Four Heavenly Kings

In Hong Kong music industry, there are a group of legendary singer who are well known as the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop. The term “Four Heavenly Kings” actually came out from the Buddhist theology. In Hong Kong music industry, this term refers to the four singer, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok. These four men came out with good looks and powerful vocal when it comes to singing. They also act in films and a movie star too. The term Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop came out from Oriental Daily News, where they referring to the four biggest Hong Kong superstar during 1990s.

FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS...Their songs and movies become hit until now thus making them deserve to be labelled with that name. Photo taken from http://factsanddetails.com/media/2/20080303-4kings.jpg

 

My personal favourite would be Jacky Cheung among those four artists. This is because I used to listened to his songs such as Everlasting Love, Linda and Li Xiang Lan. He can be described as versatile because he managed to sing various genres such as pop, RnB and jazz. His jazz album, Private Corner is claimed as one of his best album. He received multiple awards throughout his career such as Best-Selling Chinese Artist at the World Music Awards, and Radio Television Hong Kong's Golden Needle Award. Known for his romantic songs, he organized several concerts of himself during the past until present.

Next is Andy Lau. Successful as an actor, he is also a successful singer. Known for his act in movies such as God of Gamblers, people also adore his vocal and his songs too. He once recorded a Malay song, Adakalanya Menghiris for his Malaysian fans. That song was taught by Saari Amri, a Malaysian composer. He managed to get into the Guinness Book of Records in 2000 for the Most Awards Won By a Canto-Pop Male Artist. He once performed with Jackie Chan in the summer Olympic closing ceremony in 2008. He married a Malaysian women in 2008, Carol Chu and has a daughter, Hanna.

Let’s move on to Aaron Kwok. I saw him for the first time when he act in Para Para Sakura during my childhood. He also stars in The Monkey King 2, a 2016 Chinese New Year movie. His music career starts with three mandopop album including the song Loving You Forever. His success in Taiwan makes him went to Hong Kong in 1991 and involved himself with Cantopop. His success in Hong Kong made him being one of the Four Heavenly Kings and a star in Asia. He won awards such as the 1991 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards, 1991 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards and Asia Pacific Most Popular Artist Award in 1999. He won major awards anually until 2001. He also collaborated with Janet Jackson and Ricky Martin for Pepsi commercial. He managed to perform concerts in many places such as Malaysia, Singapore, U.S.A and Canada.

Last but not least, he is Leon Lai. Captivated people with his good looks, he starts as a recording artist from Capital Records but did not have any album. So he went to Polygram with the help of his teacher, Dai Si Zong. In Polygram, he released his 1st album, Leon and later, Meet in the Rain which is a success. In 1998, he involved with Sony Music. He achieved several awards such as 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards, 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, 1993 Most Popular Male Singer award and 1995 TVB Jade Solid Gold. He announced that he would not receive awards in Hong Kong anymore.

These Four Heavenly Kings have the aura that managed to captivate people to listen to their songs, watch their movies and concerts. For me, all four of them are legendary and they deserve the title Four Heavenly Kings.