Before we begin today's topic, let's take a brief summary of the headline:
In 1970, Polydor, a record company owned by Siemens Group in Germany, took a fancy to the development trend of Hong Kong's entertainment industry, as well as outstanding original singers and bands such as Hui Guanjie, Teddy Robin, and Wenna Five Tigers, and invested in the acquisition of Diamond Records, a local label in Hong Kong, which was incorporated into Hong Kong's "Polydor" records; in 1972, Phonogram, a record company under the Philips Group in the Netherlands, Merged with Polydor, we are familiar with PolyGram (PolyGram). The merger that changed the historical pattern of the recording industry is not limited to European and American countries and regions, at the same time, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia Polydor and Phonogram have also unified the distribution path - PolyGon. Although the two companies merged, the two brands, PHILIPS and Polydor, remained and became the record distribution labels of The Polaroid singers in the future. Teacher Mo Mo said before that PolyGram has many sub-brands, such as A&M, Mercury, DG, etc. commonly used in Europe and the United States (most of which are also obtained through reorganization and merger). However, the singers signed by PolyGon in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia are not counted as "regional proprietary labels", and basically only use two labels, Polydor and PHILIPS. In fact, if you think about it, philips and Polydor, as the original main body of PolyGram, represent the "rootedness" of the headquarters in the Far East office, which is also a relatively easy thing to understand. As for the brands such as Xinyibao, Zhengdong and Baoyixing that were later derived in the Chinese-speaking area, they are "regional exclusive labels" such as A&M and Mercury founded by PolyGon in the Chinese-speaking area.
About a year ago, I was chatting with a record collector. He asked me, a veteran "treasure fan", a question: Are there any Hong Kong female singers who use the PHILIPS label to release records? This question really stuck with me for a while. At a cursory glance, Teresa Teng, Xu Xiaofeng, Chen Huixian, Kwong Meiyun, Zhou Huimin, Guan Shuyi, Wang Xinping, Li Ruien, Liu Xiaohui, Tang Baoru... Female singers who have signed with Hong Kong PolyGram, without exception, all use Polydor as the distribution label. There doesn't seem to be any single case. So much so that I once thought PHILIPS was exclusive to male singers. It wasn't until the deadline for Mr. MoMo's twelfth PolyGrammian memory fragment: Gong Li's French husband Jun, and Polydo's China Red (and A Little Teresa Teng) that I learned from Mr. Huang Zuhui, the former producer of PolyGon in Hong Kong, that the label allocation had nothing to do with gender. At the same time, I am still trying to find cases of female singers in Hong Kong and even in Chinese-speaking areas, using PHILIPS. Unfortunately, it was not provided to The Ink Teacher in time to load the text, fortunately there are additional instructions in the message area, so today we may wish to talk about these "individual" female singers.
【Yellow Warbler Warbler】
If you expand the scope of the above question to: Are there any Chinese female singers who use the PHILIPS label to release records? It is estimated that many people first think of huang yingying, a female singer from Taiwan. Whether it is the first version of the record of the year, or the version left for a sound reproduction, there will be a TYPPS logo:
▲ "Yellow Warbler Selection" Taiwan Universal Plover Edition. Image source A treasure...
▲ "Only Separation" Taiwan Golden Voice first edition. Image source A treasure...
But in fact, The Yellow Oriole signed a contract with Singapore's Poly Gold, not Taiwan's Poly Gold. Even if you don't know the inside story, you can probably judge it by a few points: first, through the information on the inside page of the album, it can be known that most of the recordings of the album were completed in The Singapore Polygon Recording Studio; second, the time when Huang Yingying signed with PolyGon (in the early 1980s), Taiwan Polygon was not yet established. This is also confirmed by the fact that The Yellow Oriole's Taiwan edition album was released by Golden Sound; third, before Polydor and Phonogram were unified as Polydor and Phonogram, Phonogram, representing PHILIPS, was responsible for the production and distribution of singers in Southeast Asia. In summary, the female singer who uses PHILIPS the most and is the most representative is the Yellow Warbler. Huang Yingying's album "Only Separation" released by PolyGram also ranked 82nd in Taiwan's Top 100 Records, and the version sung by Fei Xiang that year was also a mess of fire in the mainland region. Interestingly, Fei Xiang has also signed a contract with Singapore's Poly Gold, but Fei Xiang, whose real name is "Kris Phillips", belongs to the Polydor label...
【Guan Juying/Yu Jianming/Wang Yawen/Lin Minyi/Lu Yeyao】
The next paragraph is the "standard answer" to the question. Because all four are female singers in Hong Kong, no, female singers and female musicians. The reason I changed my mouth instantly was because one of the four artists had a record that was a full disc pure music performance. I think you've already guessed who it is. Yes, she is the famous musician Lin Minyi, who has written songs for many Hong Kong music queens.
The works of Lin Minyi and Lin Minyi can almost connect half of the history of Hong Kong pop music. Compared with Lin Minxiao, who writes a serious song behind the scenes and has a good ability to be funny in front of the stage, Lin Minyi is much more low-key, and even does not leave a positive face on the cover of the record. However, the PHILIPS logo on the cover of the album fully illustrates today's theme.
As for Yu Jianming, my impression of her is completely stuck in the youthfulness of "Displaced Love" sung with Huang Kaiqin, and the scene when Huang Kaiqin reappeared at "Long Time No Concert". Even my first interest in finding Yu Jianming's only record was because there was a song "100 Billion Dreams" with Huang Kaiqin... Later, I learned that Yu Jianming was also a singer from a radio DJ, but unfortunately there was no such good luck as Huang Kaiqin and Zhou Huimin. However, in that era of Hong Kong music talents, it was already a very powerful thing to write his name into the "Baoji Zheng biography". In addition, I asked Yu Jianming's record producer, that is, Teacher Huang Zuhui, which song was the original song of "Two Lines of Tears", and Teacher Huang said that he couldn't remember...
Wang Yawen is a very interesting singer. According to the information on Shrimp Rice, she has published a total of three albums. The good thing is that these three albums have been released in different labels... (EMI / Polygram / Hoshijima full tone)
Wang Yawen's release at PolyGram is her second album, called Night Shadow. Like Yu Jianming, Wang Yawen is also a singer who has been a DJ. The talent and femininity she shows can be seen from her first album in EMI. Not only can they sing well, but they can also compose, which is a scarce variety of female singers in Hong Kong in that era. After a bit of singer addiction, Wang Yawen continued to return to the radio station, said to be the program director of the station, and occasionally appeared in radio dramas. Similarly, DJ singer Lu Yeyao.
The above-mentioned Lin Minyi, Wang Yawen, Lu Yeyao and Yu Jianming may be just "passers-by" for PolyGon. After all, there is only one piece of the fate. To say that the female singers who use the PHILIPS label, stay longer, they have to count their previous generation of singers Guan Juying.
Kwan played at Poly Gold Records in Hong Kong from 1978 to 1983. He published four studio albums during this period. Everyone is most familiar with "Two Forgotten Smoke and Water" sung by her and Guan Zhengjie. If EMI's Ye Zhentang and Ye Liyi can be called "double leaves", then PolyGram's Guan Zhengjie and Guan Juying can be called "double puns". After all, they impressed me the most was the TV series songs they sang.
I also considered a point before that the reason why female singers of Hong Kong PolyGram do not like to use PHILIPS may be because the design of the trademark is too "straight men", not as festive as Polydor's booming, and there is no way to highlight the label's LOGO. However, from the perspective of several artists mentioned above, in addition to Guan Juying, who joined at the end of the 70s, the rest of the female artists who joined Poly Gold and used the PHILIPS label after the unified distribution channel were all "a disc singer" in nature. If there is no difference in "resource allocation", it is too coincidental, right?
【Zhen Xiuzhen】
In my impression, there is only one female singer who has used the PHILIPS label: Zhen Xiuzhen. The famous musician Zhou Zhiping was responsible for the production of the singer, and the Taiwan Poly Gold at that time was also called "Qi Fei". Her most classic song, "Leave a Little Love for Me Tonight", is her masterpiece of the Polygram period. Coincidentally, Zhen Xiuzhen has only released one album in Polygin...
【The real story: Zhang Guorong】
▲ Zhang Guorong's two albums in the Polydor period. The picture source is Liang Yongbin's public account "My Vinyl Era".
Today is also Zhang Guorong's 64-year-old birthday. We talked about PHILIPS and Polydor for most of the day, and the last thing that should be forgotten is Zhang Guorong. Because in my impression, Zhang Guorong is the only "individual case" that has been used by both labels among all the signed singers in the Chinese-speaking area of the PolyGram system. The timing of Zhang Guorong's Golden Hair Film in Baoli is also the starting point and end of the first stage of his musical career.
▲ If the conditions are relaxed, Wen Na can also be counted, because Wen Na uses Polydor, while Tan Yonglin and Peng Jianxin use PHILIPS for their new solo albums. The compilation albums in which Wenner participated were also released using PHILIPS.
Cheung's association with PolyGram should be earlier than PolyGram's unified distribution path in Hong Kong. For example, in 1977, the hong Kong Polydon's compilation album "Dodo Polydon" included Cheung Kwok Wing's single "I Like a Dremin", which was the title track of his first album.
▲ "Toto Polydon"... What are the singers included in it that are not only half of Hong Kong music?
Cheung released two albums under the Paulido label, one in Cantonese and one in English, both with the characteristics of early Hong Kong pop music. At that time, Cantonese songs were mainly slang content and style just began to imitate foreign trends, but unfortunately these two albums did not help Zhang Guorong become popular, so many Zhang Guorong's passers-by fans felt strange to them. Later, Zhang Guorong transferred to Huaxing Records, and his singing career improved.
▲ Zhang Guorong's debut album "I Like a Dremin'" ... The Universal Black King.
In 1987, Cheung returned to the Big Family of PolyGram and signed a new Yibao Records, a joint venture between PolyGram and New Art City Film Company. Ushered in his peak era of "two blossoms of film and music". It was also in this year that the "Tan Zhang Contend" intensified to a white-hot stage. This should be the earliest "fan team" phenomenon in the Chinese world. Although "Tan Zhang" won all the music awards ceremonies in Hong Kong at that time, the top ten Chinese golden songs, the top ten golden songs, and so on... However, fans still feel that they have "wronged" their idols, which in turn has caused some extreme fans to behave irrationally. It is also the excessive "enthusiasm" of some fans that has led to the end of the era of "Tan Zhang Contend". The landmark event was Tam Wing Lin's announcement of withdrawing from receiving the award, and Zhang Guorong's announcement of a temporary retirement from the singing scene. However, there is one detail that fans have overlooked: No matter which side you support, PolyGram is the winner.
From December 21, 1989 to January 22, 1990, Zhang Guorong held a number of "Farewell (Temporary) Farewell" concerts in the Red Pavilion. With the song "When the Wind Rises Again", Zhang Guorong drew a satisfactory end to the first half of his life. Zhang Guorong's new art treasure period also came to an end. However, the physical record of "Zhang Guorong's Farewell Concert" was published by PolyGram, and the executive producer was also replaced by PolyGram's Odin Jade, and the label actually used PHILIPS.
This reminds me of another Xu Guanjie who debuted in Poly Gold, jumped ship halfway, and finally joined New Yibao and indirectly returned to Poly Gold. The last "Hong Kong Feelings '90" before Hui Guanjie retired was also changed back to being published by PolyGram. The specific reason for this is unknown to us as outsiders. What we can see is that the two singers who were in the right years at that time chose the realm and mentality of the rapids to retreat at the peak of their careers. When they bid farewell, they use the original publishing label, perhaps not forgetting the original intention, perhaps having a beginning and an end... But most importantly, they later returned to the music scene. Although "really fragrant", it is very comforting. Finally, I used this song "Silence is Gold" to commemorate Zhang Guorong's birthday and thank you for that era.
Note: In fact, there are two female singers who can also be counted as using the PHILIPS label to release records, but because this situation is more special, it is not listed in the main text. Do you know who I'm talking about in front of the screen?
Today, on Universal's re-edition of PolyGram albums, the PHILIPS logo is no longer seen. The reason is that Universal did not renew the right to use the trademark with philips, which still exists, and it is said that some CDs that were reprinted using the PHILIPS label were destroyed for this purpose. Ben is born from the same root, and he is too anxious to fry...