In other words, in the 1960s and 1970s, young people in Hong Kong were influenced by European and American music, and they picked up guitars, ripped open their voices, and sandwiched Bands with three or five confidants, and the style was nothing more than two, one was rock, and the other was folk songs, the former had Xu Guanjie, Teddy Robin, Tan Yonglin, and the latter about Zheng Jie, Chen Meiling, Chen Qiuxia, Yuan Lichang, and Au Ruiqiang.
Two types, in addition to the style and the difference between electric guitar and acoustic guitar, the personnel also have a class, rock gang to social idle people, folk gang is mostly students, if the two gangs meet together, one side must despise each other is "bad youth", the other side is mostly disdainful of this group of "nerds".
Folk songs, also known as "folk songs" in Hong Kong, earlier folk singers with "Peter, Paul & Mary" and other masters as idols, a mouth full of London tone, elegant very, and later refilled the English songs, adapted and sung, and then later, Taiwan campus folk songs popular on Hong Kong Island, Li Taixiang's songs, Sanmao's words, Qi Yu's singing, so that many literary and artistic young people are obsessed.
Didn't find a problem? Hong Kong folk songs sing back and forth, basically do not have their own things, there is in between, folk song standard-bearer Au Rui Qiang mobilized the owner of Radio Television Hong Kong, on March 15, 1981, held the "Hong Kong City Folk Song Open Creation Competition" to encourage originality and explore new talents.
In this competition, the judges included Ka Long, Li Xiaotian, Ou Ruiqiang, Zheng Guojiang, Lu Guozhan and others, and the performers were Ou Ruiqiang, Cai Fenghua, Chen Jianyi, Peng Jianxin of Hong Kong and Wang Menglin, Jiang Ling, Xu Xiaojing and Yang Fangyi of Taiwan.
In the end, "Ask", "City Song", and "Fishing Village Scenery" won the top three in the new song group, and "Wangxiang", "On the Ferry Last Night", and "Half a Day sneaking around and light song" won the top three in the new song group of the old song. Among these songs, "Ask" and "On the Ferry Last Night" have been passed down to this day and have become Classics of Hong Kong folk songs.
In terms of singers, most of them are short-lived, such as Ou Guifen (Ou Ruiqiang's sister) who sang "Ask", Ye Yuanchun, Li Bingwen who sang "On the Ferry Last Night", as well as Tao Zanxin, Yang Guohua, the City Folk Song Choir, etc., all of whom are unknown, only two, and will develop in the song world in the future, one is the lyricist and singer Liang Meiwei of "Half a Day Stealing Light Song Tune", both the famous female lyricist and manager Xiaomei, and the other is Lin Zhimei.
When Lin Zhimei participated in the competition, she was still a minor, and the "Homecoming" that she originally composed, composed and sang did not get the rank, but CBS/Sony Xinli Records signed a contract with her after the game.
At that time, Lin Zhimei was a middle school student at Minsheng College, and in the 1970s, the school produced a well-known alumnus, Chen Qiuxia, so the school often gave students chicken blood: "Students, learn from Chen Qiuxia and win glory for your alma mater." ”
What to learn from Chen Qiuxia? Good looks to learn her dressing up, love to act to figure out the role she plays, Lin Zhimei, is a "fat sister", and no acting talent, fortunately can sing, finally in "today our school is proud of Chen Qiuxia, tomorrow our school is proud of me" there is no lag in the big study, big discussion, big action.
Three singers graduated from Minsheng College: Lin Zhimei, Chen Qiuxia and Peng Ling from left
Lin Zhimei liked to sing since she was a child, and when other children climbed the trees on the wall and ran around, she stood alone by the radio, singing along while listening, and soon learned songs such as "Long Stream". My brother saw her singing like a model, gave her a guitar, and her musical dream officially set sail.
In middle school, Lin Zhimei and a few classmates formed a folk song team, performed everywhere, and for a while, she even temporarily sang for Yuan Lichang at the Wing On Restaurant in Sheung Wan, earning two thousand yuan per month.
Until 1981, Lin Zhimei participated in the "Hong Kong City Folk Song Open Composition Competition" and signed a contract with Xinli - because he was underage, he was signed by his brother.
In August of that year, Xinli collected and published the winning awards and outstanding songs of the "Hong Kong Urban Folk Song Open Composition Competition", and Lin Zhimei was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of singing "Morning Dawn", "Homecoming" and "Wangxiang" in a row, and the first two songs were her works.
Hong Kong City Folk Songs
In February 1982, Xinli launched "Hong Kong City Folk Song Encore", and Lin Zhimei continued to play the main force, singing "Kite", "Paragraph of Feelings" and "Lonely Thoughts". "Paragraphs of Feelings" won the Top Ten Chinese Golden Melody Award that year.
Xinli praised Lin Zhimei that was going all out, and in the same year, the company also arranged for her and her brother Cai Fenghua to sing the theme song of the movie "Dragging Hands", "Spark of Love". Cai Fenghua was hot at that time, and this move was exactly the trick of "borrowing power to fight", and the effect was excellent.
During the recording of "Spark of Love", Lin Zhimei found that Cai Fenghua's oral movements were very exaggerated when singing, she stood opposite, and when she saw him, she couldn't help but laugh, and as a result, she had to record separately.
Lin Zhimei and Cai Fenghua
In addition to "The Spark of Love", Lin Zhimei and Cai Fenghua also sang "Thinking of You A Thousand Times" and "Breakthrough of Love", and the two were once considered by fans to be golden children and called on Ma Yu to get married and have children.
The relationship with Cai Fenghua is the only scandal that Lin Zhimei has had for many years, which is the speculation of the company and the media, but the parties do not cooperate hard, and the speculation will be stopped.
In Lin Zhimei's impression, Cai Fenghua likes to chat and has a lot of opinions, so it is not surprising to say that "a moment's brilliance is not necessarily eternal". As for becoming the "epileptic king", it can only be created and done well.
Lin Zhimei and Cai Fenghua worked together again many years later
At the beginning of 1983, after some successful campaigning, Lin Zhimei, who was already famous, finally began to record her first record. Because it was the summer of that year, she had to participate in the exam, the time was tight, and the vocal cords were inflamed when recording the songs, which had a certain impact, so she personally wrote a paragraph to the fans: "Although in the preparatory process of this time, I and other staff have been busy for a long time, whether in the conception, selection of song recordings, there have been many problems, but we are only looking forward to the results of 'one point of hard work and one point of harvest'. "This modesty has won people's praise.
Debut self-titled album
In the album, in addition to including good songs such as "Paragraph of Feelings" and "Lover's Road", there is also a song "Your Eyes", which is sought after. The original song of "Your Eyes" is Cai Qin, re-filled by Zheng Guojiang, Master Zheng is a good hand at writing folk songs, and the earlier "Strangers Return to People", "Thousand Peaks Outside the Clouds", "City Folk Songs" and so on are classics. This time in "Your Eyes", he believes that the original words of Su Lai have a sense of dreaminess and abstraction, so try to keep it even more hazy. The MV of this song also adheres to this principle, picking a misty woods to shoot, and the effect is excellent.
Lin Zhimei and Zheng Guojiang
Lin Zhimei's tone is higher than Cai Qin's, singing out of the girlish taste, making it easy to recall the student period, the boy or girl who had secret affection but passed by, beautiful and with regret, naturally repeated listening and not bored, driving this song and "Lover's Road", respectively, to the top of the radio pop list.
In addition, the album as a whole is composed by Zhou Qisheng, who was 21 years old at the time, showing his talent and adding a lot of points.
In the end, Lin Zhimei's eponymous album sold four platinums. He himself was also invited to be a guest at Chen Baiqiang's 1983 concert.
Lin Zhimei and Chen Baiqiang
Lin Zhimei received fame and fortune, when she kept receiving checks, so much money that she was afraid, with money, she often traveled to Japan and bought a lot of gifts for her classmates.
The name has money, but she has not decided to become a professional singer since then, and when the exam is over, she runs to a nightclub in Wan Chai and guest sings for a period of time, which is rare and relaxed.
She is not in a hurry, Xinli can be anxious, let go of what requirements are mentioned, Lin Zhimei said that she likes the supervision work, Xinli promised "no problem", as long as she comes back to record songs quickly. What else is there to say? Since then, Lin Zhimei has been at ease as a singer.
The second album "What is Fate" was released in early 1984, lin Zhimei also served as a producer, from planning to finding someone to write songs, arranging songs, to recording, publicity, all of which were handled by one hand. The album's more well-known song is the song "First Love", at least Stephen Chow liked it, and later used it in "God Eater".
In 1984, Yang Fan directed his debut film "Diary of a Girl". As we all know, Yang Fan, who was born as a photographer, the biggest feature of his film is "aesthetic beauty", which is fully displayed in his first work - the picture is fresh, the handsome man and woman are beautiful, and the story is romantic, which together constitute the dreamlike "Diary of a Girl".
The film is beautiful, the theme song is of course also beautiful, Yang Fan found "Season of the Wind" author Li Yasang to compose, and then let Zheng Guojiang fill in the lyrics, the singer, Lin Zhimei is the most suitable - "Diary of a Girl" itself is to tell the story of students, the academy singer Lin Zhimei must feel empathy and grasp the essence.
Zheng Guojiang just filled in the words, Lin Zhimei entered the recording studio, and when she sang a sentence or two, she secretly applauded in her heart: This song is amazing, it will definitely be a big hit! Even according to her, there is a feeling of "singer-man unity".
This song is not only liked by Lin Zhimei, Yang Fan is also very satisfied, in the movie, he specially arranged a scene to play the theme song, the picture is accompanied by singing, that guy, beautiful.
Lin Zhimei's premonition is not wrong, this song called "Chance Encounter", sure enough, "hot", won the "Top Ten Chinese Golden Songs" and "Top Ten Golden Songs", and beat Mei Yanfang's "Like Water Flowing Year", Tan Yonglin's "The Root of Love" and "Phantom", Ye Qianwen's "Evening Wind", and won the Academy Award for Best Film Original Song!
Why does "Encounter" catch fire? Nothing more than in the gloom and gloom, singing out some unattainable scenes in life, the encounter of electric light and stone fire, leaving endless thoughts, and can only sigh that there is no chance in this life. It touches the deepest part of people's hearts, and the songs are all the memories of those years, just as Yang Fan made "Girl's Diary" to express the "feeling of love", the film may not be achieved, but "Chance Encounter" is absolutely competent.
When "Diary of a Girl" was released in Taiwan, Yang Fan personally adapted "Encounter" into a Chinese version and handed it over to Pan Yueyun to sing, although the language was different, but the mood of the gathering and impermanence was the same.
With the help of "Chance Encounter", in October 1984, Lin Zhimei released an album of the same name, which was well received. In addition to "Chance Encounter", there are two songs on the album that perform well, namely "With the Waves" and "Breakthrough of Love", both of which were selected for the Golden Song Season. Lin Zhimei can be said to be a "love" singer, you see, "Spark of Love", "Microwave of Love", "Lullaby of Love", "Breakthrough of Love", "Baptism of Love", "Echo of Love", "Love" is a mess.
The success of "Chance Encounter" made Xinli excited, and decided to open up more space for Lin Zhimei, the first of which was to change the style and sing fast songs, after all, the audience of folk songs was limited. In the next "Love Illusion" album, Lin Zhimei transformed into a singing and dancing girl, passionately sang "Love Illusion" and "Love Radar Network", and came out of the "special mixed version". After that, what is "Jin Night" (the same song as Chen Huixian's "Dancing Street"), "Heat Body" and "Stone Shooter", the music is strong, but the personal style is gone.
In 1986, after Lin Zhimei performed another classic "Rainy Night Piano", his career began to decline gradually, and in 1988, he completely withdrew from the front of the stage and moved to the backstage.
Lin Zhimei's withdrawal is related to market choice, folk songs themselves are not the mainstream, it is difficult to become a climate, although she moved closer to the popular in the later period, but the style was not prominent enough, and in the competition with female singers such as Mei Yanfang, Chen Huixian, Ye Qianwen, Kwong Meiyun, etc., she quickly lost.
In addition, Lin Zhimei's personality has also led to her development being blocked and unable to enter the front line.
First of all, Lin Zhimei lacks momentum, no ambition, and everything is step by step and step by step, which may be a good thing in the field of paying attention to stability and stability, but it is difficult to survive in the music scene that needs to emerge quickly and retreat if it does not advance. As early as her debut, she sang in her own "Kite": "The ideal should not be too extravagant... Broken line, flying too high, falling painfully..." No ambition, no risk, then you can only be eliminated."
Secondly, Lin Zhimei is reserved and even shy. Every time she recorded a song, she had to be alone, because when someone watched, she was embarrassed to sing. Once, Lin Zhimei was ready to perform "Paragraph of Feelings" with the popular fried chicken Andy Lau in the "Happy Tonight" "Song in Love" link, just because there was a hug design, she would not take the stage. Sven and Pure are the reasons why everyone likes Lin Zhimei, in turn, but it also restricts her forward, can't let go, no gimmicks, how can it catch people's attention and become the focus?
In the end, Lin Zhimei was extremely low-key, singing with all her heart, wireless to find her to sign, she did not sign, the film company looked for her to make a movie, she did not shoot, gave up a lot of exposure opportunities. You know, the entertainment industry pays attention to "multi-habitat", and it is difficult to sell alone.
From beginning to end, Lin Zhimei has not formally learned the knowledge of music, everything depends on her own slow exploration, such as recording a disc, she will seriously study, find out the problem, and improve it in the next disc. Maybe she spent all her energy on polishing her singing skills, so she didn't have time to do anything else, plus she had to supervise and write songs (Lin Zhimei has always insisted on creating, but most of them are not satisfied, and they rarely publish), and they are even more lacking.
In short, a good singer has disappeared. She had no thoughts of fighting, no tortuous experiences, and everything was like her song, faint and soft.
In 2003, Lin Zhimei returned to the music scene, she has always sung hymns, her singing skills have not decreased, her voice is still sweet, warm and comfortable, she has released several Hi-Fi albums ("When Lin Zhimei Meets Bobbida", "Original Beauty", "Moment to Moment"), performed several musicals (2009 "Walk of Fame"), and opened a concert (Timeless Samantha's Live 2015 Lin Zhimei Concert).
Other days, she continued to live a life of ordinary comfort, cooking, traveling, photography, sports... For her, this is the best life.
After Lin Zhimei, there was another Peng Ling in Minsheng Academy, but the folk songs were no longer there.