September 2007

Hong Kong English Pop first learned about Mary Leung (Yueh Ling 梁月玲) and her brother Paul when we met Jason Leung (no relation), an avid collector of Hong Kong vinyl. Wondering what we meant by the title of our project, ‘Hong Kong Pop: English Style’, Jason produced a copy of a rare 1968 album entitled Hong Kong Song, on which Mary is listed as vocalist, Paul as composer, arranger and band leader, and another brother, Anthony, as producer. ‘Is this what you mean?’, he asked.

Hong Kong Song is a remarkable album in more ways than one. Its opening title track is classic pentatonic pop. The beat, instrumentation and lyrics instantly transport the listener back into the dreams and struggles immigrants to 1960s Hong Kong. The second track, Oriental Moon, couldn’t be more different – a haunting Chinese melody with a cleverly woven English lyric. And so the album continues, as Paul and Mary artfully blend western pop and art song styles with Chinese melodies in surprise after surprise. Even more remarkable, the composer, arranger and band leader also owned the recording company, Amo Recording Company, which almost certainly makes Hong Kong Song the first DIY record to be made in Hong Kong.

Determined to learn the story behind Hong Kong Song, we tracked Mary Leung down to her studio in Kowloon, where she now teaches vocal style. What follows is Mary's story of her long and fascinating career as a singer and producer in Hong Kong and the United States.

Could you tell us a little about your family?

My eldest brother, Peter, [Leung Yat Chiu 梁日昭 ] was a well-known harmonica teacher. My second eldest brother, Paul 梁寶耳 , is a composer and lyricist, and my third eldest brother, Anthony 梁日修 , was a professional drummer. My husband is Teddy Suen 孫立功 , a well-known jazz guitarist in Hong Kong. He just released a new record in 2006 [Teddy Suen and Friends, In My Memory].

Where did you go to school?

I went to two different secondary schools: Tsung Tsin College 崇真書院 in Hong Kong for junior secondary and Colegio de Santa Rosa de Lima 聖羅撒女子中學 in Macau for senior secondary. Tsung Tsin was an English-medium school, but Colegio de Santa Rosa de Lima was Chinese-medium.  

How did you begin singing?

As a child, my brother introduced a lot of good singers to me. Especially Deanna Durbin, she sings well in both classical and pop styles. I have loved her voice since I was a child. I wanted to imitate her voice when I sang, but her tone was so high that I was not able to. I hadn’t started to study singing at that time. Deanna Durbin pushed me to improve my musical skill. My brothers influenced me to love music and singing, but I think I am a music lover by nature, and I possess talent in singing with feeling. I have my own singing style.

Which other singers do you admire?

I also like Barbara Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. I love Stardust, and also Misty, As Time Goes By. I like ballads, songs taken from Broadway shows, songs that are romantic and with deep feeling. I used to listen to those Broadway musicals on records. I love watching those old Hollywood musicals, like The West End Story, the song Tonight is wonderful.  

How did your career begin?

I won the Singtao Daily 星島日報 Singing Contest in 1961. I sang 恨不相逢未嫁時 (I Regret Not Meeting You Before I Married), a shi dai qu [Shanghai-style Mandarin song] by Li Xiang Lan 李香蘭 . That is a difficult song! I love the song because of the lyric and the melody. In the beginning, I really liked Zhou Xuan 周璇 , and then I also liked Li Xiang Lan . People said that I sang like Zhou Xuan , so after a while, I wanted to take up the challenge to sing Li Xiang Lan ’s songs. That was why I chose that particular song. I t was a song full of feeling. At the beginning of my career, I sang shi dai qu. Later, my brother suggested I should listen to and sing more English songs because there was more variety in English songs. We need to learn different colours of music. It isn’t enough to know red, yellow and blue. What will the colour be when red and yellow mix? We should therefore listen to more varieties of songs. That’s why I started to sing in English.

What was the first English song you performed?

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing by Andy Williams. That is a very romantic song!  

Can you tell us about some of the places you performed in the 19sixties?

In 1963, I started to perform at the Miramar Hotel 美麗華酒店 [ Kimberley Road, Kowloon]. I performed there for six years, singing both Mandarin and English songs. At that time I was earning about $8,000 a month. It was a lot of money. At that time, it only cost about $5,000 to put down the advance for an apartment in Mei Foo 美孚新�h [a flat cost around $40,000 in 1965]. There were also shows at the Miramar Hotel, for instance, ‘ A Tale of Two Kingdoms’ 王昭君 , and I sang for the actresses off stage. After singing in the show, I would join different bands to sing live English songs. Most of the musicians were Filipinos. I also sang at the Grand Hotel 格蘭酒店 after 1969. Then I went to the Wellton Hotel 華爾登酒店 and the Park Hotel 百樂酒店 .

Did you perform more than one show on the same day?

Yes, in the later period. After the period of singing in hotels, I did several shows a day, because I could earn a lot. I only worked in the best hotels, so I received very good pay. On weekdays, I from 8 to 11 pm. At weekends, I performed during the tea dance from 4 to 6 pm and then during dinner from 8 pm. Later, when nightclubs were popular, I did the mid-night shift as well. They opened almost 24-hour a day! I used to go to nightclubs after I finished singing at the hotel. I used to sing until 4 am! I don’t really remember which nightclubs I performed in. There were so many of them! For example, Kam Fa 金花 [ Golden Flower]. Very busy! On Saturdays in the Park Hotel, I had to sing over 100 songs because there was tea dance at 4 pm. I sang in the tea dance period from 4- 6pm. Then I rested for an hour and continued to sing until midnight.

How many shows could you do in one night?

Sometimes I sang in three different nightclubs. There were usually more than ten different singers. Each singer just sang two to three songs and then off we went to another nightclub.

Who chose the songs?

I had 500 songs for the bands to choose from. I sang whatever they chose.  

All the nightclubs were all located in Tsim Sha Tsui?

Not only in Tsim Sha Tsui, but also in Jordan and Mongkok. They were all on Nathan Road. One famous nightclub was called Kam Hon 金漢 [Buckingham] . Kam Fa was also located in the same building on a different floor. It was in Jordan, across from where the Eaton Hotel 香港逸東酒店 is now. The owner of Kam Fa once joked that I was very capable because I finished one floor and then went to another floor. Some singers didn’t like to perform in nightclubs that were close to each other. I didn’t care and the bosses were very nice to me. I really don’t remember exactly where the building was, because when I came back from the States, after 26 years, the buildings were all different.

What was your first recording?

The first song I recorded was Dream of Kiangnan 夢江南 in 1963 or 1964 . It was a hit in Hong Kong for almost a year. It was as popular as Koo Mei’s 顧媚 Love Without End 不了情 . Dream of Kiangnan was well-known among radio audiences because it was the theme song of ‘Songs to Remember’ 一曲難忘 , which my brother Paul presented on Commercial Radio for many years. I have recorded it more than three times now and each time it has shown its own mood.  

You have mostly recorded your brother’s songs?

I love my brother’s songs because they have such good harmony. But I didn’t really participate in the composing process. I just sang while he played the piano. My brother usually told me the mood of the songs he composed and how it should be sung. I would feel the mood from the melody and then express that mood.

What do you remember about the Hong Kong Song album?

I was singing at the Miramar Hotel when the album was recorded. The songs were composed by my brother, Paul, and I was the vocalist. We recorded Hong Kong Song in Hong Kong with a backing band. I remember that it was recorded in one take and I couldn’t make afford to make mistakes.  

At the time it was unusual for local songwriters to compose songs with English lyrics. Why do you think your brother did that?

I am not sure why. Maybe you had better call him and ask! I guess he wanted to be a little bit different from the rest of the musicians because most of the others used Chinese songs. There were not many people singing in English at that time. When Hong Kong Song became famous, singers like Sandra Lang 仙杜拉 followed suit and sang this song. But everyone loves my version most! ( Laughs )

It was also unusual to make a record by yourself? Why did you decide to do that?

Yes, everything was made by my brothers and myself. My brothers love music very much and they founded the Amo Record Corporation 愛美唱片 . We didn’t go to a bigger record company, because my brother Paul wouldn’t be able to control which songs and how many would be released by other companies. He had more control when he owned his own record company.

What do you remember about the title song of the album?

Hong Kong Song was written in the sixties when crowds of refugees were crossing the border. There were often water shortages. Water was only provided for a few hours every 3 days. This is where the idea of Hong Kong Song came from. My brother also thought that his songs could make the city famous.

Did you use different singing styles when performing in Chinese or English respectively?

Yes. Like on Oriental Moon [a Chinese melody with English lyrics]. It feels different singing it in English. We cannot use a Chinese style of singing to perform in English, because the words and phrases break up in different ways. It is more natural for foreign singers to sing in English since it is their mother tongue. When they perform, it’s just like talking, for example The Carpenters, with them it is just like telling a story!

Can you tell us more about your career in the States?

I left Hong Kong and went to San Francisco in 1972. I performed in Korean nightclubs in Chinatown & in Japantown. Later I opened a restaurant and studied singing during off hours. In 1973, I studied at the Judy Davis Studio. I was tutored personally by Judy Davis. She was also Barbra Streisand’s vocal teacher. I also performed in Boston, New York and other cities. Later I became a vocal teacher myself and I have tutored many pop singers in Hong Kong [including Richie Yam 任賢齊 , Cass Phang 彭羚 , Leo Ku 古巨基 , Candy Lo 盧巧音 , Joey Yung 容祖兒 , Fiona Sit 薜凱琪 , Cheer Chen 陳綺貞 , cookies 成員 (Theresa & Miki), Shine , Purple Lee 李紫昕] . I began to teach when I came back from the States. I had many years of experience as a professional singer and had studied under a famous vocal teacher in San Francisco. I feel that students need an experienced and patient teacher.

How about your recordings in the States?

I made a recording with my husband, guitarist Teddy Suen, in 1988, 快樂時光 (Happy Hours). I also made two CDs in 1994 with arrangements by Shota Osabe,Hong Kong and Lovely Songs For Happy Hearts. These were recordings of my brothers’ songs, some re-recordings of songs from the Hong Kong Songs album. And I released several EPs, like Dreaming of Jiangnan. Some of these songs are loved by many people, so I have re-recorded them.

And you also recorded some collaborations in the States

I released a CD with the Platters, The Spirit of the Platters with Mary Leung. M y brother Paul set up the deal and I flew to New York for the recording. I thought their sound would go really well with my voice and singing. I sang and the The Platters did backup vocals. We performed Hong Kong song together on stage in 2004 at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. In 1998 I also helped my brother arrange A Princess’s Blessing (sung by Sandy Griffith), and in 1999 I helped with the Tokyo Night CD with Patti Page singing my brother’s songs. He also set up the collaboration with Patti Page and I produced the album.

The Hong Kong you recorded with the Platters was a new song?

Hong Kong Song came out in the sixties and Hong Kong was first released in 1994. They have different melodies and styles. For Hong Kong Song, I used a more Chinese style of singing that belongs to the sixties. Hong Kong, which was also composed by my brother, has a more western style. Studying in the States, influenced my style a lot.

Can you share one or two of your favourite songs with us?

Have I The Right , Tell Me Why, I’ll Be Wearing A White Wedding Gown. All of these songs are good. When I was recording I’ll Be Wearing A White Wedding Gown in the States, a foreigner was amazed by my voice. He wanted to know how I could sing with such a young voice even when I was so old! Many of the fans who buy my CDs loved the feelings that I express. I love ballet music very much, and that’s why I like to sing this type of song. On Have I the Right, I followed the singing style of Brenda Lee. I used different vocal styles for different songs. It was my brother who taught me that I needed to know how to sing in different musical styles if I wanted to be a good singer. It will be very boring if every song is in the same style, you will easily get tired of the same voice! I also like the songs that people love to listen to. For example, in the old days, the owner of the Park Hotel always requested the same song, An Affair To Remember. When people love the song, I also love it!

Can you tell us about your brother’s Sing Song Learning English book/CD series?

The CDs teach children English pronunciation and grammar. My brother composed and wrote the lyrics for more than 400 songs. The songs help children to memorize English grammar better… for example, “I go, we go, she goes”. It is a better tool than just teaching children with textbooks. They memorize the words together with the melodies.

Did singing English songs help you to learn English?

I think learning to sing in English helped me with my pronunciation. I can recognize my students’ pronunciation mistakes when I teach them how to sing. Even a foreign student from Cambridge University makes mistakes. He sings like he talks. Too flat. Some students don’t know how to hold their breath. When my teacher taught students how to sing, she asked them to pronounce every letter in the word. For example, ‘world’… (Sings) ‘All the people in the w-o-r-l-d……’ I come from an academic music background and I can hear mistakes in vowel sounds very easily.

How would you compare Hong Kong music of the sixties with the music of today?

The popular songs of the sixties – both English and Chinese – are more mature and tuneful. At present, most new songs are just rhythm. Few composers in Hong Kong are composing English songs, so there is no contact between the two markets.

What do feel about singing in English nowadays?

Popular music is an international culture and most popular songs have English lyrics. If I wish to join this activity, I should sing songs in English. There is nothing special about it.