Alan Tam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alan Tam
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| 譚詠麟 | |||||||||||||||
Tam in 2006
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| Born |
Tam Wing-lun
23 August 1950 Healthy Village, Tsat Tsz Mui, North Point, Hong Kong
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| Education | Ngee Ann Polytechnic | ||||||||||||||
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| Years active | 1969–present | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) |
Sally Yeung Kit-mei (楊潔薇)
(m. 1981) |
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| Partner(s) |
Wendy Chu Wing-ting (朱穎婷)
(m. 1991) |
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| Children | 1 Tam Hiu-fung (譚曉風) 1 July 1996 |
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| Parent(s) | Tam Kong-pak (譚江柏) | ||||||||||||||
| Awards | Golden Horse Awards – Best Actor 1981 If I Were for Real RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards – Golden Needle Award 1996 Lifetime Achievement |
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| Musical career | |||||||||||||||
| Also known as | Uncle Lun (倫伯) Lucky Lun (幸運倫) Principal (校長) Principal Tam (譚校長) Ah Lun (亞倫) |
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| Instruments | Vocals | ||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 譚詠麟 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 谭咏麟 | ||||||||||||||
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Alan Tam Wing-lun (born 23 August 1950) is a famous singer and actor from Hong Kong. He played a huge part in making Cantopop music popular in the 1980s. He was known for singing romantic songs with modern music styles.
From 1983 to 1987, Alan Tam won many music awards. He was named the Most Popular Male Artist and won the IFPI Award for four years in a row. This made him the biggest superstar singer in Hong Kong during the 1980s. In 1988, he decided to stop accepting pop music awards. He then focused on finding new directions for Cantopop music.
Today, Alan Tam is still active in music and movies. He regularly releases new albums. Since the late 1980s, he has been a guide for the Cantopop music world. This earned him the nickname "Principal" or "Principal Tam." You can often see him in the media across Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and other parts of East Asia. He takes part in many entertainment and charity events. By 2013, Alan Tam had released 115 solo albums. He had sold over 35 million records worldwide. He also holds the record for the most solo concerts in Hong Kong. Twenty of his albums have been certified platinum by the IFPI Hong Kong. This means they sold a lot of copies!
Contents
About Alan Tam
Early Life and Family
Alan Tam was born on 23 August 1950 in Healthy Village in North Point, Hong Kong. His father was Tam Kong-pak, a football player. His dad even played for the Republic of China national team in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Alan went to Shau Kei Wan Government Secondary School and Chi Lin Buddhist Secondary School. Later, he studied Economics at Ngee Ann Technical College in Singapore.
In 1981, Tam married Sally Yeung Kit-mei. He later met Wendy Chu in 1991, and they had a son in 1995.
Music Career Beginnings
Alan Tam loved music when he was in secondary school in Hong Kong. He started a band called "The Wynners" with his friends. They won an amateur singing contest, which helped them start their careers. They appeared on many TVB variety shows.
The group later reformed as The Wynners with Kenny Bee in 1973. The Wynners mostly sang in English. Alan Tam was one of the two main singers until the band split up in 1978.
His first album as a solo artist was called 'Naughty Boy' (反斗星) in 1979. One of his early hit songs was 'Love in Autumn' (愛在深秋), which he first performed in 1984.
Becoming a Solo Superstar
After "Naughty Boy" in 1979, Alan Tam released many successful albums. These included "Love in Autumn" (愛在深秋) in 1984 and "Embrace" (擁抱). Other popular songs were "Flower in Water" (水中花) and "Half Dazed, Half Awoken" (半夢半醒).
In 1981, he won his first big individual song award at the 1981 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. His albums from 1984, (愛的根源) and (霧之戀), along with 1985's (愛情陷阱), were a very successful group of albums.
In 1988, he announced he would no longer accept competitive music awards. He continued to release albums for over 30 more years. From 1981 to 1988, he won a top 10 song award every single year. He also won a top 10 song award every year from 1983 to 1987 at the Jade Solid Gold Awards. In 1993, he released an English album called "My Love" with Korean singer Kim Wan-Sun.
The Hong Kong news often talked about a big rivalry between Tam and fellow singer Leslie Cheung. Even though the two artists were friends, their fans sometimes created a feeling of competition. In the late 1990s, the singers showed everyone they were friends. They even appeared together in special shows. In 1999, Leslie Cheung and 17 other singers made an album called "Paying Tribute to Alan Tam." They also created a remix of Tam's popular songs "Illusion" (幻影) and "Foggy Love" (霧之戀).
In 2003, Alan Tam teamed up with singer Hacken Lee for a big world tour called Alan & Hacken (Chinese: 左麟右李). The name is a fun play on a Chinese saying that means "neighbours." By 2013, they had performed over 100 concerts around the world. These included shows in China, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Since 2006, he has also helped his godson Kelvin Kwan start his music career in Hong Kong.
One of his famous fast songs, "Love Trap" (愛情陷阱), won him a special honour award in 2006. By 1995, he had sold more than 20 million albums. By 2005, he had released over 104 albums and 800 songs. He has performed in 264 concerts, with 189 of them being his own solo shows.
In 2007, he received the 30th Hall of Fame Award from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH). This award recognized his more than 30 years of contributions to the music industry in Hong Kong and China.
Acting Career
Alan Tam also had a successful acting career. In the 1970s, he hosted a variety show called The Wynners Show. He also acted in the TV drama Over the Rainbow. In 1980, he went to Taiwan to act in movies. He starred in director Pai Ching-jui's A Girl Without Sorrow.
He then starred in more than ten films in Taiwan, including The Funny Couple and Part Time Job. He also appeared in movies like Armour of God with Jackie Chan. Another film was Master Wong v. Master Wong, which was a funny movie about the famous Canton kung fu fighter Wong Fei Hung. In 1981, Tam won the Best Actor award at the Golden Horse Awards for his role in If I Were for Real. He mostly stopped acting after 1997 but made a return for Here Comes Fortune in 2010.
Leading the Artistes Guild
On 11 January 2008, Alan Tam was chosen as the president of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild. This is a group that supports performers in Hong Kong. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Tam helped create a committee to support orphaned children. He worked with other famous people like Eric Tsang and Jackie Chan on this committee.
Business Ventures
In 1997, Alan Tam helped launch a restaurant idea called Star East Entertainment. This business had 40 celebrity investors. It was one of his most well-known investments, made with his friends Natalis Chan and Eric Tsang.
Online Presence
On 11 April 2024, Alan Tam started posting videos on his official YouTube account. He shared old videos of his live performances from the past 13 years.
See also
In Spanish: Alan Tam para niños
