I was in the video hall since I was a child, and I liked shengong martial arts and action gunfight films the most, so it is conceivable that when I first watched Lin Lingdong's "Fengyun Trilogy", I was labeled as "not good". The sadness of "Dragon and Tiger Storm", the depression of "Prison Storm", and the darkness of "School Storm" are difficult for me as a teenager to understand and interest.
However, I remembered the unique song in the film- it is difficult not to remember, just when I was sleepy, The Harrah immediately overflowed the corner of my mouth, making a voice shake and scatter. How to describe this voice? Stone breaking the sky, hoarseness, high pitched into the clouds, pulling dry and decaying, deaf and vibrating... Anyway, you can think of all kinds of words with high voices and full of momentum, which can be used on it, which is not a question of whether it is good or not, but a test of how much you can bear.
This voice, liked as a god, disliked as a, absolutely will not be indifferent, indifferent. To be honest, there are not a few singers in the Hong Kong music scene who are known for their loud voices, such as Zhen Ni, Du Lisha, Ye Liyi, Chen Jieling, Lin Zixiang, however, only this voice makes people listen to the arrogance, passion, and give people a sense of strength.
Yes, the owner of this voice is Maria Cordero, nicknamed "Fat Mother", the thickness of the voice is perfectly proportional to the body shape of more than 200 pounds, and the boldness of the personality is well integrated with the mood of the song.
As the singer of the theme song of the "Storm Trilogy", Maria is undoubtedly a witness and participant in that turbulent era, and has created her own period of ups and downs.
(i)
It can be seen from the name that Maria is not authentic Chinese, her father is Portuguese, her mother is Chinese, in her birthplace of Macao, her kind of person, called "Macanese", also known as "salted shrimp support (can)", which means not in the ocean.
Also "salted shrimp support", Li Jiaxin, Liang Luoshi is beautiful and moving, graceful and colorful, and Maria... It can only be said that she "braced" a little big and did not support well.
Maria grew up in Macau's Avenida da Vice Admiral, this street, living Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Portuguese, and African people, these different colors of people, solidarity, harmony, showing a beautiful picture of a community of human destiny, the world's unity, can be realized.
Maria's father was a policeman, probably the Macau police officers were relatively timid, not as good as the Hong Kong counterparts at that time black and white, so life was poor, and even hungry. Fortunately, the religious community gave a lot of good deeds, as long as you could read the scriptures, you could get canned food and bread, so Mary often went to the church "Amen" and then brought food back to the house, and if you had more, you could share some neighbors. Mary chanted the sutra very powerfully, not only the New Testament and the Old Testament, but also the Buddhist scriptures came with an open mouth, and really did what temple and what sutra to chant. Hey, it's all belly bugs.
This also led to Mary's later life, developing the habit of "digging deep holes and accumulating grain", even if she ate and drank now, she would store grain for one or two months in 4 large refrigerators, which really scared hunger.
When Maria was 11 years old, her father died, the family lost its pillar, and as the eldest daughter, she had to drop out of school and enter the society, working to earn money. This gave him the capital to boast that "I didn't finish six years of primary school" in the future, which means that academic qualifications are not important, but ability is important. I think it varies from person to person, and you must not be misled unless you have her ability.
In 1972, at the age of 18, Maria came out... Well, very athletic, this year, she married a Filipino-American violinist who was 22 years older than her. This violinist, who does not know his surname or name, only knows that he is a good and bad worker, after a year of marriage, he does not give birth and relies on his wife to support himself. Mary was so bitter in her heart that she thought that if she married early, she wouldn't have to work hard, who knew that there was such a thing on the stall. What makes her even more sad is that the organist also has 4 children born to her ex-wife, plus she and the organist have two more, well, the burden of a family of eight has fallen on her.
What to do? What is the law other than death? Maria has worked in a variety of jobs, allegedly including cinema clerks, sales clerks, office clerks, bartenders, messengers, factory women, cooks, and more.
Around the beginning of the 1980s, in order to have a larger living space, they moved from Macau to Hong Kong, and Maria worked as a coolie at the docks, carrying rice bags.
Dock coolies, fish and dragons mixed, not to mention that she is still a woman, you can imagine being bullied everywhere, and the bamboo sticks that calculate the salary are often stolen. Mary couldn't bear it any longer, and gradually became stronger, well, you take me a bamboo skewer, I will take you five; you lose my old mother, I will let your whole family throw the street; if you dare to do it, I will scratch your face... In short, you are more fierce to me, and your voice is louder and I am bigger. Mary deeply understood a truth: good people are afraid of rotten people, and rotten people are afraid of shrews.
You know, in the past, Mary, before the quarrel, the tears flowed out first, and now she is fierce and evil, without fear, and the environment creates a character, which is not bad at all.
In the two years and nine months of working at the docks, Maria has experienced hundreds of battles, including small and small scolding battles, and it is these experiences that have made her full of energy, her voice loud, and the so-called good voice is nothing more than half talent and half tempering.
(ii)
Life was hard, but Mary maintained a positive and optimistic mindset. Once it rained, the wooden house leaked badly, she and the child were busy with the big basin and small basin, suddenly, she said: "These water, we can wash, flush the toilet, can save a lot of water bills!" Everyone cheered; once, she credited back a few bottles of sauce, looked at the children with joy and excitement, and then slowly said: "But our family has no dishes." Then he laughed.
Even if it is precarious, every month Mary still insists on saving some money and going to the "Sonic Gallery" to sing, first, to steal and have fun in the midst of hardships to prevent collapse, and second, singing is her biggest hobby.
Mary's mother, who could sing opera, used to sing with her mother when she was a child, because her voice was rough, her mother sang the throat (female role), she sang flat throat (male role). After years of cultivation, he has an interest in drama and music.
Growing up, Maria began to love Western pop music, listening to the radio and listening to the records of her neighbors, allowing music to comfort the suffering of life. Maria is a big fan of Shirley Bassry, and her songs are almost always sung.
The "Sound Corridor" is a song hall opened by the artist Du Ping for people to sing and entertain. At that time, there was no karaoke, the organist played the piano on the spot, and if he wanted to sing, he could pay some money to sing on stage, and often the organist was lined up around a large circle of people, who wanted to show their singing voice. Mary was one of them, she held a cheap drink, shallow sip - do not dare to drink it, if you drink it, the waiter will ask "another cup", she has no money to buy, is not embarrassed? Finally it was her turn, and Mary stood by the piano, singing indulgently, and at this moment, all the troubles and unhappiness would be forgotten.
Inspired by the "Sonic Gallery", Maria thought of a way to make money.
In the early 1980s, Hong Kong bars, nightclubs, and folk song restaurants sprang up everywhere, which required someone to connect and connect with singers and organists in these entertainment venues, and to contact the business, the so-called "manager", which is what Maria thought of.
When all was said and done, Maria printed her business card, gave herself the title of "Director", and went to the bar one by one to sell: Do you need singers, violinists, I have a lot of hands, no matter what time I can perform, and English songs, Chinese times songs, Huangmei tunes, Cantonese opera what to want. Then she found a group of singers: Whether you are worried about no one to deal with affairs, it doesn't matter, I will take care of you and arrange it, to ensure that everyone has a performance and everyone has money.
In this way, Maria's acting manager business began to develop, and gradually developed and grew, and became very popular, at most, she established cooperative relations with more than 20 bars, singers, and a number of pianists. At that time, the performance of ordinary singers and violinists was 50 yuan per performance, and Maria took a 5% commission, and later the performance increased, the commission increased to 10%, and she could earn thousands of yuan every month. After working for more than a year, Maria paid a down payment of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan (more than 200,000 yuan in a unit in Hong Kong at that time), bought a 418-foot house in Tai Wai, New Territories, and moved her family to a new home.
The reason why Maria's career is so prosperous is that her singer's business level is high and her ability to deal with things, all of which is the result of her cultivation.
Maria always pays attention to the current pop music, and whenever there is a new song on the street, she must find a score for the singer to learn, in case the guests order songs; at the same time, train them to engage in atmosphere, interact with guests, and never be cold. Maria asked that the singer must not read the lyrics, should always stare at the guests to reflect, so that they can observe the color, "singing is not only the mouth is singing, the eyes are also singing"; the guests are muddy and sandy, good and bad, what if they encounter harassment? Mary came up with the idea that the beautiful singer should be teased and immediately cry, so that she would win the sympathy of others and stand out for it. If it is not beautiful, be generous and tell each other that I will marry you! After singing, I will follow you! As long as you are funny, he will be embarrassed. As for male singers, remember not to be affectionate with beautiful women, because beautiful women often have people behind them, which leads to trouble, so it is safest to face the old and ugly, and it is also an honor to let them be flattered.
See, this is the survival secret of the lounge singer, and with all this, can Maria and her men not be at ease and welcome?
The two biggest wrists Maria has ever had, one is Li Longji and the other is Zhu Mimi.
Li Longji is the originator of the Singer of Hong Kong Folk Song Restaurant, before singing in the Folk Song Restaurant, he has made two records, for the red singer at that time, so he is worth a lot, ordinary singers sing a (45 minutes) 50 yuan, he is as high as one or two thousand yuan, on this is still in short supply, once rushed 9 fields a day, won the name of "Li Jiu Field". He can earn up to 240,000 yuan a month, so every time he moves, he will park his black Porsche at random on the side of the road, not afraid to copy cards at all - the fine for copying a card is only 30 yuan, And Lao Tzu has money, and he can copy it casually.
Zhu Mimi is also "arrogant", she is from Singapore, known for her boldness, many songs with "color", Hong Kong local singers do not dare and are embarrassed to sing, but Zhu Mimi has no scruples, open her mouth to come, earlier than Yin Guang's salty and wet songs. In addition, Zhu Mimi is very good at mingling with guests, talking and laughing, left and right, as a result, sometimes one down, she only sings two songs, and the money is earned.
At that time, Hong Kong's night shows, hidden dragons and crouching tigers, talents emerged, from the earliest Xu Xiaofeng, Teresa Teng, Luo Wen, to Mei Yanfang, Zhang Guorong, etc., star-studded, a hundred flowers competed for glory.
What a bustling time.
(iii)
Big names like Li Longji and Zhu Mimi, the performance rotates continuously, and naturally there will be a situation where the transition is not enough, at this time, in the face of the guests waiting impatiently, Maria will temporarily top up, sing two songs to comfort the mood, which is the beginning of her performance on stage.
Of course, Maria officially became a singer, and it had to be the unintentional willow insertion in 1985.
It is said that one day in '85, the musician Anders Nelsson told Maria that Canton Disco was going to find a violinist to play for one night, and the salary was 800 yuan, which was a high price, and Maria could smoke 200 yuan, so she was very happy.
That night, Maria and the pianist came to Canton Disco, where a celebrity had a birthday party. The violinist showed what he had learned in his life, ding-dong and played more than once, and the guests had a lot of fun. At midnight, the organist felt a little stuffy and said to Maria, Ah Fei, you can sing and come up to enliven the atmosphere.
When Mary saw that everyone was almost drunk and really needed stimulation to heat up, she went on stage, picked up the microphone, and sang Shirley Bassry's "I Who Have Nothing." Uproar, singing together, but seeing the exclamation in the audience, everyone was stunned, good guys, they all thought that Shirley Bassry himself was on the scene. After the song, everyone shouted collectively: "Come again!" Again! Maria sang Shirley Bassry's "Never Never Never" again, which brought the scene to a climax.
After singing, people came over and invited Maria to drink, and the table was soon filled with Dom Perignon. Mary was able to finish drinking, packed it all up when she left, and sold it to other bars.
The next day, Maria was still complacent about making a fortune the night before, and a phone call came at the right time. He introduced himself as Andrew Bull, the owner of Canton Disco, and wanted to meet her. Maria thought to herself, could it be that any celebrity has a birthday and is looking for someone to perform? So I prepared a stack of information on singers and pianists.
After the two sides met, Maria handed the information to Andrew Bull, and Andrew Bull casually put it away, did not look at it, and said straight to the point: "Last night you sang very well, we want to ask you to sing, you quote a price." Mary was a little confused: Huh? Please me sing? Isn't it playing me? Singing earns more than the manager, of course willing. How much should I ask for? Yes, eighteen thousand a month... Wait, now the best top Filipino singers, only two thousand dollars a month, no reason to give me so much? Oops, am I dreaming?
Yes, between the lightning stones and the fire, Mary's mind crackled and thought about many things.
"Give you eighteen thousand, what do you think?" Coincidentally, the price quoted by Andrew Bull was exactly the same as she thought, as if she had seen through her mind.
"Good!" Maria blurted out, but as soon as she finished speaking, she regretted it, because she felt that she was "dishonest": "Actually, I don't have many songs, most of them need to look at the lyrics to sing, you ask me to be a singer, but you have to think clearly." 」 ”
Andrew Bull laughed: "It's not a problem. Well, you try to sing for two weeks, and we have a time to choose each other. ”
Mary immediately nodded in agreement.
Since then, Maria has cut off her long mane, put on high heels, transformed herself into a singer by the manager herself.
It didn't take two weeks, just a week, and Mary was on fire. Many nightclub old "bubbles" recommend after meeting: "Know no, Canton Disco has a new singer, that guy..." Then put on a constipated expression, the other party was very curious: "What? "Indescribable, you'll understand it when you hear it."
Ten passes, ten passes, the people who come to see the name are full of night, Andrew Bull's eyebrows are smiling, two weeks are fleeting, and the audition is naturally "forgotten" by both of them.
Maria's popularity is an important reason for her singing skills, she is full of breath and a strong voice, and she often pulls the microphone to the navel position when singing, still ringing through the sky, and her skills are amazing. She sang jazz and blues again, quite upscale, the singer was depressed, and the listener was fascinated. In addition, as mentioned earlier, when Maria was a manager, she emphasized that her singers should be good at mingling with the guests, and she was a master, with a flexible mind, quick response, gags, humor, and laughter, which made people laugh. To this end, some guests even brought tape recorders to listen to songs, recording Maria's scene as a treasure.
As mentioned earlier, the nightclub environment is more complicated, and the people who come are taught three times and nine streams, and they may not encounter any trouble. No, once she suddenly received a notice from a jianghu person asking her to go to a restaurant to "talk about counting". Although Mary was inexplicable, she knew that such people could not afford to offend, and she went to the appointment on time. When I arrived at the hotel, hey, there was a group of people standing opposite, all the fierce gods were evil, Mary was secretly surprised, not thinking, the opposite side was even more surprised: "Just you?" Didn't bring anyone else? Mary replied honestly, "Didn't you ask me out alone?" ”
"Snap", slapping the table opposite, entering the main topic: "Last night, our boss asked you to drink, why did you ignore him?" It is clear that it does not give us the boss face. ”
"Big brother, I don't know." Ah, yes, last night there was a foreigner who wanted to soak me, you may not know, my husband does not do anything, I take 6 children with hard work, there are foreigners to soak me, of course I will seize the opportunity, in case it becomes, I don't have to work so hard. At that time, don't say that the boss called me, it was my mother who called me, and I probably couldn't hear it. Maria's words made the other party laugh, and the crisis was resolved. Finally, Mary drank a glass of wine as atonement and had a meal with the other person laughing.
Through this incident, I think it is not too much to call Mary a "strange woman". Her boldness and enthusiasm are even more evident in everyday life: as long as the guests drink a little too much, she tells the bartender not to sell them any more wine, and advises the guests to go home early. Over time, everyone thought that she managed a lot like an old mother, so they jokingly called her "fat mother" according to her body type.
The name "Fat Mother" was born.
(iv)
Canton Disco was among the many entertainment venues at that time, both the reputation and grade were extremely high, and the ticket was 79 yuan, which the average person could not afford to spend. Therefore, most of the people who come here for leisure and recreation are people with status and status - the boss of the community is also a "celebrity" - including people in the entertainment industry, such as Chen Xinjian and Teddy Robin.
Chen Xinjian has a good impression of Maria's singing voice and appearance, and in 1986, when he directed "Detective Chocolate", he warmly invited Maria to play a cameo role in the film, and Maria gladly agreed, although there were not many shots, but it was her first appearance in the entertainment industry.
Next, there is the "Wind and Cloud" series that made Maria famous.
This matter was first talked about by Lin Lingdong.
In 1982, Lin Lingdong returned to Hong Kong from Canada to study film and joined New Art City. In the past four or five years, Lin Lingdong has successively directed "Yin and Yang Mistake", "Gentleman Good Luck", "Eros No. 1", "Best Partner of a Thousand Miles to Save the Poor Wife", all of which have achieved good results, especially "The Best Partner of a Thousand Miles to Save the Poor Wife" has a very high box office, so that the new art city that has always implemented paternalism and collective creation has given him 4 million yuan, and the concession to shoot whatever he wants.
With creative space and funds, Lin Lingdong decided to do a lot of work, but he did not think about what to shoot for a while. One day, he flipped through the newspaper, and a trial news caught the attention - in 1985, there was a major robbery of the Zhongxin watch in Hong Kong, and seven gangsters, Ji Bingxiong, fought with the police in the street, retreated, and were arrested months later, and a trial will be held on a certain day.
On the same day, Lin Lingdong went to the scene of the trial and learned more about the case, which gave him inspiration, and an undercover story was formed, and he handed it over to Shen Xicheng to write and complete the script.
In this film, Lin Lingdong named "Dragon and Tiger Qunying", one of the bosses of the new art city, Huang Baiming suggested that "Qunying" be changed to "Fengyun", which is more imposing, and it must be performed by Zhou Runfa.
Lin Lingdong was as good as a stream, he found Zhou Runfa, Li Xiuxian, Sun Yue, Zhang Yaoyang, Wu Jiali, Xu Jinjiang and other co-actors in "Dragon and Tiger Storm", behind the scenes, Liu Weiqiang was used as the photographer, and Teddy Robin was responsible for the soundtrack.
Probably the experience of studying in North America made Lin Lingdong like jazz and blues, and he asked Teddy Robin, the soundtrack and theme song of the film, to implement this style. Teddy Robin took the lead, and soon created the theme song "To Be Happy", and then, it was time to choose the singer. Hong Kong can sing jazz, Teddy Robin came up with two people in his mind, one is Mui Yanfang, but it is too red, it is difficult to "serve", the other is Maria who sings in Canton Disco, since Mui Yanfang is not easy to please, Maria has become the best candidate.
Regarding Maria's singing of "Strive for Happiness", she and Teddy Robin have two different versions.
Maria version:
Teddy Robin went to Canton Disco to find Maria: Ah Fei, how about helping me sing a song? Mary said yes, no problem. Teddy Robin added that there was very little money. Maria said that it was okay.
After recording "Strive for Happiness", Maria asks Teddy Robin, how, is it received? Teddy Robin asked rhetorically, you are a singer, do you receive the goods? Mary stretched out her hand, you see if you can receive the goods, I will hurry home to take care of the children. Before leaving, Teddy Robin handed her a red packet, which was a reward, and the red packet was a thousand yuan, which could break Maria's happiness.
After a few days, Lin Lingdong suddenly appeared and said: Ah Fei, you have created a big trouble for us, get it done. It turned out that Mary's voice, put anyone in the camera pretend to sing, can not control, no way, can only go out on the horse herself. Maria's scene is zhou runfa in the bar scene, and she sings "To be happy" on the stage, adding a touch of color to the film. Similarly, she received another thousand yuan in red envelopes.
Teddy Robin Version:
In order to verify whether Maria can sing the theme song well, Lin Lingdong followed Teddy Robin to Canton Disco, listened to him sing a few songs, And Director Lin praised "good energy", finalized the plan, and invited her to participate in the performance.
But at that time, "To Be Happy" Teddy Robin only wrote the melody, the lyrics only had to be "the world is changeable, how can it be as good as people" and "booing" three sentences, in order to grasp the shooting, so Maria wrote the shot, only sang these three sentences, the rest of the long-range, wait for the song to be written and then dubbed.
The other lyrics of "To Strive for Happiness" are from the hand of Lin Minqiao, and the most popular sentence that is rumored to be "the tiger must be squealed to be squealed" is Zhou Runfa's golden sentence.
As for which of the Maria version or the Teddy Robin version is close to the truth? Privately, Teddy Robin is more credible, because people like Maria, who have a bold personality and can speak well, when it comes to happiness, inevitably make up some stories. I have personally experienced this.
In any case, with the acclaim of "Dragon and Tiger Storm", "To Fight for Happiness" and Maria also became famous, and this song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1987 Taiwan Golden Horse Awards and best original film song at the 1988 Hong Kong Film Awards.
From then on, as soon as Mary went out, she would be pointed out: look, look, squeal!
(5)
"Dragon and Tiger Storm" achieved nearly 20 million box office, and New Art City made a lot of money, continuing to let Lin Lingdong play freely. This time, Lin Lingdong filmed "Prison Storm" written by his brother Nan Yan (Lin Lingnan).
The main actor of "Prison Storm" is still Chow Yun Fat, partner Leung Ka Fai, and the rest of Zhang Yaoyang, He Jiaju, Huang Guangliang, Cheng Kui'an, Wu Zhixiong and other major evil people gathered together to perform a wonderful and wonderful play.
Because Maria's "Strive for Happiness" for "Dragon and Tiger Storm" is really wonderful, so the two songs of "Prison Storm" "Light of Friendship" and "Full of Hope", Lin Lingdong once again handed it to her.
"The Light of Friendship" is adapted from the old song "Green Island Serenade", and there is another version in the Cantonese version, which is Huang Baoxin's "Two Places" (nan yan with the same word). "Light of Friendship" and "Two Places" are not able to be examined, only judging by the launch time, Huang Baoxin's first solo album "Strong Love" included in "Two Places" was released in December 1987, while "Prison Storm" was released in November 1987, which seems to be one step ahead, but the recording time is not clear. There is no need to be entangled, Huang Baoxin is fresh and gentle, Maria is sonorous and powerful, each has its own characteristics, but as far as "Prison Storm" is concerned, Maria's singing voice is more appropriate, brotherhood, jianghu righteousness, a song of swinging intestines. Therefore, the limelight of "The Light of Friendship" overshadowed "Two Places".
Due to the popularity of "Strive for Happiness" and "Light of Friendship", in 1988, Maria signed to Silver Star Records (Huang Baoxin is also a Silver Star), and recorded the EP "Prison Storm Dragon Tiger Storm" and the album "Maria Cordero" - relying on extraordinary singing skills, Maria recorded records, as long as one day OK.
The "Prison Storm Dragon Tiger Storm" EP sold platinum, and the "Maria Cordero" theme song "Ma Ma I Love You" and "Once In a Lifetime" and "Moon Stars and Sun" theme songs "Ping Shui Meet" and "Maybe No Chance" also triggered singing.
At the 11th Top Ten Chinese Golden Melody Awards ceremony in 1988, Maria won the award with "Light of Friendship", which was her most brilliant and eye-catching moment.
In the same year, Maria sang the theme song of Lin Lingdong's new film "School Storm", "Comrade, the world is in your hands", and completed the participation of the "Wind and Cloud Trilogy".
"School Storm" realistically exposed the situation of the underworld invading the campus and called on all walks of life to pay attention to it, however, this conscientious work was tragically deleted by the Electric Inspection Office in more than ten places, and it was released in a quasi-release, which made Lin Lingdong, who had just won the Academy Award for Best Director and was full of vigor, greatly angry, and announced that he would not shoot social realism in the future.
Later, although Lin Lingdong still created two "Fengyun", "Prison Fengyun 2 Fugitives" is suspected of continuing to sable, and the spiritual connotation of "Jihad Fengyun" is the opposite.
After that, Lin Lingdong changed several times and became more and more depressed, until he retreated, and the new century wanted to rise again, but found that it was out of step with the times -- that big era of turbulence had long since become a small era of Qingqing and me.
On December 29, 2018, Lin Lingdong passed away at the age of 63.
"To Strive for Happiness" and "The Light of Friendship" record a period of glory, and are also an elegy for the unpaid ambition and the end of the hero.
(6)
After entering the industry, in addition to singing, Maria also starred in many movies, rough statistics have thirty or forty films, most of them are supporting roles, it is difficult to have a chance to shine, can only rely on a unique body shape, mixed face familiar.
The manager company signed by Maria is Chen Ziqiang's Willie Chan, whose artists are all superstars, Jackie Chan, Zheng Yuling, Zhong Chuhong, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung... Since she is the same door, so they are all friends, no matter how big or small, everyone calls her a "fat mother". Jackie Chan has asked her to play a role in his own film many times, and Maria refused: "Big brother, you shoot it, I am a dozen-year-old person, don't play these." "It's not that she doesn't want to act, it's that she doesn't dare to act, you think, those who make Jackie Chan movies often have broken heads and broken arms, and Maria doesn't want to take risks." The film is not filmed, the music can still be talked about, but for Jackie Chan singing, Maria should not think so, at least, she thinks that Maggie Cheung is not suitable to be a singer at all.
Speaking of which, among the films made by Maria, the one that left a deep impression on people probably belonged to 1989's "One Eyebrow Man".
At that time, Lin Zhengying took advantage of the zombie film boom created by himself, and Lan Naicai and Cai Lan formed Jiahe Satellite Company - Dalu Pictures, and the entrepreneurial work was "One Eyebrow DaoRen".
The film, directed and starred by Lin Zhengying, he deeply felt that the zombie film was gradually falling into a trap and must be broken through in order to save itself, so he innovated and wrote a story of Maoshan Daoist vs. Western vampires. Since there are vampires, then there is religion, and Mary played the nun grandma, leading a group of young nuns to scream and be funny, and completed the performance well. She and Lin Zhengying also had a rare kiss scene.
Because "One Eyebrow Daoist" bears the heavy responsibility of "opening the door", Lin Zhengying attaches great importance to the production and strives for excellence, this film, he has been shooting for nearly a year, and the energy and material resources spent are several times more than the previous "Mr. Zombie".
In the end, "One Eyebrow Road Man" failed at the box office, selling only more than eleven million. Lin Zhengying was a very strong person, submitted his resignation and left Dalu Pictures.
Lin Zhengying suffered a disappointment this year, in fact, Maria also had a big change this year, she divorced.
For 17 years since Maria married her Filipino violinist husband, she has been dependent on Maria for support, neither working nor extravagant, and later developed the vicious habit of hitting children, Maria protected her, and was also punched and kicked, and her husband even threatened her with a knife. What is even more heinous is that the husband and the Filipino maid have an affair, causing each other to become pregnant.
At first, Mary endured again and again, but as her husband's behavior became more and more excessive, she decided to end the marriage, and with the support and encouragement of her children (including 4 children born in her husband's first marriage), she was even more righteous.
Divorce, for Mary, was a great thing, and she no longer had to be afraid and affectionate. Mary, who regained her freedom, is incredibly attractive, and it is said that seven men at the same time pursue her and need the help of a secretary to arrange a date.
The money she earned from singing and acting did not have to be invested in her husband's bottomless pit, or saving or investing, and quickly accumulated a sum of money.
Will this be a "happy from now on" ending? Of course not, the so-called blessings and misfortunes, when you feel that life is beautiful, it will always coldly let you understand the impermanence of fate. "Life is not satisfactory eight or nine times out of ten", the ancients have long calculated the probability.
Around 1992, Maria owed a huge debt for her friend's guarantee, sold all her property, and moved from Ho Man Tin Hill Road House to a tenement house. It was august 15th Mid-Autumn Festival, she opened the phone book, found a person, dialed the phone, the other party listened to her crying, the period Ai Ai said: Well... This one...... I've been on my hands lately, so I can only lend you a little. Maria suddenly smiled: I'm not borrowing money, I'm just looking for someone to complain about, I don't want my family and friends to know what happened to me, so I called you, because the two of us don't know each other at all!
It is true that if Mary wants to borrow money, the rich people she knows are more, borrowing 100,000 per person, which is enough to pay off the debt, but she does not want to do this, she has to survive on her own.
Maria came to the mainland alone and sang in bars, her popularity in Guangdong and other regions, or quite large, caused a sensation for a while, and various venues have invited each other. Maria's appearance fee is not low, up to ten thousand yuan, she likes to open a bottle of brandy when singing, sing while drinking, a 45-minute performance, singing the last song "Light of Friendship", brandy just drank. After half a year on the mainland, Maria earned 500,000 yuan, packed the money in a tennis racket bag, and returned to Hong Kong after passing the customs. Someone saw her and asked what was in the bag, bulging the sac. She replied, money! The questioner often does not believe, who is deceived, the money can be put here?
Mary relied on herself and managed to turn over.
(vii)
I don't know if it was experienced that made Maria feel "stable" precious, she began to fade out of the music scene, in fact, since the release of the album "A Little Deep", she has not made any new works.
Why did Mary go? She ran to the TV station to host the show.
In the early 1990s, Maria opened a live program "Fat Mother's Friends" on ATV, talking about the art of the sea, commenting on entertainment events, laughing and cursing, full of energy, and was greatly loved by the audience, this program type was the first of its kind in Hong Kong television. Subsequently, she hosted "Fat Mom Phone Show" and "Fat Mom Family", all of which are known for daring to speak out and have a clear point of view.
In addition to hosting, Maria returned to her old business and became a manager again, but this time it was not a bar singer manager, but an artist manager, she organized second- and third-line artists to participate in the performance, introduce the work, to put it bluntly, it is to help them eat, who has difficulties, as long as they say hello, they can be taken care of. For a while, Zhang Weijian was extremely miserable, asked for help from Maria, Maria did not say a word, arranged 10 performances for him, and paid in advance, which made Zhang Weijian grateful. Mary is so righteous that the "fat mother" is given more respect and admiration.
Americans also heard about Maria's story, and in 1995, they invited her to San Francisco to give her an award for outstanding people and the like, which was presented by then-President Clinton himself. Mary attended with her mother. On this trip, the old lady angrily rebuked the enemy chief and raised the prestige of our country.
The thing is, Clinton came in person, the security of the venue was very strict, and Maria's mother's hearing aid was repeatedly asked to take off and check, which made the old lady angry: Do I want to rob your president? After the award ceremony, Clinton shook hands one by one, and when it was the turn of the old lady, the palm of the Kers was large and powerful, and the old lady was wearing a diamond ring, so it hurt the old lady at once, and the old lady blurted out: You bastard! Clinton couldn't understand Chinese, and even said "YES," and a table of Chinese people was stunned.
No wonder Mary is of excellent character, three views, and patriotic, it turned out to be inheriting the spirit of her mother. She was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Medal (2014) well deserved.
Mary is well-known in the circle for helping the poor and the needy, and her popularity can be seen by saying only one thing. Once, she proposed to ATV to hold a music event, and the ATV executives were very embarrassed, because some singers had signed contracts with TVB, and I was afraid that it would be cold. Mary assured that she would be in charge. As a result, there were 52 singers in that event, and they did not hesitate to offend TVB, but also to give Mary a show. The bar she opened in the late 1990s, also starry as Yun, Faye Wong and Nicholas Tse's love affair, was secretly filmed in her bar and made public. In 2018, Maria was elected vice president of the Hong Kong Performing Artists Association, showing her appeal.
Of course, the TV show hosted by Maria is also the most famous food program, "Fat Mom Private Room Dish" during THE ATV period, and the "Food Flat D" series during TVB, all of which are popular. As an old master in this field, Maria unceremoniously pointed out that Tse Tingfeng must have a master behind his back to teach. That's for sure, who can cook for her family for decades like Mary, constantly studying and groping for food, and learning from a real talent?
Maria's good cooking skills were contributed to the audience in front of the TV set, and even more to the family, especially the second husband Rick (Shi Xiaoyang), who was not shallow.
In 1999, Maria remarried to Rick, a Portuguese environmental engineer, and the two were very affectionate and happy, and they had three weddings.
The first time, in 1999, the two were officially married in Canada, because there was a funeral at home, so there was no wine, and Maria's grandmother has always been angry about this. In 2013, in order to meet the wishes of the elderly, the two made up the happy wine and were full of joy. At that time, Maria was diagnosed with uterine cancer and needed to remove the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes, before the operation, Rick promised to marry her again to encourage her to overcome the disease, and after the operation, the two flew to Las Vegas for a third wedding.
Originally, Maria and Rick planned to carry out the romance to the end, but unfortunately, on November 5, 2020, Rick died of lung adenocarcinoma, leaving Maria alone.
Fortunately, Mary also has a lot of children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren to help her grief and thoughts.
This year, after Zeng Zhiwei took the helm of TVB, Maria's food program was cut, and now, she continues to teach people to cook online.
What scenes have Mary not seen? As long as she wants to do it, anything is out of the question.
Looking back on the past, those unforgettable hearts, those dreams that were gained or lost, those things that have changed over time are not human... A laugh has passed.