can make him unhappy is not allowing him to buy things."

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To celebrate the 10th aniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Artistes Association, a banquet was held last night to raise funds for the association.

According to Eric Tsang, the association's president, many artistes would attend the event. Leon would bring along presents for the lucky draw and present the prizes personally. (29 May 2004)

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Leon personally bought 4 white-coloured limited edition Playstations to be given away at the Artistes Association banquet the night before. Leon only appeared at around 10.10pm, as he had gone to watch Sarah Brightman's concert before that. He praised that the concert was good, but as he had agreed to attend the banquet, he had to leave in the middle of the show.

It was rumoured that Mark Lui had a new love - Jade, a model. Leon was asked whether he had congratulated his old friend? He said courteously, "I'm not used to talking about other people's matters (Aren't you happy for your old friend?) No feelings. I have no feelings at all about the private life of my friends. It's none of my business. I'm only concerned about him composing good songs for me."

Were there especially more feelings in the songs Mark produces now? Leon laughed and said, "I have to sing it well first. If you don't talk about love matters, he is a very optimistic and cheerful person, definitely not pessimistic. I'm also the same. My mood could be affected by the weather. If the weather is bad, I would feel gloomy, but if there's sunshine, I will smile. (Are you very temperamental?) If you are not temperamental, you can't be in this line. It's normal for a person to have mood swings, but the most important thing is not to affect other people, to be able to control your temper in front of other people, because you are not the biggest if you have mood swings, others do not have to suffer your mood swings."

Leon was busy with recording his new album recently. Currently, he had recorded 2 songs, but the release date of the new album was not fixed yet. Asked whether he would be filming other movies? At first, he said that he wanted to concentrate on his album first. Then he added that originally he would be filming a movie in June, but it probably would have to be postponed.

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News 1:
The 3rd quarter results of "The 4th Global Chinese Pop Chart" was announced. Leon's "The Firework of 2 People" was among the top 15 songs. This year, the awards presentation would be held on 4 September in Taipei.

News 2:
On 11 June, the activities of "Superstars Showing Care for Special Olympics" would be held in Shanghai. Unicef Special Representative to Youth, Leon Lai, and NBA Chinese star player, Yao Ming, etc, will be participating in this event. The purpose of this event is to increase the public awareness about Special Olympics and their concern for the handicapped people, and to support the 2007 Special Olympics held in Shanghai.

Schedules of "Superstars Showing Care for Special Olympics" activtites:

11 June, morning: Yao Ming and Leon would be going to a school to attend a mini Special Olympics Games.

11 June, afternoon: Rehearsal for "Superstars Showing Care for Special Olympics" TV programme.

11 June, night: Recording of the show.

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Leon was in Shanghai yesterday to visit a special school together with NBA basketball star, Yao Ming. In the evening, both of them also attended a charity show in Shanghai. When the 6-feet tall Leon met up with 7.5-feet tall Yao Ming, Leon immediately became a "dwarf". If Leon stood on his toes, his height only reached Yao Ming's shoulder.

However, Leon did not feel awkward and he joked, "It has been a long time since I have to look up at somebody. If I have to chat with him for one whole day, my neck and shoulder would be quite painful."

At the special school, Yao Ming played basketball with the children while Leon played table tennis. Although Yao Ming is very tall, Leon revealed that he is a very observant person. He had asked Leon why Leon was born in Beijing, yet he did not have Beijing accent. While Leon was signing autographs for the children, he asked Leon again why he had signed his surname character "Lai" in so simple strokes.

Leon also said, "If I were as tall as Yao Ming, I would also go and be a basketball player, otherwise it would be a waste. However I prefer table tennis. (Would you consider being a full-time table tennis player?) If you are a full-time player, you have give it your best and not give up halfway. But from what I know, among all the sports, table tennis players earned the least."

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Leon and Yao Ming attended a charity programme in Shanghai the night before. After being together for a one day, both of them had become more familiar with each other and they even exchanged presents.

Actually, the China basketball superstar, Yao Ming, is Leon's fan. The night before, he had expressed that he hoped to get Leon's autographed CD through his manager. Leon said, "I've heard my company's colleague say that he had already wanted to ask for it in the afternoon, but he was shy. So when I knew, I immediately autographed a CD for him."

Leon had not expected that Yao Ming is his fan, so of course he felt very happy. In the CD which he gave Yao Ming, he had especially written the words "bring honour to the country" for him.

Although Yao Ming was restricted by contract and could not give away signatures easily, he made an exception and signed on a basketball for Leon. Nevertheless, Leon also respected him and said that the autographed basketball was only for his private collection and he would not let it be photographed.

At night during the charity programme, after Leon had given out a DVD, the compere introduced the T-shirt given out by Yao Ming as a "healthy present", Yao Ming immediately said to Leon, "He said that my present is healthy, but it does not mean that yours was not healthy!", and everyone had a good laugh

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It's usually the girls who turn heads when they wear low-cut tops. But when Leon Lai turned up in an uncharacteristically low-cut T-shirt, he turned heads anyway. The actor, known to be the dapper boy with his conservative dressing, was rather "sexy" last night, showing more skin than usual. So is the 38-year old planning for a more youthful image?

As with Leon, there is always a long story or explanation behind it. The gist of it: He was feeling too warm one day and traded shirts with his hairdresser. He liked it, and bought a few more from the hairdresser's friend, who had designed them - but not before bargaining with the designer first, of course.

Said Leon: "He was selling the T-shirts for HK$300 (S$66) a piece, but I told him outright that it's only worth HK$20 to $30.
"I look for quality in my cloths, and also how much mileage I can get out of them. These pieces of cloth look like they won't last more than 10 washings!"

While Leon himself admits that it's not a lot of money after all, he couldn't resist haggling anyway. Leon got a HK$80 discount in the end. And we thought only lesser beings like us are tight-fisted.

16/06/04

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Leon in Singapore: Media Asia's roster of A-list stars dazzled all present at Raffles Hotel

THE reason for the occasion was business and stocks, but Wednesday night at the Raffles Hotel was anything but dry. Movie company Media Asia Entertainment Group flew in their roster of talent