One
In 1969, a fire wiped out everything in Dick's cowboy family, and at the age of 10, he moved with his parents to a place where it was difficult to say anything, the neighbors were full of "prostitutes", and his childhood playmates became the sons of the old bustard family...
At that time, Dick Cowboy was still called Lin Jinzhang, whose ancestral home was Fujian, he was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, his family business had a lot of ups and downs, and his life was very cold. It wasn't until high school that he got an N-hand old acoustic guitar from his uncle.
Although this guitar does not have a tuner, not even six strings, but the young Dick cowboy is still a treasure, and rely on his musical talent "self-taught", slowly can play some simple songs.
However, when he was admitted to the university, he found that he was just a frog at the bottom of the well...
In college, Dick Cowboy not only saw a lot of high-end guitars, but also heard many different genres of music. After listening to it for a while, he suddenly found that it turned out that the wild and uninhibited rock and roll was most in tune with his own temperament!
If you want to do rock'n' roll, you must first have a serious guitar.
But Dick Cowboy was shy, so he had to borrow 4,000 Taiwan dollars from the class leader, buy a set of second-hand instruments from the graduating senior, and pull a few classmates... In this way, I reluctantly formed a band.
The band was there, but Dick Cowboys didn't have much time to practice. Because in addition to going to the construction site to work and pay 4,000 Taiwan dollars for the class fee, he also had to work as a guitar teacher to solve the living expenses and tuition fees.
But whenever he had time, Dick Cowboy would still take the band members and play a stereo that could no longer be broken.
Because life is very bitter, music has become the only sweetness in Dick Cowboy's life.
But even this only sweetness, when it came to college graduation, was stingy and abrupt.
Two
After college, the pressure of reality came like a tidal wave, overwhelming Dick Cowboy. He had to put away his guitar and enter the factory to become a worker with a monthly salary of NT$4,000.
In addition to being a worker, Dick Cowboys have also sold ferry tickets, worked as a park cleaner, worked as a company salesman... But he couldn't do any job long, because he wasn't happy.
He couldn't forget his musical dreams. The more hardships of life, the more he wanted to sing.
Later, a classmate who worked at Rolling Stone Records saw that he was really unsatisfied, so he introduced him to work at Rolling Stone. The work is called a salesman, but it is actually a delivery.
But Dick Cowboy agreed without hesitation, because then he could get closer to the music.
Every morning, Dick Cowboy rides a motorcycle and delivers CDs and cassettes recorded by others to various record stores in Taipei... Although he works as a courier brother, he is far less than the courier brother.
But this work also has an advantage: you can understand the trend of the music scene near the water tower, who is the hottest in the Taiwanese music scene at that time, Dick Cowboy is clear in his heart. This paved the way for him to become a resident singer in a bar.
At that time, in Taiwan, many singers sang in bars before their debut, which was roughly divided into two types.
One is like Zhang Yu, who debuted and became popular not long after singing. The other is to sing for a long time, find it too difficult, give up halfway, and stop the loss in time.
But Dick Cowboy is two kinds away, he is the kind of person who has not been popular for many years, but persists to the end.
However, in the long years of singing in the bar, Dick Cowboy did not give up music.
At that time, Rolling Stone records were booming, and Dick Cowboys had to send more and more records and cassettes, often driving records and cassettes to all of Taiwan. During the day, he had to go to the bar to sing, and he was seriously sleep-deprived.
Once, Dick Cowboy dozed off while driving and nearly whimpered. After picking up a life before the ghost door closes, he has to choose between dream and reality.
Three
After much thought, Dick Cowboy made a decision: he put away his guitar and left the bar.
After that, Dick Cowboy had gone with his wife to sell Yangchun noodles, and had also tried to do some small business with friends, but he didn't like it and didn't go well.
Going around and around, he finally decided to return to the bar to sing, and there was a big posture of "not breaking the loulan and not returning it".
This time, Dick Cowboys re-formed the band, grew their long unruly logos, and began singing in various bars.
At that time, the bar owner wanted the guests to think that the singers he invited were different people every time, so he asked them to change their names frequently...
At first, Dick Cowboys took names seriously, but later, overwhelmed, the band name became more and more casual. Sometimes passing by the bathroom, the band would give it a name like "ammonia" (toilet stink).
Later, the "Dick Cowboy" that made him popular did not have any special meaning, simply because once he went to a bar to sing, the name of the bar was "Dick and Cowboy".
"Dick Cowboy" was originally the name of the band at first, and then gradually became his own stage name.
Those days of singing in bars were not good, because taiwan is not lacking in resident singers, so Dick Cowboy has no say in bars.
Although he was riveted to sing his own original songs, the guests often did not want to listen, they only wanted to listen to the hottest and hottest songs of the moment.
Sometimes, Dick Cowboy sang well on stage, and drunken guests would throw ashtrays on stage when they were upset. Although rock singers are not afraid of heaven, in order to live, Dick Cowboy can only hide behind the stereo with the team members, waiting for the host to control the scene, and then continue to sing.
Every time this happened, Dick Cowboys would keep the young players behind him.
Over time, they started calling Dick Cowboy "Daddy." In Taiwan, "daddy" means big brother, old man, not the "daddy" who is a daddy.
While Dick Cowboys have always had a good relationship with the players, not everyone has been able to make it to the end like he did.
Often, the members of the team were forced to quit the band due to the pressure of life.
Once, a former student came to Dick Cowboy for a drink. When the student is half drunk and half awake, he says that he is about to become a manager, and asks Dick Cowboy if he wants to consider changing jobs.
Dick Cowboy thought about it and refused.
At that time, he could get a salary of more than 5,000 Taiwan dollars a month when he sang in the bar. If you work hard and run more bars, your income is OK.
Crucially, Dick Cowboy always had a musical dream of "wanting to be a great guitarist." ”
After the student listened, he said "Come on, Daddy" and left.
But in fact, Dick Cowboy, who was over thirty years old at the time, was just comforting himself in this way. He never thought that one day, he would really become a hit.
Four
In 1996, Taiwan's Shanghua Records came up with a new idea:
Since you don't have the strength to sign a big-name original singer, it is better to gamble with a resident singer in the bar. So they prepared a collection of resident singers in the bar, called "PUB Heroes Club".
The album featured many bar singers at the time, such as Yang Pei'an, Power Train, and Dick Cowboy.
But even after signing a contract with Shanghua Records, Dick Cowboy is the one that is least valued.
After all, no one wants to believe that a person in his late forties will create any surprises.
After the release of the first album, it caused a little sensation on a small scale.
So the next year, Shanghua Records eliminated a group of singers who were not listened to, and created an upgraded version of "PUB Hero Club 2". This time, Dick Cowboy's cover song is Zhang Hongliang's "Do You Know I'm Waiting for You."
After the release of this album, the mud cattle in Taiwan did not set off any waves, but they inexplicably caught fire in Hong Kong.
The streets of Hong Kong are playing this record, and the most popular of them is Dick Cowboy's cover of "Do You Know I'm Waiting for You".
Dick Cowboy, who was in Taiwan at the time, saw the album sales and knew that the people who were eliminated this time would most likely have themselves, so they prepared to pack their bags and return to his bar to continue singing.
At this time, his friend told him: You are on fire in Hong Kong!
Dick Cowboy looked suspicious and thought his friends were happy with him, until he received a call from the company sending him to Hong Kong to perform...
At the beginning, I went to Hong Kong to perform, and the funds were very tight. Nervous enough to go to the company told him that the band could only go to him alone. Dick Cowboy couldn't bargain either, and could only nod his head in agreement.
But at the signing party in Hong Kong, Dick Cowboy was embarrassed. Because he didn't know what name to sign on the record. Is it to sign the real name "Lin Jinzhang", or to sign "Daddy", or to sign "Dick Cowboy"?
I really don't know which one is good to sign, he patted his head, and simply signed it.
After signing an album for 9 words and not signing a few, Dick Cowboy realized how stupid his idea was. But I opened my own head and gritted my teeth and had to continue to sign.
At that time, the person he most admired was the singer Adu, because he only needed three letters to sign: "ADU".
Fortunately, Dick Cowboy was not lazy at that time. After he later became famous, he once lazily signed only a "cow" word, and was almost drowned by fans...
Performing several times in Hong Kong, Dick Cowboy became increasingly popular, and during this time he also brought the band to Hong Kong several times. But the organizers found that there is a band and no band is similar, and the fans only recognize him As Lin Jinzhang, the "Dick Cowboy".
Later, the organizers slowly invited Lin Jinzhang alone, so "Dick Cowboy" completely became Lin Jinzhang himself.
No one expected that Dick Cowboy, who was not confused in his recent years, actually unexpectedly caught fire. This sudden fame and fortune suddenly made Lin Jinzhang, who lived in his body as a "Kaohsiung teenager", feel unreal.
Five
In June 1998, 39-year-old Dick Cowboy gave a "platter concert" at the Hung Hom Sports Centre in Hong Kong.
What is a "platter concert"? It turned out that there were many invited guests for that concert, basically the singers of "PUB Hero Club" went, like Yang Pei'an, power train and many other people, making it like a "platter".
But Dick Cowboy relied on his personal strength to turn this "platter concert" into a "personal performance show".
That night, Dick Cowboy returned to the scene many times, and even the songs prepared in advance were not enough to sing, and he had to sing the songs he had sung again.
But even so, the fans in the audience still applauded and shouted loudly for him to return to the scene.
After the performance, the record label owner and the TV station owner went backstage to shake dick cowboys for a group photo. But Dick Cowboy was shaking his legs because he was performing in such a big venue for the first time.
After that concert, Dick Cowboy was completely on fire in Hong Kong.
When a singer is on fire, the best way to monetize is to make a record. But Dick Cowboys are all cover songs, how to do it without original works?
Simply put the cover songs into album releases.
Since then, Dick Cowboys have gone crazy about releasing albums, with a new album coming out every two or three months.
The first two cover albums, Roar and Begang, both won the top ten of the Hong Kong IFPI sales chart for ten consecutive weeks after their release.
In March 1999, the 40-year-old Dick Cowboy also released his first Chinese album "Forget Me or Forget Him", which set the song "Thirty Thousand Feet" on fire.
Two months later, Dick Cowboy released an album, Legends, including the familiar song "How Much Love Can Be Repeated."
"How Much Love Can Be Repeated" was originally a song sung by Huang Zhongkun. After the cover of Dick Cowboy, the song was re-brought to life, and even many people have always thought that this song is the original of Dick Cowboy.
The song brought Dick Cowboy's musical career to the pinnacle, but he couldn't be happier.
Six
Dick Cowboys do have a good time in Hong Kong, but like other stars, most of the money earned has to be shared with the company.
Especially after returning to Taiwan, Taiwan does not have as many commercial performance opportunities as Hong Kong. So If Dick Cowboy wants to make money, he still has to release records.
At this time, the particularity of Dick cowboy is reflected.
He is a cover singer.
A cover artist means that every time a record is released, Dick Cowboy pays a lot of money to buy the rights to someone else's song, and it's often a hit pop song.
As a result, Dick Cowboys only earn NT$5 for every album they sell.
So at the time, some singers wanted Dick Cowboys to make a record than fans. Because as long as Dick Cowboy covers his own songs, he can generate income again.
In Taiwan, a singer can sell 50,000 albums, that is, platinum sales, selling 100,000 copies, is the top player.
But dick cowboys sold 100,000 records at that time, and they could only get 500,000 Taiwan dollars, equivalent to 100,000 yuan.
As a result, after releasing two more cover albums, Dick Cowboy was completely dead hearted and began to develop to the mainland.
In 2001, 42-year-old Dick Cowboy began to participate in variety shows in the mainland.
But in the show, the unspeakable Dick Cowboy, in addition to singing some classic cover songs, just mentions some past events:
For example, before he became famous, he had followed Qi Qin and Su Rui everywhere, and it was Su Rui's encouragement that made him decide to go to the end on the road of cover songs.
For example, during his brilliant years, he held concerts in Southeast Asia, and 10,000 tickets could be sold out in a few hours, becoming a legend in the entertainment industry...
But there will always be a day when the story will be finished, and the song will be tired of being listened to.
Dick Cowboy knows very well that he can't just sing other people's songs forever, he must have his own original songs.
In order to achieve this goal, in addition to participating in variety shows, he also opened a bar in Guangzhou.
Speaking of this bar, there is also a heart-warming little story.
Seven
Another owner of the bar was Dick Cowboy's first student when he was a guitar teacher.
At that time, students also had musical dreams, but later the pressure of reality made him give up his dreams. Now that they have gone around, students have gained a firm foothold in society and want to open a bar to continue their dreams and create opportunities for young people.
So he found Dick Cowboy and said what he thought.
This idea touched Dick Cowboy and immediately agreed.
When naming the bar, Dick Cowboy also "willfully" a handful, named "Roar".
The venue of this bar was originally a German power plant, and Dick Cowboy remembered that the original Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China and also had Germany's share, and wanted to take the opportunity to express Chinese anger at the invasion of the great powers, just because he had an album called "Roar", which was used by this name!
In 2004, the mainland record label "New So Music" signed Dick Cowboy and helped him create a new album "True Colors".
This is Dick Cowboy's first album since leaving Taiwan, and on the day of signing, he excitedly said, April 2, 2004, the release day, is the 'rebirth day' of Cowboy.
After the album's release, the 45-year-old Dick Cowboy went around promoting the new album. When he returned to Taipei for publicity, the record company also specially arranged 9 heavy motorcycles for him to help him support the scene.
Unfortunately, this record, which Was highly anticipated by Dick Cowboy, did not allow him to return to the peak of his career.
That year, it was the "first year of Internet songs", and the streets and alleys were full of "Song of the Pig" and "Two Butterflies" and "Mice Love Rice"...
After the album "True Colors" broke into the sand, Dick Cowboy had to continue to participate in the show and earn money to support his family.
On September 30, 2005, 46-year-old Dick Cowboy gave his first solo concert in mainland China at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing.
The atmosphere was lively, with fans waving their hands in disgust and Dick Cowboy singing on stage.
After the concert, Dick Cowboy took a photo with fans, saying that more concerts would be held in the future.
But this good wish was "terminated" by a Sichuan girl.
Eight
In 2005, Sichuan girl Li Yuchun became the "SuperWoman Champion", announcing the official arrival of the "draft era".
Since then, various talent shows have emerged one after another, launching batches of traffic idols. Dick Cowboy, who does not have an advantage in appearance and age, and does not understand marketing hype, although the strength is online, but the opportunities are getting less and less.
In those years, Dick Cowboy, who was choked by the new forces, had the only news out of the circle was that when he participated in the "All-Star Song Club", he confessed to his wife on the show and made up for a belated marriage proposal.
When his wife married Dick Cowboy, he was still poor and white, and the two spent many unforgettable times together, and he said affectionately on the show: "My wife is the person who has the greatest influence on me." There is only one wife! ”
He didn't pass on any gossip afterwards. Some media have reported that the mainland singer String Zi is his daughter, but in fact, The String Is a female singer of the Zhuang ethnic group in Guangxi, and he is only some musical cooperation.
In May 2007, the 48-year-old Dick Cowboy released the single "Daddy" while enjoying the joy of becoming a father.
At that time, Dick Cowboy experienced great ups and downs in life, and he was nearly fifty years old, and he was already a veritable "father".
Later, this song was included in the album "Wind and Sand". Also included are "Wind and Sand" and "Let Go to Love", which was once the ending song of the TV series "Landing, Please Open the Mobile Phone", which was sung for a while.
"Wind and Sand" means a lot to Dick Cowboy. Because that year was the tenth year of his debut as "Dick Cowboy".
Therefore, Dick Cowboy chose 10 songs, not only to sing to himself, but also to the men who were wandering away and working hard for their families.
When "Wind and Flying Sand" held a signing party in Tianjin, the scene was very hot.
Someone even carried his girlfriend on his shoulder for more than two hours, just so that his girlfriend could see Dick Cowboy Real...
But after that, Dick Cowboy was like "wind and sand", and he went farther and farther away from the entertainment industry.
Nine
In 2010, 51-year-old Dick Cowboy released a new album "Forbidden Zone" at his own expense.
When asked by a reporter why he wanted to make a record at his own expense when the physical record market was sluggish, he laughed and said that "his head went into the water" and said, "Because there is a lack of mature male music in the song world now."
At that time, most of the mainland music scene was love and love, and the lack of "mature male music" was not false, but Dick Cowboy's album did not make mainland music re-enter "mature male music" or "tough guy style".
Instead, Dick Cowboy gradually disappeared in front of everyone, and occasionally appeared only to go to the last show and be a supporting guest.
For a while, Dick Cowboy seemed to have evaporated, with no new songs, no albums, and no shows he'd ever seen on. On the contrary, at the opening ceremonies of various squares, he can often be seen.
At that time, dick cowboys still had the iconic long hair, but they looked old, so that many fans could not help but sigh: a generation of "rock stars" and "mature male singers" actually fell into the cave for a living!
But not long ago, Dick Cowboy gave all fans a surprise.
On December 31, 2021, at the "2022 Winter Olympics BRTV Global New Year's Eve Ice and Snow Festival", Dick Cowboy, who had not appeared for many years, sang a song "Great China" with Jia Nailiang.
The Dick cowboy in the shot is still glorious, although he is 62 years old, he still has long uninhibited hair and a thick voice. He seemed to be singing and telling his fans: As long as someone wants to listen, I can continue to sing.
However, times are different after all. In the vicissitudes of change, we should all understand that some love cannot be repeated. Fate of this thing, the most uninhibited, rather than useless hard pursuit, it is better to be yourself, the rest to God!
Follow @Wan Xiao Knife headline number to read more character stories and explosive articles. For example, "The Fragrant Past of the "Actress Harvester"", "How the Big Guys of the Bamboo Gang Stirred up the Entertainment Circle", "The History of the Hong Kong Circle Playboy", "The History of Sun Honglei", "The Melon of the "Three-level Film Goddess" in the Hong Kong Circle", and the secret past of the four heavenly kings, Zhou Runfa, Jackie Chan, Zhou Xingchi, Jet Li, Lin Qingxia, Maggie Cheung and other stars.
References for this article: See the picture in the text.