Sally YehSally Yeh

In 1984, after the Taiwan record contract ended, the centre of the career moved from Taiwan to Hong Kong. Sally Yeh signed with Warner Records Hong Kong, and George Lam guided Sally Yeh's Cantonese and singing technique. That year Sally Yeh formally debuted in the Hong Kong scene, released a first Cantonese song composed by George Lam, "零時十分", and a first Cantonese album, "葉蒨文", and also appeared in several Hong Kong films. After "零時十分" came out, the Chinese Wikipedia records that it was very popular, widely sung, and took number one on the pop charts, greatly opening Sally Yeh's name in Hong Kong, and that it also won platinum sales for that album.

In 1985 "葉蒨文II" came out, including the lead "長夜 MY LOVE GOODNIGHT", the theme "晚風" of the film "上海之夜", the theme "迷惑" of the film "愛神一號", and "200度". In 1986 "葉蒨文Ⅲ" came out. The leads were "CHA CHA CHA", which changed the style, the intense love song "我要活下去", and "阿信的故事", the Hong Kong version of the theme of the Japanese drama "Oshin".

Sally Yeh also took part in the scores of several films, mostly films by 徐克 with music by James Wong Jim, including "Lai Ming But Yiu Loi" from the 1987 A Chinese Ghost Story. That song won best original song at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards.

"祝福" of 1988 was adapted from "驛動的心", sung by 姜育恒 and composed by 梁弘志, with Cantonese words by 潘偉源. In the middle of the year the comedy "大丈夫日記", played with 周潤發 and 王祖賢, was released, and the three also sang the film's title theme together. At the end of the year, with "祝福", Sally Yeh in turn took, at Commercial Radio's first 1988 chart awards, "叱吒樂壇女歌手金獎", "叱咤樂壇至尊歌曲大獎", "叱咤樂壇我最喜愛的歌曲大獎" and "叱咤樂壇IFPI唱片大獎", and at RTHK's Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs awards the "十大中文金曲獎", and at TVB's Top Ten Jade Solid Gold the "十大金曲獎" and the highest honour, "金曲金獎". Within half a month Sally Yeh swept 12 Hong Kong pop prizes in a row.

In 1989 "祝福經典十三首" came out. From 1990 to 1993, four years in a row, Sally Yeh took "most popular female singer" at Hong Kong's Top Ten Jade Solid Gold. The Chinese Wikipedia records that, in the years when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated the scene, Sally Yeh received the title of one of the "four great divas".

"珍重", a wholly new lead released at the start of 1990 (words also by 潘偉源, the lyricist of "祝福"), took number one on the major pop charts as soon as it charted. It was a four-week Commercial Radio number-one song and stayed on the chart 12 weeks. At the end of the year "焚心以火" won Sally Yeh a second TVB Top Ten Jade Solid Gold "金曲金獎", after "祝福", and also brought the first Hong Kong "最受歡迎女歌星" prize.

In February 1991, over the Lunar New Year, Sally Yeh again held ten shows in a row at the Hong Kong Coliseum, "春風得意演唱會1991", and with the concert released the fast song "心裡的陽光", adapted from Janet Jackson's "Black Cat".

The same year Warner Records Hong Kong worked with UFO Records of Taiwan. Producer 陳大力 on the UFO side was in charge of the plan for Sally Yeh's return and comeback in Taiwan. In November the theme of the Taiwan CTS 8 p.m. drama "京城四少", "瀟灑走一回", fired the first shot. The Chinese Wikipedia records that after the song came out with the drama it caused a sensation and spread widely in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Sales of the album "瀟灑走一回" in Taiwan broke six-times platinum. The heat of the song spread from the end of 1991 through the whole of 1992, and it received the 1992 Taiwan Golden Melody "最佳年度歌曲獎" and best composer, RTHK's Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs "優秀國語歌曲獎", the Top Ten Jade Solid Gold "最受歡迎國語歌曲金獎", and the chart awards' "全國專業推介金獎". In October 1991 "關懷" also came out.

In 1992 the Hong Kong side put its publicity on the first-wave Mandarin lead of the return to the Taiwan scene. At the start of the year it went to radio in Hong Kong. Warner Records Hong Kong then released the new-songs compilation "葉蒨文影視金曲", again including "瀟灑走一回" and the Cantonese version "現實就是現實", adapted from "明明白白我的心", the duet gold song of 成龍 and 陳淑樺. The same year Sally Yeh worked with several Western artists, recording "I'm Always Dreaming of You" with Tommy Page, and the next year "I Believe in Love" with James Ingram.

Sally Yeh for a third time went up to the Hong Kong Coliseum and held ten solo shows in a row, "瀟灑走一回演唱會93". The Cantonese song "你今天要走" was chosen among the year's top ten jade solid gold songs. The lead "完全是你" also came out, the first time in ten years, since 1984, that George Lam composed for Sally Yeh again. At the year's end Sally Yeh a fourth time kept TVB's Top Ten Jade Solid Gold "most popular female singer", and took Hong Kong's "best female singer", given for the first time at RTHK's Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs concert.

In 1994 the Japanese writing duo Chage & Aska specially invited Sally Yeh to sing the Cantonese version "女人的弱點" and the Mandarin version "離開情人的日子" of their best-selling new song "You are free". After "女人的弱點" came out at the start of the year it reached number one on four stations' charts. The album's follow-up lead, "別人的情歌", was a rare try at rhythm and blues. In 1995 "真心" and "simple black & white" (January) came out. In September 1996 "True" came out. In July 1997, together with Sammi Cheng, Sally Yeh held "談情說愛慈善演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

On July 17, 1996 Sally Yeh and George Lam formally registered their marriage. The Chinese Wikipedia records that in the early period of developing in Taiwan Sally Yeh lived at the maternal grandfather's home, later rented outside with the mother, and while working in Hong Kong stayed in a hotel provided by the film company, and that only from about the age of 27 (1988) did Sally Yeh begin to buy a home and live in Hong Kong.

In 2002 Sally Yeh re-entered the Cantonese pop market, released the record Can You Hear, and held a series of concerts in different countries. In March 2005, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Sally Yeh held four "HKPO × Sally Yeh" concerts, and asked conductor 石信之 to conduct. The same year "Sally Yeh XRCD Special-最动听的叶倩文" came out.

After 2006 Sally Yeh again stepped back, concentrating on family life and badminton, and appeared less in Hong Kong. By Sally Yeh's own sharing, there were times of going back to Canada to live and to deal with home renovation. In 2011 Sally Yeh received the Golden Needle at RTHK's 33rd Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs. On August 5, 2012 Sally Yeh announced a comeback concert in Hong Kong, working again with old comrade 黃柏高.

On May 27, 2014 "Ultimate Sound SACD" came out. In 2015, invited by the Heart Panda giant-panda public-art world tour "Let's Love善．愛", Sally Yeh, with a group of artists and public figures, joined in designing a giant-panda artwork. After the Hong Kong stop of the exhibition the finished piece was auctioned for charity, and the proceeds were given to the 善學 charity fund. On August 30, 2018, to commemorate the late Danny Chan and what would have been his 60th birthday, Universal Records released the Cantonese cover tribute album "環球高歌陳百強". Twelve Hong Kong singers took part. Sally Yeh, whose friendship with Danny Chan was deep, chose "疾風".

From May to July 2022, together with husband George Lam, Sally Yeh took part in "聲生不息", a music reality show jointly run by TVB and mainland China's Mango TV, and with Hong Kong and mainland singers of different generations sang Hong Kong classics again. The clip of the two singing "敢愛敢做" passed 100 million clicks in the mainland. In a July 2022 interview on CGTN's The Point, Sally Yeh said plainly that for many years, when singing Chinese songs, the words often could not be fully understood, and that Sally Yeh had to listen to the arrangement to fit the feeling of the song. The English Wikipedia also records that when reading Chinese characters Sally Yeh still relies on the help of Mandarin and Cantonese romanization.