Wakin Chau (born 22 December 1960), better known by his stage name Emil Chau during the 1980s and 1990s, is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese singer and actor, popular throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and parts of Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam). As of 2007, he has released more than 40 albums.

Early life

Wakin Chau was born in a rice store owned by his family at

Sai Ying Pun Sai Ying Pun is an area in Western District, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is administratively part of the Central and Western District. Etymology In Cantonese, ''Sai'' () means "west" and ''Ying Pun'' () means "camp", especially a ...

in Hong Kong, the fourth son of seven children. He began learning the guitar when he was about 13 years old. In 1979, he left for

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

to major in mathematics at

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

. While at college he sang and played folk songs in local coffee shops, learning to sing in Mandarin.

Music career

Hoping to establish a career as a recording artist, Chau sought contacts in the music industry, but after a lack of success, eventually signed on as an assistant producer at

Rock Records The Rock Records Co., Ltd. () commonly known as Rock Records (), is a record label based in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in the 1980s as the Rock Music Publishing (滾石有聲出版社; ) by Tuan Chung-tan and Tuan Chung-i, It is the largest record ...

, where he wrote pop songs for other artists. He was later encouraged by

Chyi Yu Chyi Yu or Qi Yu (; born 17 October 1957) is a Taiwanese singer best known for her 1979 hit, "The Olive Tree" (橄欖樹). She won the 9th Golden Melody Award for Best Female Vocalist Mandarin. She is the elder sister of singer-songwriter Chyi Ch ...

to perform jingles for commercial advertisements. One of his jingles for a car commercial was heard by his boss at Rock, who recognised his voice and gave him a chance to record a Mandarin album, released on

in 1987. From 1985, under the name Emil Chau, he has released more than 40 albums in Mandarin,

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

and English. His platinum albums, including ''You Make Me Happy and Sad'' (), ''The Flowery Heart'' (), ''Music Brings Us Together'' () and ''Emil & Friends'' () have won awards in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Chau reverted to using his given name Wakin in 1999. Chau formed the four-member supergroup

Superband ''SuperBand'' () is a spin-off of '' Project SuperStar'', a popular singing talent-search competition in Singapore. Contestants are bands of 2 to 6 people. To mark the opening of the first season, a special SuperBand Big Jam where all the 18 ba ...

, along with Jonathan Lee,

Chang Chen-yue Chang Chen-yue (; born 2 May 1974), also known as A-Yue and by his Amis name Ayal Komod, is an aboriginal Taiwanese rock and Hip-Hop musician, songwriter, singer and guitarist, and the frontman of his band, Free Night, also known as Free9. He ...

and

Lo Ta-yu Lo Ta-yu (; born 20 July 1954), also known as Luo Dayou and Law Tai-yau, is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. During the 1980s, Lo became one of the most influential Mandopop singer-songwriters with his melodic lyrics and love songs, and his ...

. They disbanded and resumed their solo careers in 2010.

Other activities

Chau has also appeared in some films, and on TV and radio programs in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Alongside his singing career, he is a restaurateur and is active in international charitable causes, such as kidney dialysis charities in Singapore, the January 2002 "Take a Deep Breath" concert in

to raise money for local health-care organisations, Beijing's 4th Grand Charity Drive for Children in 2005, and

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

's all-star concerts in Las Vegas.

Discography

Mandarin albums

* The Last Waltz (Feb 1985) * Direction of the Heart (Jul 1987) * I Gave My Love I Realized My Dream (Aug 1988) * The More You Give the More You Expect (Jan 1989) * The Truest Dream (Nov 1989) * I Don't Want to Be Alone (Dec 1990) * You Make Me Happy and Sad (Nov 1991) * The Flowery Heart (Apr 1993) * Asia Tour'93 Emil Alive! (Jan 1994) * Nothing Will Stop Me From Loving You (Jun 1994) * I Am Willing to Go Soon (Feb 1995) * Love Follows Us (Jul 1995) * Light of Love (Feb 1996) * My Little Paradise (Sep 1996) * Emil & Friends (Apr 1997) * Story Teller (Aug 1998) * Now (Nov 1999) * Day Lilies (Otc 2001) * All Out (2003) * Love Hotel (Jul 2003) * Keep Wakin 1987-2002 (Sep 2003) * Wakin in the Rain (Mar 2006) * Diva (May 2011) * Jiang Hu (Dec 2013) * My Farewell Lady (Mar 2019) * The Younger Me (Dec 2019) * A Song for You (Feb 2020)

Cantonese albums

* Music Brings Us Together (Otc 1994) * (Apr 1995) * (Dec 1995) * Emil's Live Moments (Jun 1996) * Living With Emil Chau (Dec 1996) * (Otc 1997) * (Feb 1998)

English albums

*Sad Without You (Sep 1988) *Blue Bird (Feb 1991) *I Remember (May 1992) *Songs of Birds (Aug 1993) *Forever Young (Best Collection) (Jun 1996) *My Oh My (Feb 2001) *My Favorite Songs (May 2002)

Collaborations

* "

Beijing Welcomes You ''Beijing Welcomes You'' () is a feature song for the 100-day countdown of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. The song comprises one hundred famous artists and entertainers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan ...

" (2008) with various artists (only Sony Music Taiwan) * "I Love You Suddenly" (2009) with

Della Ding Ding Dang (; born Wu Xian on 17 April 1982), also known as Della, is a Taiwan-based Chinese singer who is known for her wide vocal range and emotive soundtracks for numerous television series. Early life and education Ding Dang was born on ...

- ''

Autumn's Concerto Autumn's Concerto () is a 2009 Taiwanese drama series starring Ady An, Ann Hsu, and Vanness Wu of F4. It was produced by Sanlih E-Television and directed by Wei-ling Chen. The series was filmed from June to December 2009. The series was first ...

'' ending theme

Filmography

*1987: '' Osmanthus Alley'' () *1987: '' The Game They Called Sex'' () - Tung Tzu-Chi *1993: '' Once a Cop'' (aka. ''Project S'') - Martin Lee *1994: '' Right Here Waiting'' () - Alex Chow *1995: ''

Rumble in the Bronx ''Rumble in the Bronx'' (Chinese title: 紅番區, ''Hong Faan Kui'' (transl. ''Red Turn District'') is a 1995 American-Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jackie Chan, Anita Mui and Françoise Yip. It was directed by Stanley Tong, with action ...

'' - Ice Cream Man *1995: ''

Just Married ''Just Married'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written by Sam Harper, and stars Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy. Produced by Robert Simonds, the film was successful at the box office despite generally negative ...

'' () - Kong Chi Wa *1995: '' I Want To Go on Living'' () - Man Chi-Yeung *1995: '' Faithfully Yours'' () - Pao Wing-Cheung *1996: '' Who's the Woman, Who's the Man?'' (金枝玉葉2) *1997: '' Mr. Nice Guy'' - Ice Cream Man *1997: ''

All's Well, Ends Well 1997 ''All's Well, Ends Well 1997'' (97家有囍事) is a 1997 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Alfred Cheung, starring Stephen Chow, Raymond Wong and Francis Ng. Plot Kung (Stephen Chow) is the spoiled youngest brother of three: no job, no educati ...

'' - Long *1997: () *1997: '' Walk In'' () *1997: '' Spicy Love Soup'' () - Neighbor *1999: '' Gorgeous'' () - L.W. Lo *1999: '' Purple Storm'' () - Ma Li *2001: ''

Headlines The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

'' () - Sorrow Chan *2003: ''

Homerun HOMERUN was a secret US aerial reconnaissance operation against the USSR in 1956. History Project HOMERUN was conducted between March and May 1956. During that time RB-47E and RB-47H reconnaissance aircraft flew almost daily flights over the North ...

'' - Policeman *2003: '' The Pawnshop No. 8'' () (TV Series)

References

External links

Wakin.com
(Big5-code; his personal website in Taiwan)
True Blue Emil's Page
(Hong Kong, Big5-code)
Sunny Stars Ferry — Wakin Chau
(China, GB-code)
Every Wakin's Moment
(Singapore, English & GB-code) * (English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chau, Wakin 1960 births Hong Kong male singers Cantopop singers English-language singers from Hong Kong Hong Kong Mandopop singer-songwriters Hong Kong male film actors Taiwanese people of Hong Kong descent Cantonese people Living people National Taiwan University alumni Superband (band) members