古巨基

Leo Ku Kui-Kei (Traditional Chinese: 古巨基; pinyin: Gǔ Jùjī), born August 18, 1972, is a Hong Kong cantopop and mandopop singer and actor. He was an entertainment news programme (娛樂新聞眼) presenter at TVB as well as host of the music show Jade Solid Gold in 1992 before releasing his first album (愛的解釋) in 1994 to become a Cantopop singer. He is one of the few Cantopop artists who makes use of falsetto (假音) - Because of this, many people, including David Tao, have praised this unique talent. He is the first singer to have won all four newcomer gold awards from Hong Kong's radio/television stations. Early in his career he was nicknamed 古怪基 by the media, a pun on his name's pronunciation, literally meaning Strange Kei due to his strange appearance on stage.

Leo Ku's most well known songs include "Love Coming Home" (愛回家), "Belated Love" (愛得太遲), "Shower" (花灑), "The Genius and the Idiot" (天才與白痴), "Monica", "Love and Honesty" (愛與誠), "Sorrow Hits Man" (傷追人), "Nobita" (大雄), "Killing Move" (必殺技), "Let Heaven Shed Its Tears" (任天堂流淚), "Holiday in Rome" (羅馬假期), "Enjoy Yourself Tonight" (歡樂今宵), "Friendship" (友共情), "Second Most Loved" (第二最愛) and "Blue Skies and White Clouds" (藍天與白雲) - A cover of Keisuke Kuwata's song 悲しい気持ち (JUST A MAN IN LOVE).

Musical career

One of his songs "Enjoy Yourself Tonight" (歡樂今宵) released on 1997 earned him various musical awards most notably the Silver Male pop singer by Commercial Radio. However, his singing career was stalled in the next few years but he regained popularity in 2003, because of efforts of his current manager Paco Wong (黃柏高), with the release of new albums "Games" (遊戲—基) and "Nobita" (大雄) - A reference to the Doraemon character of the same name. He has been referred to as one of the 'New Four Big Heavenly Kings' by veteran singer Alan Tam along with Hacken Lee, Andy Hui and Edmond Leung.

Leo Ku's recent albums have revolved around a specific theme. The album "Games" was based on video games, "Nobita" was based on the comic books, while "Jade Solid Gold" is named after a popular music show of the same name. "Nobita" is one of Leo Ku's most successful albums ever, with 64,152 copies sold in 2004. It was the eighth best selling Cantopop album of 2004 in Hong Kong. In 2003 and 2004 has also achieved his dream of releasing his own comic book. "The Story of Kubi" is a set of two comic books hand drawn by Leo. With the continuous amount of work he has today, he is unable to release another book of the series yet.

In April 9, 2005, his greatest hits album, "Jade Solid Gold" (勁歌金曲), reached double Platinum (100,000 copies). In March, 2005, he held his first major concert (勁歌金曲演唱會). Further tours were held across Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Canada and the China, following the success of the Hong Kong concerts, featuring guest performances by Kary Ng and Justin Lo. A total of seventeen concerts were held. Leo Ku's "Jade Solid Gold" (勁歌金曲) was one of Hong Kong's top ten albums sold from December 30, 2004 to December 21, 2005.
In October, 2005, Leo was declared one of Ten Outstanding Young Persons where his hard work on his music and film career, and his excellence in commitment to the community was recognized. He contributed tremendously to the society, and even founded a Leo Ku Children Medical Fund (古巨基兒童醫療基金). A month later, in November, he released his first Mandarin album under Gold Label, known as "Final Fantasy" (最終幻想), it featured Mandarin versions of his well known Cantonese songs as well as original songs, targeting the Mandarin speaking community. Its main song was "Sleeping Beauty" (睡美人).

In December 23, 2005, Leo Ku, and his management company Gold Label announced that he has sold 300,000 copies (six times Platinum) of the four albums which came out this year, with eight hit songs, including "The Genius and the Idiot" (天才與白痴) which stayed in first place at the karaoke charts for a total of nine weeks in a row.

Leo Ku's 2006 album "Human" (我生) received mostly positive reviews, as over 25,000 copies of the album were sold within the first three days of release. The concept of the CD was innovative as its theme deviates from romantic love and relationships, a practice most Cantopop albums adhere to. Included in the album is a 60 minute music video directed by Leo Ku himself. This would be his directing debut.

In June, 2007, his song "Money" (錢錢錢錢) was accused of being copied from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".[2] In response, Ku made a post on his blog stating that "Money" is a progressive rock song, therefore will contain elements used in that genre of music.

In July 31, 2007, it was confirmed he filmed a music video called "Love Coming Home" (愛回家) featuring Katie Leung as the main actress, who is best known for playing as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films.

In August 24, 2007, he released his album "Moments", all the lyrics were written by Lin Xi (林夕), with music composed by Mark Lui, Ivana Wong, Justin Lo and others. Also included with the album was a 60 minute DVD featuring footage shot from Fukuoka, London, Paris, Venice, Vienna and Beijing. Weeks after the album's release, he held his second major concert in Hong Kong Coliseum, known as "The Magic Moments 2007" concert, from September 9 to September 12, 2007. Guests which performed in the concert include Alex Fong, Justin Lo, Terence Tsui (小肥), Vivian Chow and Ekin Cheng.