The one who is the ruler of heaven and earth, the rebel of all things, the one who is in time, and the guest of hundreds of generations.
Chen Jieling, 65 years old, after experiencing the ups and downs of life, the impermanence of the world, especially the study of Buddhism, believes that he has a deep understanding of this:
Everything has a way, like a dream bubble.
First, fame and fortune
Chen Jieling liked Xu Xiaofeng's "Caprice", but she thought that in her early years, with her own affectionate personality, she could not sing that kind of dashing and indifferent taste, and later, with the development of time, and then reinterpreted this song, only to reach the realm of "longing is rich in the heart, fame and profit are not deliberately pursued".
Chen Jieling debuted early, and even Lin Zixiang, who was eight years older than her, had to shout "senior" in the show.
How early is it? It was 1972, and he was 17 years old – two or three years earlier than Lin Zixiang.
At that time, Chen Jieling was still attending secondary school at gezhi English college in Tsim Sha Tsui. According to Chen Jieling, she went to school very easily, because she only went to school but did not read, did not take exams, and most of her time was spent on play, such as going to Clearwater Bay with the boys of The Nearby Canossa St Mary's College to barbecue, swimming, wearing bikinis with a wonderful figure, so that the peers of Ou Rui strong nosebleeds, "click" and keep taking pictures, photos are still not willing to throw away.
Among Chen Jieling's classmates, there is a girl who has a good relationship with her, this girl has two older brothers, one is called Lin Zihui, the other is Lin Zixiang, so Chen Jieling and Lin Zixiang are very fateful, they almost became a family - Chen Jieling and Lin Zixiang's brother Lin Zihui once photographed drag...
This love, not introduced by Lin Zixiang, but the two met and fell in love when they went to Japan to see Rod Stewart concert. Perhaps, it was Lin Zihui's beard that attracted Chen Jieling.
It is said that Lin Zihui's beard is thicker and more beautiful than his brother Lin Zixiang's, and he also grew early, which once annoyed Lin Zixiang in adolescence, prayed every day to become a man, and then finally grew out, especially excited, and has not shaved off since.
Lin Zixiang and younger brother Lin Zihui (middle)
If Chen Jieling likes bearded men, then why didn't she have feelings for Lin Zixiang? Only because when she first met Lin Zixiang in the mid-70s, the moustache was still singing in the bar, and Lin Zixiang had a problem singing, to turn the light very dark, he looked black, plus the musicians were all Filipinos, looking around, the black pressure was a batch, it was impossible to see the face, how did you let Chen Jieling be moved? Later, although the two became acquainted, one was taciturn (Lin), one was enthusiastic and unrestrained (Chen), and his personality was not in tune, so he could not produce a spark.
In fact, Lin Zixiang is cold on the outside, but has a deep sense of humor on the inside, I don't believe to see the cover of the record he planned himself, but this humor belongs to a high level, and the average person will not understand it.
Back to the point. When Chen Jieling went to school, she spent a lot of time in addition to calling friends to hang around, and the other was singing, and she was professional, otherwise how could she have debuted so early.
Chen Jieling has shown a talent for singing since she was a child, with a loud voice, a wide range of voices, and a full breath, and her parents are proud of it, and in 1970, she signed her up for TVB's "Sonic Treasure Night" competition and won the championship in one fell swoop.
Winning the championship, Chen Jieling has a certain reputation, began to participate in some programs, activities of the performance, until 1972, in Tsim Sha Tsui Baguio (Bayside) nightclub and other places to sing, anyway do not love to learn, but also earn money, why not enjoy? Since then, he has officially entered the entertainment industry.
In addition to singing, Chen Jieling was favored by Li in 1973, and co-hosted and resident singer of the song and dance program "Youth Melody" with Australian singer Ben Leeman Lee Wenbin.
Chen Jieling's activity and singing have attracted the attention of former D'Topnotes harpsichordist Zhong Dingyi. After D'Topnotes disbanded, Zhong Dingyi was ready to reorganize the band and break into the singing world, recruiting people, so that Chen Jieling entered his eyes. And Chen Jieling is very interested in playing the band, when the lead singer, the two sides hit it off.
The new band, called The New Topnotes (New Special Music Band), unfortunately ran for a while, the effect is not very good, Zhong Ding decided, and then find a male singer and Chen Jieling to cooperate, the so-called "male and female partners, work is not tired" is also.
The male singer they found was Ye Zhentang, who sang at the Bar in Central, and Ye Zhentang was a cheerful person who agreed to join the company.
Thus, The New Topnotes team took shape, with early members including Zhong Dingyi (harpsichord), Chen Jieling (lead vocals/bass), Ye Zhentang (lead/bass guitar), Lin Mudd (guitar) and Andrew Oh (blowing), roberto Petaccia (drums. It was later replaced by Carlos Mendoza).
The New Topnotes
The New Topnotes was founded at the beginning, mainly singing in nightclubs, several people are very hard, rehearsals are not quit, 5 days a week, from 2 pm to 6 pm, thunder and lightning.
So carefully polished, the band cooperation tacit understanding, especially Ye Zhentang and Chen Jieling, the singing is beautiful, the cooperation is seamless, and it is welcomed.
As the band gradually became popular, everyone's ambitions increased accordingly, and nightclubs such as bars could no longer meet the demand for performances. At this point, Singaporean member Andrew Oh (or Roberto Petaccia, it is really unclear) suggested that it was better to go to Sing Tao to develop, and that I had relations there to ensure that the arrangements were in place. Such a good thing, what are you waiting for? The crowd immediately packed their bags and went on a walk-and-go trip.
In Singapore, sure enough, the band was arranged to perform in the restaurants and clubs of the top local hotels, and people had to queue up if they wanted to listen to the songs.
The momentum generated by The New Topnotes caught the attention of the record company, and in 1975, the band released their first self-titled album in Singapore.
The New Topnotes debut album
In the next 3 years, the band performed and recorded, and in 1978, they went international and toured Italy for half a year, covering Rome, Milan, Florence: in the amphitheater that can accommodate more than 30,000 people in Verona, they sang to the fullest; at the TV station, they put on kung fu costumes and came to a set of kung fu rock... What is more praised is that during the tour, they launched a mini album that landed on the European record chart, which was a major breakthrough for Chinese bands.
Just when the band was full of spirits, it was not expected that something would happen, and Ye Zhentang proposed to quit the team and return to Hong Kong due to family reasons. The tour ends hastily.
The band lacked a main force, naturally it could not be maintained any longer, and everyone had to run their own things. Zhong Dingyi later became Chen Jieling's manager and record producer.
Leaving The New Topnotes, Chen Jieling developed alone.
In 1979, Chen Jieling participated in the 10th World Song Festival held in Tokyo, Japan, and reached the finals. This result is not simple, only three Hong Kong singers have entered the General Bureau competition over the years, the other two are Siandura (1974) and Lu Yunna (1978, representing the United States), and the rest such as Zhong Lingling, Ye Liyi, Chen Qiuxia, Chen Meiling, Chen Baiqiang and so on have stopped in the semi-finals.
In the same year, Chen Jieling recorded her first solo Cantonese album "Sitting Alone in the Coffee Room". Originally, Chen Jieling heard that the "traitors" Ye Zhentang, Wu Mali and Huang Zhengguang had formed a band named "Ma Zhengtang" (each of the three names took one word) and changed to singing Cantonese songs (The New Topnotes sang all English songs), full of surprise and disdain, and did not expect that he would soon follow in the footsteps. At that time, Hong Kong was already the world of Cantonese songs, or to go with the trend or be eliminated, she could only choose the former.
In this way, the three English female singers who were praised by Huang Xia as "extremely outstanding" that year, namely Ye Liyi, Du Lisha and Chen Jieling, all changed their ways and "abandoned the dark and cast the light".
However, the market did not accept Chen Jieling's "surrender", and the sales of "Sitting Alone in the Cafe" were extremely unsatisfactory, which directly led to her having no films to publish for the next two or three years.
The album "Sitting Alone in the Cafe"
In 1981, Cantonese opera star Ruan Zhaohui invested in the establishment of Xiyun Records, signing Chen Jieling and Wang Aiming, one of the original TVB "Four Golden Flowers". At that time, Xi Yun produced Wang Aiming's album "Ming Ming Is", and the following year, she produced Chen Jieling's album "Starry Night Stardust".
"Starry Night Stardust" is of high quality, the song of the same name and "Tonight Night" are the theme songs and interludes of the TVB drama "Stardust", composed by Gu Jiahui and lyrics by Huang Xia; "Platinum Lift" and "His Vision" are the interludes of the movie "Interstellar Blunt Tire", and caizi Lin Zhenqiang fills in the lyrics. These four songs were sung for a while, and "Tonight Night" won the Top Ten Chinese Golden Melody Award.
"Starry Night Stardust" has good sales and reputation, but Before Chen Jieling can be happy, she encounters an unfortunate thing - Ruan Zhaohui suddenly encountered a financial crisis, which led to the closure of Xi Yun. In this matter, Chen Jieling lost her job, and also let her and Huang Xia, Gu Jiahui and others did not get a single point of remuneration.
Starry Night Stardust album
In 1983, Chen Jieling joined Huaxing. During the Huaxing period (1983-1987), she successively released "Waiting Without Words", "Pouring Out My Heart", "Elisa Chan", "Wind. fire. Sea" four albums.
In 1987, Chen Jieling switched to Warner and released two albums, "Chen Jieling" and "Elisa". In 1989, he began hosting the ATV "Tonight Night" program.
In 1992, Chen Jieling faded out of the singing scene after Stellar released the album "My Heart".
After 2000, Chen Jieling returned, serving as a judge, acting in stage plays, holding concerts, and releasing audiophile records, which once again made people see the style.
Chen Jieling in his youth
For a while, Chen Jieling opened a class to receive apprentices and taught singing, and the disciples included Nicholas Tse, Joey Yung, Twins, He Jiali, Zheng Xiyi, Xie Anqi, etc., known as "Miss Chan Chan". However, later, she felt that her music theory foundation was not enough and needed to be enriched, so she stopped teaching songs.
Chen Jieling is a studious person, living in Los Angeles for many months in his early years, learning singing skills with 3 teachers every day, and then learning classical piano since 2007, with the aim of playing Chopard's classical movements or serenades by hand, and then entering the University of Hong Kong to study for a master's degree in Buddhist studies, a certificate degree in Chinese Buddhist texts, and reading Indo-European languages (Sanskrit and Pali).
At this moment, the pursuit of fame and fortune mentioned in "Caprice" is not as good as the intention in the heart, suddenly cheerful, Chen Jieling deduced naturally.
As she said, fame and fortune, no one does not want to have, but to be respected in the industry, is the most difficult.
Second, love and righteousness
Chen Jieling has a cheerful personality, loves to talk and laugh, and is usually very affectionate, so there are many friends.
Such as Lin Zixiang. Chen Jieling is not only a classmate with his sister, but also has found an object with his brother, and has been a colleague with him (in the 70s with EMI Emi), but also a person who knows and appreciates Lin Zixiang's deep humor. When others are intimidated by the "indifference" of the moustache, Chen Jieling can joke with him and even "rub oil" on each other at the concert, not thinking that he is sorry;
Chen Jieling and Lin Zixiang
Such as Lun Yongliang. Lun Yongliang said that Chen Jieling has always been his "mentor and friend, confidant with a red face", and many people's views on life have been inspired by him. In 1991, Lun Yongliang gave two concerts at the Red Pavilion, and Chen Jieling was the first guest he invited. In 2008, a pair of old friends jointly performed the stage play "Flower Far World" and had fun;
Chen Jieling and Lun Yongliang
Such as Lin Zhenqiang. Chen Jieling's "Platinum Lift", "The Wind is Cold", "The Day the True Self" and other classics are all from Lin Zhenqiang's hand, who is good at writing songs based on the singer's own experience, and it is inevitable that he often talks with the singer, so that he and Chen Jieling become acquainted. However, Lin Zhenqiang is a man who is quiet and reticent, and Chen Jieling's speech is incessant, and the head is the Tao, and it is really not easy for the two to talk together. In 1994, Lin Zhenqiang wrote a poem to Chen Jieling entitled "Crying... In 2006, 3 years after Lin Zhenqiang's death, Chen Jieling accidentally found the box sample tape when sorting out the documents, and quickly included it in the new album "Caprice", so that the lost pearl could be seen again. Maybe in the dark, there are own arrangements.
Lin Yanni, Lin Zhenqiang siblings
Of course, Chen Jieling's most talked about is his friendship with Zhang Guorong.
The first time Chen Jieling and Zhang Guorong met was at a star basketball game held on TV, the two chatted happily, and Zhang Guorong did not shy away from telling Chen Jieling that there was a "boyfriend" on the scene to see him. This boyfriend is Tang Hede, it is worth noting that they just met, Zhang Guorong said such a "secret" thing, which shows that he has a very good impression of Chen Jieling and has a lot of trust.
Later, as a Huaxing singer and a manager, the opportunity for Chen Jieling and Zhang Guorong to contact increased, and the relationship between the two became closer and closer, becoming close friends.
In 1984 and 1986, Chen Jieling and Zhang Guorong sang "I'm Afraid I Won't Meet Again" and "Who Makes You Crazy" respectively. Because Chen Jieling's singing has always been wide open, when singing "Who Makes Your Heart Crazy", Zhang Guorong also taught her how to sing a soft feeling.
In 1986, Chen Jieling held his first concert, and Zhang Guorong enthusiastically held the concert as a guest. The year before, chen Jieling was also invited to participate in his summer hundred jue concert.
Chen Jieling and Zhang Guorong at the concert
In 1995, Chen Jieling got married, and Zhang Guorong sang a song at the wedding to wish his friends happiness and happiness. In the past, every New Year's Festival, The single Chen Jieling would go to Zhang Guorong's house to stay. The two of them made a phone call, talked for hours, and talked about a lot of things.
Zhang Guorong at Chen Jieling's wedding
Zhang Guorong commented that Chen Jieling was his only close friend, and he was also his sparrow foot and brand partner. They often played mahjong together all night, and there are many interesting things:
Once, a group of people fought repeatedly, Chen Jieling once hit "vomiting milk" - this, "vomiting milk" is what the situation is, I really don't understand;
Once, they played Taiwanese mahjong, Zhang Guorong single hanging a barrel, won can eat ten times, in his drinking water gap, Chen Jieling played a card: "a barrel." Overjoyed, he shouted "and reconciled"... Oh, no, less cards, became a xianggong, where did the original food and one of the original food and hand go? It turned out that it was Chen Jieling who had touched his barrel and hit it.
For this matter, Zhang Guorong has always been "grumpy", "solemnly" mentioned it when he was a guest of Chen Jieling's concert, and called Chen Jieling a "rotten gambler A Ling", and Chen Jieling "knelt down and begged for forgiveness".
Chen Jieling and Zhang Guorong
After Zhang Guorong suffered from depression, Chen Jieling and several other friends played mahjong more frequently in order to accompany him, and the night before he committed suicide, he still fought fiercely in the Foursquare City. The game dispersed, Chen Jieling returned home, feeling uncomfortable in his heart, and could not sleep until he took sleeping pills. Just after waking up, Chen Jieling received bad news, and her first reaction was: "Isn't it, so hurry?!" Zhang Guorong's ending, Chen Jieling did not think of it, to her surprise and surprise, came so quickly, separated less than 24 hours, tragedy occurred.
After Zhang Guorong left, Chen Jieling often comforted himself, he was just like Rowan, immigrants to Iceland, but did not bring a telephone, fax machine...
The departure of Zhang Guorong, Lin Zhenqiang and other friends has given Chen Jieling a new understanding and understanding of people-to-people interactions and life and death, one of which is to try to live his life better and then influence others.
Third, love and delusion
Chen Jieling's creed is that the game is human, good guys, until the age of 40, before finding someone to marry.
Chen Jieling's husband is Zhang Yaorong, who is engaged in the insurance industry, and the two were matched by Fat Mama Maria in 1995.
After a month together, Chen Jieling and Zhang Yaorong both recognized each other, and Zhang Yaorong proposed marriage to her, but she refused, on the grounds that "what you do with the slave family, how can marriage be casual" or "such a big thing needs to be decided by parents". As a child of the jianghu, Chen Jieling will not be so twisted and pinched, the real reason is that she was doing the stage play "I Have a Date with Spring" at that time, and she really did not have time. So, when "I Have a Date with Spring" ended seven or eight months later, the two immediately had a wedding.
After marriage, although the husband and wife have friction, the overall love is increased, and the life is not shocking.
About 2008, one day, Zhang Yaorong said that he was unwell, and Chen Jieling asked him to go to the hospital for examination. After the inspection, Chen Yaorong did not say anything about the results. At that time, Chen Jieling was going to New York to take the stage, and then planned to fly directly to Barcelona with a few good sisters after the performance and take a cruise ship to the sea. So she threatened to leave with her luggage if she didn't say anything. Zhang Yaorong then confided the truth: he had lung cancer.
This news is like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, what can Chen Jieling do? Can only cooperate with the doctor to help Zhang Yaorong actively treat it. Before Zhang Yaorong fell ill, Chen Jieling was learning classical piano and preparing for the exam, so she gave up learning to play the piano and took full care of her husband.
Zhang Yaorong underwent surgery, but the recovery after the operation was not ideal, the cancer cells gradually spread, he even had difficulty tying his shoelaces, and his eyes lost focus, and he could not touch the cup of water in front of him.
Chen Jieling forgave her husband not to give up hope, and for a while, Zhang Yaorong recovered, and he was able to move freely, and he also drove a car to the street for a walk.
Upon learning of this, Chen Jieling was furious and scolded Zhang Yaorong for not dying, but when she heard her husband passing through an intersection, it took her 15 minutes to pass, and her emotions changed and she cried. You know, when Zhang Yaorong was young, he was a racing driver, and now that he has fallen to this point, why doesn't he make her heartache?
On June 2, 2009, Zhang Yaorong died of illness. He did not leave Chen Jieling a son and a half daughter, only endless thoughts.
One day, Chen Jieling in the desk, found a letter written to her by Zhang Yaorong before he died, when the two quarreled, Zhang Yaorong wrote this letter, Chen Jieling on the head of the angry head did not look at it and threw it casually, today's exhibition letter read again, it is already a human being, between the lines, affectionate pieces, the center of the eye, teardrops.
Chen Jieling could not walk out of the pain of widowhood for a long time, and she studied Buddhism and was also affected by this incident.
"Since you are alive and not dead, live well", share more with people, be kind to people, this is the biggest gift left to her by her husband.
Fame and profit, love and righteousness, love and delusion, fate and dispersion, sorrow and joy, Chen Jieling has seen everything thoroughly and clearly. "I finally understood that happiness is that you don't insist on losing a few and gaining a lot." Chen Jieling said.
As a result, she has repeatedly stressed that she is not a "singer", but a "singer" - using her voice to interpret the most emotional part of a song.