Eason and Hacken feel honoured to sing

August 8 2008 is Beijing's Olympic Opening Ceremony. Because of this, mainland organisers deliberately chose Peida Jin to compose and Keith Chan to lyricise "We Are Ready" as the "one year to go countdown" themesong. As mainlanders found out on July 1 that Hong Kong had "There's Still You" as the handover 10th anniversary themesong, they felt the idea was a good one. And so for a themesong to countdown a year to the Olympics, they had to invite Hong Kong to cooperate.

Because due to the lack of time, this song only took 18 hours to reach completion. Also, as no one wanted this song to sound like any other pop song, the Chinese Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform. The Olympics commitee will hold a media conference on August 4th in Beijing, but there will also be celebrations on August 8th. Mainland, Taiwanese and Hong Kong singers have all been invited leading to a total of 133 performers to sing the themesong and there will also be many versions. Hong Kong has 6 singers that will be represented in the recording. They include Alan Tam, Eason Chan, Gigi Leung, Leo Koo, Hacken Lee and Joey Yung. The day before yesterday, Alan went to Beijing to record and yesterday and today, the rest of the artists recorded in Hong Kong. Mainland and Taiwanese singers that are joining the recording are Bibi Chow, Chris Li, Sun Yue, Elva Hsiao, Ah Niu, Chris Yu and Mindy Ke. Recently, Beijing has begun recording and is constantly communicating with Hong Kong. Everyone can view the progress on the internet. Peida remains in Hong Kong and Keith has flown to Beijing.

Hacken recorded for an hour. He expressed that the song wasn't hard to sing, but he had to sing out with emotion. He revealed that Hong Kong had 6 representative singers. The other 5 would be present at the countdown on August 8th. Hacken hopes that he will be able to attend but recently he agreed with CWCB to attend a summer holiday exercise program. But he feels that the Olympics countdown event is more meaningful and hopes that the exercise program can be rearranged.

When asked whether he's afraid of offending CWCB, he claims that this is not the station's problem. This countdown for the Olympics is a meaningful event. He had already accepted CWCB's invite and if they insisted, then he could only be a gentleman and attend. Recording the Olympics themesong was with RTHK, will CWCB find it difficult because of this? Hacken decided to let his manager handle this. He feels that getting stuck in the middle is a difficult position to be in, but with 6 singers like 6 strong soldiers attending, it would really be an honour. He also does not know how the singers were selected for this event, but says he feels loved and respected. He says that he would want to go watch the Olympics and on the matter of hotels raising prices to HK$8000-10000 a night, he commented "Wah, that's so cheap!" He points out that watching the Olympics is like watching the World Cup. No matter where it is held, prices will surely rise and so it's a very normal thing to happen. At some point, World Cup tickets went for HK$60000 a ticket and so that year he snatched the role of host for the World Cup program.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/07/07/30/UL-772697.htm

Fans refuse to leave, Hacken has 2 encores

Beauty and riches

Emily is resting in HK, and without his wife watching, Hacken was free with his words, even teasing a sexily dressed female fan!

At this concert in Malaysia, Hacken has received many flowers and each time he would personally walk off the stage to accept flowers given to him by fans. Even when female fans used flowers as an excuse to get an autograph, he would glady oblige.

Halfway through the concert, he had shart eyes and spotted a female fan wearing a backless dress and joked "Wow, how sexy!" and teased the fan until she was ecstatic. Also, a fan gave him an entire bag of red packets, it really was a night of beauty and riches!


Yelling at security

Hacken overcome all the odds to walk off stage and get closer to the fans. Fans rushed up at him and he yelled out "Leave me some room to walk, alright?". When security and fans all pushed at one another, even mild-tempered him couldn't resist and had to call out "Don't push me!"

But because his path was blocked off by people, he could only stand in the crowd and continue singing. And then braving the crowd, he insistently returned back on stage. Luckily his costume at the time was in the style of a sports tracksuit, preventing any injuries to his body or skin. But after getting back on stage, he was thoroughly drenched in sweat and couldn't stop breathing heavily!


Fatherly love

Almost to be a father, Hacken revealed his loving father image! Ivana Wong and he performed 情比紙薄 (love thinner than paper) and then made fun of the way Ivana spoke, using a gentle voice like talking to kids. It seems that he will make a great father. And then, when fans called out "Hacken daddy", he pretended to not hear properly!


2 encores

In the past, Hacken has held "Left Alan Right Hacken" concerts in Malaysia with Principal Alan Tam but has never had a solo concert. And so, on stage he asked "Yeah, why is it that it's been so long and I haven't been here to hold a concert?". Therefore, this time in Malaysia, he gave his fans both old and new songs alike.

At 10:20pm, the first encore came to a close. But after the audience yelled "encore" for 2 or 3 minutes, Hacken finally emerged and copied Emil Chow, yelling out "Welcome to Hacken Lee's concert!" and made the atmosphere even more high!

And so, when the concert officially ended at 10:55pm, there was still about two thirds of the audience who didn't want to leave. And so at 11pm, Hacken had to step back on stage again and said "This has made me very happy!" and then sang for everyone 誰願分手 (who willingly wants to break up) and 破曉時分, both of which weren't in the original program. Finally this allowed the fans to leave completely satisfied!


Laughing at fans

紅日 (red day) made the entire audience applaud and stampe their feet, the sound erupting through Genting!

Before commencing his singing, Hacken patiently taught everyone how to applaud and stamp their feet. All 6000 people present cooperated together and the lively performance was enough to amaze anyone!

At the same time, Hacken picked out a well-built male fan to join him onstage to dance to 舊歡如夢 (old loves like a dream). But because the fan performed the wrong dance steps and confused the directions he told Hacken "Tonight you're very successful... because you invited me onstage." making Hacken unable to laugh or cry. Being sharp-tongued, he returned " Do you drive a car? You need to be careful, because your sense of direction is not too good!"


Program

沒有你贏了世界又如何+夏日之神話+護花使者+球迷奇遇記+未成年同盟會、合久未婚、My Shirley、一生不變、高妹、一生不愛別人、希望、愛不釋手、情比紙薄（王苑之合唱）、我真的受傷了、面具（王苑之）；飛花、心計、花落誰家、為你鍾情、浪子心聲、似夢迷離、倩影、喝彩、深深深、我不會唱歌、月半小夜曲、情非首爾、婚前的女人、天水‧圍城、Victory、一生想你、告別校園時、只想你會意、回首、大會堂演奏廳；（安哥I）愛可以問誰、舊歡如夢、紅日；（安哥II）誰願分手、破曉時分


Looking up with sore necks

As Hacken was singing on stage, the reporters present were not organised into good seats and so they could not even see a screeen. The reporters had to lift their heads to see and when the concert finished every reporter had a sore neck. The reporters had approached the organiser, but the workers only cooly said "Ok, what is there to complain? Come, come... we're all working for someone, why make things hard for us?"

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2007-07-30&sec=entertainment&art=0730en01.txt

Hacken releases album and autographs for first 20 buyers on July 26th

Hacken has won his album selling king by the efforts of the past 2 year's concert hall series. In 2007, his new Cantonese album "My Cup Of Tea" first plug has become the global themesong for saving the environment.

Hacken's "My Cup Of Tea" has already been released in Hong Kong. Due to problems with production, The Malaysian release date had been delayed until July 26th.

And to regain Malaysian fans' support, his music company will cooperate with CD RAMA to release the album in Malaysia so that the first 20 buyers of the album at Leisure Mall's CD RAMA can receive Hacken's authentic autograph.

Because Hacken's main purpose in Malaysia is his concert, there was no time he could put aside for promoting his new album and signing autographs. But he will not forget the love that Malaysian fans have shown him and has specially signed some new albums for his fans in return. So would you like to own one? Then you mustn't miss this opportunity.

http://ent.sinchew-i.com/content.phtml?sec=5&sdate=&artid=200707272949

hacken refutes rumors of fighting

Some reports had suggested that Emily has been very easily provoked due to her pregnancy, and had taken her car for a drive to calm down. Hacken yesterday said: "We're not fighting! The house is currently being renovated so she went out to avoid the renovations, and her temper has not changed!"

As for Edison telling fans on his blog to attack the papparazzi, Hacken said: "Maybe Edison was joking! Anyway, each person has a right to his own thoughts, and each artiste deals with things differently. For example my house is being renovated and media writes that I'm having a fight with Emily - it's best if artistes and papparazi each back away a step. Hacken said that Emily didn't want to be photographed in Macau, so he didn't go to watch his beloved Man U compete.
(credits: leehacken.com)

"My cup of tea" News - 23/7/07

Hacken's new album "My Cup Of Tea" is being released tomorrow, with a tracklisting of 11 songs, including "The Drive of Life" themesong.

Hacken expressed that in making this album, he didn't want to follow the style of his previous two concert hall albums, so chose a new style, co-operating with musicians he hadn't worked with before. The reason his song has an "unplugged" feeling ie because he wanted to change the way his voice came across in music. He also changed from recording at night to recording in the morning, and sat down to sing instead of standing up, to hold back his "daan tin", resulting in a softer, fragile sound.

In his album, fans can choose layers of instruments or even Hacken's voice to place together. THis gives them the choice of putting togheter different instruments from the same track, to give it a diffferent feel.

(takungpo)

Soon-to-be-father Hacken seems to have a way with kids. Earlier, Hacken was doing a photoshoot for his new CD "My Cup Of Tea", when a child actor was being naughty and ran and jumped around the red wine collection in the high-class restaurant. Hacken immediately took the child actor aside and played with him to maintain peace, impressing other staff!
(mingpao)
(credits: leehacken.com)

Hacken finally admits emily's pregnancy

At the press conference release of his new album, My Cup Of tea, Hacken finally admitted wife Emily Lo is pregnant, and said that his new song "Little treasure" is a present to the baby. The lyrics include the line: "Little treasure is soon to be born, i long for hte day you call me dad, i'll teach you how to kick a ball, sing..." expressing the anticipation in becomign a father. Hacken said that he wrote the song in one night as a present.

EDIT:

(mingpao news)

At his press conference for new album "My Cup Of Tea" , Hacken finally admitted wife Emily Lo's pregnancy, and the song "Little treasure" on teh album was for the baby! The lyrics were written by Hacken as a present, and the lyrics describe how excited he is to be a father.

Yesterday his record company spent $HK150,000 to hold a press conference at cyberport in HK. Hacken agreed to take photos next to a baby pram, and further expressed that "Little treasure" was written two months ago. He was asked if that meant Emily was 4, 5 months pregnant, and when he would be a father? Hacken replied: "Sometimes things don't have to be stated explicitly, the song has already showed my feelings, I don't want to say too much else, but this song wont be a song we use to plug". Reporters asked hwat Emily htought of hte song? Hacken replied the song was more like a children's song, and that Emily had already heard the whole album.

As for the baby's birth, would Hacken be like Lee Ka Shing and Cathy Tsui and give out photos to the media. Hacken said that he wished them well, but he wouldn't give out photos. He said that he had said all he wanted to say, and asked media to seperate business (his album launch) and his private life. He felt very happy at the moment. Yesterday his company also gave him a gold cup to congratulate Hacken, as the pre-orders of his new album had already exceeded $HK20,000!!

(will be posting translation to "Little Treasure" lyrics at http://hacken-lyrics.blogspot.com asap!)

Hacken on "Be My Guest" - Stephen fuels baby rumors, Hacken tries to help Joey Leung

Hacken Lee and Nancy Sit yesterday appeared on TVB executive Stephen Chan's "Chi Wun Fan Guk". Before the interview, Stephen Chan was asked how he chose guests to invite on his show. He explained: "Guests i invite need to be good looking, have great wives, have children, not have affairs, nor loved someone who was already in a relationship". To this baby comment, Hacken could only smile forcedly next to Stephen.

Hacken said that Stephen Chan was extremely good at asking questions, often guiding his guests from one answer to the next, until all their heartfelt thoughts were said. "Since Stephen became the host of Be My Guest, he has set a standard for becoming a host in TVB. Earlier, TVB asked me to host a game show (Minutes to fame) - I said I couldnt, I better wait for "Be my guest" to finish before I think about it."

Hacken suggested that Stephen invite Joey Leung to be a guest, saying: "I know Joey doesn't like talking about everyhting he thinks of, but I believe each event should have an ending. I think viewers would also be very interested in his life in the past two years. The gossip and news out there is very unfair to him, and he could use this chance to straighten the record."

Hacken doesn't like people being late

Yesterday Hacken appeared at an opening for a watch store, along with models Eunis Chan, Lisa S., Ana R etc.

Hacken expressed that he likes wearing watches to match his clothes, and he felt that a watch was very important to a man to remind him to be punctual. He believes in 90% punctuality, and is only late very rarely. He confessed he hates people being late, and once had been led to exploding in anger due to someone being late. However, now he will do his own job, leaving people to make up for their own lateness. When asked if he was talking about good friend Eric Tsang who was constantly late, he replied that many of his friends would be late, but he wouldn't point out any in particular.

In the past he has given watches to his mother, wife and Alan Tam during their "Left Alan Right Hacken" concert series, where they happily exchanged gifts of watches, hoping they would treasure each minute. When asked if he would buy brand name watches, he said htat he controlled himself - his most expensive would be $10,000. However, he confesed he has recently bought a 110inch screen projector that cost 6 figures, making it like a mini cinema.

mingpao

On the night of July 15th, Guangdong TV's 5th anniversary was held. Present included Geroge Lam, Hacken Lee, Yumiko Cheng, Soler, Ivana Wong, Eric Suen, etc. Hacken performed "Red Day", a song that is deep in peoples' hearts, ending the show in a spectacular way.

new album tracklisting

Tracklisting - not sure if this is officially confirmed, someone posted it on baidu.

1.纸婚 - paper marriage

2.父子 - father and son

3.单身继续 - that bachelorhood can continue

4.分岔口 - fork in the road

5.花落谁家 - where have hte flowers gone

6.Twins

7.巴西女子队 - Brazil women's team

8.生命四重奏 - the four ceremonies of life

9.小宝宝 - little treasure

10.晚安 - good night

extras

花落谁家remix版 - remix of whre have the flowers gone

纸婚钢琴版（李嘉玲） - paper marriage, piano instrumental (Lee Ka Ling)

天这样蓝 - the sky this blue

Hacken avoids talking about wife's "pregnancy"

Yesterday, a friendly game was held between HK celebrity team and China's celebrity soccer team. The HK team sent in Alan Tam, Nat Chan, Eric Tsang, Hacken Lee, Michael Miu and Edmond Leung etc. The competition was very exciting, first the HK team let in two goals, but Edmond Leung and Cha Zi Ho each scored one goal to even the score. Ng Kwun Lap then scored a goal before penalty time, but they couldn't stop the China team from equalling. Before the game ended, Eric Tsang fouled in the penalty area and was red-carded from the game: luckily, goalkeeper Cheung Siu Fai bravely faced the penalty shoot out, leaving the score at 3 all.

Reporters asked whether ALan brought his son to the game, and he replied "he stayed at home to watch TV". Hacken was asked whether he brought wife Emily Lo to the game, he made a congratulations sign at the reporters and avoided talking about whether or not she was pregnant! As for Michael Miu and Kenny B, they each bought their son to watch the game.