On February 15, Liu Wenzheng's agent Xia Yushun confirmed to the media that Liu Wenzheng, who had disappeared from the public eye for 32 years, died in Las Vegas in November 2022 due to heart disease, four months have passed since then.
Perhaps many people will ask, who is Liu Wenzheng?
But when it comes to "Light Rain in March", "Orchid Grass", "Grandma's Penghu Bay", "Shining Day", "Late"... Every now and then, I can't help but hum.
For the initial stage of the Chinese pop music scene, the phrase "male learns Liu Wenzheng, female learns Teng Lijun" also shows the importance of Liu Wenzheng.
But compared to Teresa Teng, Liu Wenzheng said goodbye to the entertainment industry in 1991 after announcing his farewell to the front of the stage in 1984.
In the blink of an eye for 32 years, no new photo has ever been exposed, and it has completely become a "missing legend" in the entertainment industry.
Because Liu Wenzheng is completely invisible, speculation and legends about him have never been cut off for decades.
In 2009, there was once news of Liu Wenzheng's death, and even Luo Dayou and other old friends issued a search notice for him, but it was soon clarified by Xia Yushun, and he couldn't help but angrily reprimand Liu Wenzheng for retiring, and the news of his death was transmitted no less than 20 times, which made people helpless.
After 14 years, Liu Wenzheng's bad news came suddenly, this time it was confirmed by Xia Yushun, and he also thought of contacting Liu Wenzheng's family because he couldn't sleep in December 2022, and only learned that he had died quietly on November 21, when he had only spent 9 days of his 70th birthday.
Today, a generation of legends has come to an end, and those mysteries remain.
【1】Who is Liu Wenzheng?
Known as the "super king", Liu Wenzheng, who is a little strange to young fans now, can definitely afford this title.
Since he was selected by Liu Jiachang at the age of 23 and entered the entertainment industry, this little boy who originally grew up in a shirt factory can be said to have become popular instantly, first the album "The Promise" became popular, and then took over the movie "Inside and Outside", partnering Zhang Aijia and Tian Niu, Liu Wenzheng instantly became a popular student.
With a clear singing voice, handsome appearance and a bit of noble temperament, Liu Wenzheng can still dance, and his dancing style has been imitated by Fei Yuqing and others for decades.
In today's words, Liu Wenzheng is the high-quality top of the year.
Two years after his debut, he created the crescent moon program "Liu Wenzheng Time", which set a rating record of 82%, which is still a legend.
In the first four editions of the Golden Bell Awards, he won three "Best Male Singer" trophies, and his songs can be spread through the streets in almost every capital.
He is also Qiong Yao's favorite male protagonist, in movies such as "Smelling Birds Everywhere", "Clouds and Staying", "Burning Firebirds" and other movies, Liu Wenzheng is the absolute male number one, and even Qin Han has played the male number two for him.
The heroines around Liu Wenzheng, from Lin Qingxia to Lu Xiuling, Lin Fengjiao to Zhang Aijia, are all the brightest beauties of that year.
What made him legendary was that he was never obsessed with fame and fortune, and in 1983, at his peak, he began to travel around and faded out of the stage for more than three years.
When he reappeared in 1986, Liu Wenzheng had become the owner of the record company, he turned his focus to the background, and became popular with newcomers such as Qiu Haizheng, Yi Nengjing, Fang Wenlin, and Wu Qixian.
This did not retain Liu Wenzheng for the entertainment industry, and in 1991, after the transfer lawsuit with Wu Qixian, Liu Wenzheng ended the record company and bid farewell to the music scene completely.
In his words, too much time is given to the stage, and outside of work, youth is actually limited.
Unlike many artists who always appear occasionally after retiring, in the past 32 years, Liu Wenzheng has never had a photo exposed, and information about where he went and what happened to him has become a news topic from time to time, but he has never seen the Buddha-figure appear.
It is precisely because of this that Liu Wenzheng's death has become a rumor that has appeared irregularly for decades, and his former agent Xia Yushun has fought back the rumors again and again, but now it has confirmed the bad news.
[II] If there is no Liu Wenzheng
Liu Wenzheng has been away from the music scene for 32 years, but the reason why the bad news shocked many people is that his works have never left.
When Liu Wenzheng's love apprentice Yi Nengjing participated in "Sister Lang" in 2019, Jingjing, Yuan Yonglin, and A Duo were still covering "Orchid Grass", when he had been completely invisible for 28 years.
Liu Wenzheng did influence the development of the Chinese music scene, and Fei Yuqing once regarded him as an idol.
When he won the Golden Bell Award for the first time, Fei Yuqing suddenly joked when he faced Liu Wenzheng to present the award, and his nervousness turned into an emoji.
Since then, Fei Yuqing imitated Liu Wenzheng to dance in the show, and even when announcing his retirement from the music scene, he also followed the attitude of his idol, believing that he had devoted a lot of time to the stage, and did not want to continue to grow old in the eyes of the audience, and the time after that was left to himself.
Once Faye Wong and Tian Zhen were vying to imitate Teresa Teng, and Zhang Xing became the most popular male singer in the 80s by covering Liu Wenzheng's "Late".
Before Zhang Huimei participated in the Five Lights Competition and debuted, when she sang in the bar, the song she sang the most was Liu Wenzheng's "Hotline You and Me".
After her debut, she also covered the song, which was included in the album "Sister Power" released in 1997.
Liu Wenzheng's performance and stage are impeccable, Zhang Aijia once took the initiative to confess to him but was rejected, and the bright Tian Niu in her youth had more than one public recollection of taking the initiative to show favor to Liu Wenzheng, but was ignored.
After his debut, there were no scandals, nor any lace news, which also became a magical existence in the entertainment industry.
It is no wonder that even a personality girl like Zhang Qiang once revealed that she only wanted to marry Liu Wenzheng when she was a girl, which also reflected the influence of this superstar from the other side.
Growing up in his father's shirt factory, Liu Wenzheng's clothes are not outdated today, he can wear a top hat, he can also comb his back, and a silhouette suit can wear a little elegant and uninhibited.
At that time, singers did not have stylists to carefully check, and most of Liu Wenzheng's collocations were his own creativity, and his ears and eyes on clothing since childhood achieved his aesthetics.
While Liu Wenzheng began to travel the world after 1983, up-and-coming stars such as Leslie Cheung wore silhouette suits as the most fashionable trend.
In 2013, during the tour after the end of "Fast Man", Hua Chenyu, Ou Hao and others sang "Shining Day" at the end of the concert at Xiamen Station, many listeners knew this song, but they may not know who the original singer Liu Wenzheng was.
In the 32 years that Liu Wenzheng has been invisible, although he is not in the entertainment industry, many traces prove the strong influence of the legendary superstar in the past.
In 2008, there was also news that Liu Wenzheng would return as a new singer to record the record, to which Xia Yushun expressed helplessness, and Liu Wenzheng said that he wanted to let the rumors backtrack.
On the day he disappeared, there were awards ceremonies that honored him, and he thanked him without even recording a VCR.
After all, Liu Wen on the stage is becoming a thing of the past, and Liu Wen after that belongs to himself.
[iii] The mystery of Liu Wenzheng
The reason why Liu Wenzheng bid farewell to the music scene has made the Chinese entertainment industry guess for 32 years.
In addition to his belief that he expressed his desire to try a different life, his friend also wrote a book to break the news that Liu Wenzheng was strict with his stage image, but when he was nearly thirty years old, he began to fall into a hairline crisis, coupled with his original body shape, which made him have the idea of quitting.
On the other hand, it is about his friendship with Fei Xiang.
In 2012, because the painter Chen Danqing had inadvertently exposed that he had seen Liu Wenzheng and Fei Xiang together at Zhou Longzhang's residence, the superstar after retiring only opened a secret love life.
Zhou Longzhang also revealed in later books that Liu Wenzheng had tried his best to help Fei Xiang become popular, and he also lived with Fei Xiang after his retirement.
These two news are like depth charges, making the long-hidden superstar once again in the public spotlight.
For the rumors, Fei Xiang only determined that he and Liu Wen were absolute friends, and the friendship between the two would not change because of rumors, Liu Wenzheng was a respected senior in his eyes and an old friend who had always kept in touch.
Regarding more, Fei Xiang only said that he and Liu Wenzheng were past the age of emotional impulsivity and no longer cared about rumors.
However, Liu Wenzheng's agent Xia Yushun was very dissatisfied with this, and once publicly choked Fei Xiang to use Liu Wenzheng to hype, believing that the two had never had contact, let alone be friends, saying that Fei Xiang was just to make a gimmick for the movie.
Therefore, Liu Wenzheng was estranged from Zhou Longzhang because of this.
At the same time, Liu Wenzheng began to "disappear" on a deeper level, and Xia Yushun once revealed that his later contact with Liu Wenzheng could only learn about each other's recent situation through his family.
Luo Dayou, Zhang Aijia and others hoped to contact Liu Wenzheng through various ways. Luo Dayou even shouted on the TV program, if anyone saw Liu Wenzheng, please convey his thoughts, but never received a call back.
The Liu Wenzheng who used to be on the stage has said goodbye completely, and Liu Wenzheng has also been frequently exploded and his image has changed drastically, becoming a middle-aged and elderly man with a big belly.
At the same time, there are also rumors of Liu Wenzheng's death that appear from time to time, and various theories are endless.
But for the rumors, Xia Yushun repeatedly hit back at the bad news that he was misreported, and Liu Wenzheng's neighbor Yang Yaodong also spoke out to deny that Liu Wenzheng was in good shape, and Liu Wenzheng in his eyes was still humble and low-key, always avoiding crowd life and just wanting to live a quiet retirement life.
Fei Xiang revealed that Liu Wenzheng not only gained a lot in real estate investment, but also was proficient in financial management and had his own business acumen.
In these related friends, Liu Wenzheng's image in the past 32 years has been spelled out by various voices, and he has indeed completely removed his life from the public's eye, and has never been photographed again.
When "Kangxi is Coming" was still on the air, Liu Wenzheng was voted by the audience as the most eager guest to see.
Zhan Renxiong, the producer at the time, lamented that this invitation was too difficult to honor.
Now, this show has long become a memory, Liu Wenzheng also passed away quietly, and finally failed to fulfill it.
On the afternoon of February 15, after the news of Liu Wenzheng's death was exposed, a Ou who claimed to be a close friend of Liu Wenzheng told the media that the news was purely oolong, and even Liu Wenzheng himself felt helpless.
This made Xia Yushun directly angry when questioned by the media again, saying that he confirmed the authenticity of the information.
Although Xia Yushun believes that Liu Wenzheng, who he cherished most of his life, is really gone, it is also worth thinking about it from another angle, Liu Wenzheng, who has disappeared for 32 years, may really not want to be troubled by rumors anymore, and simply made a conclusion with the public.
Since then, he has lived quietly in a foreign land, no longer has to worry about being called back and saying goodbye to the former Liu Wenzheng forever.
This, perhaps, will not be so sad.