Leslie CheungLeslie Cheung

In 1977 Leslie Cheung entered the Asian singing contest held by Rediffusion Television (RTV), the predecessor of ATV, and was runner-up in the Hong Kong division with "American Pie". Leslie Cheung was then discovered by Polydor Records (Hong Kong) and officially debuted. The same year Leslie Cheung joined RTV and released the EP "I Like Dreamin’". In January 1978 the English record "Day Dreamin'" was released. In 1979 the first Cantonese record, "情人箭", was released, and afterwards the contract with PolyGram (Hong Kong) was ended. In this period Leslie Cheung mostly appeared in RTV dramas and teen-idol films. In the early 1980s Leslie Cheung appeared in teen-idol films such as "喝采", "檸檬可樂" and "烈火青春", often in rebellious, unrestrained roles. In 1980, for the RTHK television short "我家的女人", Leslie Cheung won Best Performance at the Commonwealth Film and Television Festival. In 1982 the contract with RTV expired. Through an introduction by 陳淑芬, Leslie Cheung followed 黎小田 to TVB (a management contract) and to its Capital Artists (a record contract). The same year, for "烈火青春", Leslie Cheung was nominated for the first time for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

In 1983 Leslie Cheung released a second Cantonese record, "風繼續吹", and the same year was chosen as one of Asia's top ten singers by Singapore's "南洋商報". In 1984 Leslie Cheung starred in the TVB series "儂本多情", and the same year the title song "Monica" from the record "Leslie" was released. In 1985 Leslie Cheung held 10 shows of "張國榮百爵夏日演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum. In 1986 Leslie Cheung starred in "英雄本色", directed by 吳宇森, playing 宋子傑. At the end of the year, with "有誰共鳴", Leslie Cheung won the Gold Song Gold Award at the Jade Solid Gold awards.

In 1987 Leslie Cheung moved to Cinepoly Records, under PolyGram, and released the album "Summer Romance", which won the annual sales-champion award at the 10th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards ceremony. "無心睡眠" won the 1987 Jade Solid Gold Gold Song Gold Award, a Top Ten Jade Solid Gold award, and a 10th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs award. In 1988 Leslie Cheung won Most Popular Male Singer at the Jade Solid Gold awards ceremony and the Ultimate Song Chart Male Singer Gold Award at the Ultimate Song Chart Awards, and in the middle of the year held 23 concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, sponsored by Pepsi. Works Leslie Cheung composed include "沉默是金". In 1989 Leslie Cheung again won Most Popular Male Singer at the Jade Solid Gold awards ceremony and the Ultimate Song Chart Male Singer Gold Award, and released three albums, "側面", "Salute" and "Final Encounter". "側面" won the Ultimate Song Chart album IFPI award at the Ultimate Song Chart Awards. Leslie Cheung donated the proceeds of "Salute" to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

In 1989 Leslie Cheung announced a retirement from the music scene, and at the end of the year held 33 shows of "張國榮告別樂壇演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum, then held many dates of a world tour in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere. The live album was released in 1990. After leaving the music scene in 1990, Leslie Cheung lived for a time in Vancouver, Canada, and later returned to live in Hong Kong.

In 1987 Leslie Cheung was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "英雄本色2", and the same year starred in "倩女幽魂", playing 寧采臣. In 1988 Leslie Cheung starred in "胭脂扣", directed by 關錦鵬, and was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the role 十二少. In 1991 Leslie Cheung won Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "阿飛正傳", playing 旭仔 in the film.

In 1993 Leslie Cheung starred in "霸王別姬", playing 程蝶衣, and was in contention for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. The same year Leslie Cheung was invited to be a juror at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and, as the composer of a film score, won Best Film Song at the Golden Horse Awards for the theme "紅顏白髮" of "白髮魔女傳". In 1994, for "霸王別姬", Leslie Cheung won Best Actor from the Japanese film critics' association and a special contribution award from the fourth 中国电影表演艺术学会, and won Best Actor at the first Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards for "東邪西毒", playing 歐陽鋒 in the film. In 1996 Leslie Cheung was again in contention for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for "風月". "春光乍泄", in which Leslie Cheung starred in 1997, was selected for the official competition section of the 50th Cannes Film Festival, and Leslie Cheung played 何寶榮 in the film. In 1998 Leslie Cheung was a juror at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2000 Leslie Cheung starred in "鎗王", playing 彭奕行. In 2002 Leslie Cheung was nominated for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "異度空間", and this is also Leslie Cheung's final film. Among Leslie Cheung's film roles is also 常騷 in "家有囍事".

In 1995 Leslie Cheung released the record "寵愛" and formally announced a return to the music scene, and the same year signed with Rock Records. The Cantonese title song "追" on the record is the theme of the film "金枝玉葉". 李迪文 composed it, 林夕 wrote the words, and Leslie Cheung sang it. It won Best Original Film Song at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1996 Leslie Cheung went into partnership with 于德義, proprietor of 皇后飯店, and opened the 為你鍾情 café on Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The same year the record "紅" was released, and from December 12, 1996, to January 4, 1997, Leslie Cheung held 24 shows of the "跨越97演唱會" concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. The world tour had 60 shows in all. In 1998 the EP "这些年来" and the Mandarin record "Printemps" were released, and in June of the same year the contract with Rock Records came to an end.

In July 1999 Leslie Cheung signed with Universal Music, and afterwards released the album "陪你倒数". The same year Leslie Cheung received the Golden Needle Award. In 2000 the album "大熱" was released. From 2000 to 2001 Leslie Cheung held 19 shows of "熱情演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum and 43 shows of a world tour. The concerts took "From Angel to Devil" as their theme. Leslie Cheung personally served as art director, and specially invited the French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier to take part. In 2001 Leslie Cheung personally directed the music video of the song "夢到內河", with assistance from William Chang. In August of the same year Leslie Cheung was invited to be music ambassador of the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong. In 2002 the EP "Crossover" was released.

The Chinese Wikipedia records that on January 4, 1997, at the cross-97 concerts, Leslie Cheung publicly thanked his mother and 唐鶴德, saying that his mother and Mr 唐 were beloved family and a beloved friend. The same article also records that, in a 2001 interview with the Asian edition of Time, Leslie Cheung said that it would be more accurate to describe himself as bisexual.

On April 1, 2003, Leslie Cheung fell to his death from the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central, Hong Kong. The Chinese Wikipedia records that Leslie Cheung's elder sister, 張綠萍, said in an interview on RTHK that the cause of Leslie Cheung's depression was physiological.

After Leslie Cheung died, 華語流行樂傳媒大獎 posthumously gave a lifetime achievement award. In July 2003 Universal Music released the posthumous album "一切随风". In April 2006, in a vote specially added by the Hong Kong Film Awards, Leslie Cheung became the Silver Jubilee Best Actor. In 2009 Seoul, South Korea, held the "張國榮電影節", named after Leslie Cheung, and screened Leslie Cheung's films over one month. In 2018 a main-belt asteroid, discovered in 2003 by Bill Yeung at Desert Eagle Observatory, was named after Leslie Cheung, numbered 55383 Cheungkwokwing. In 2020 and 2023 Universal Music released the remastered compilation albums "Revisit" and "Remembrance Leslie". The title songs of both albums used vocal tracks that had not been made public before.