Leehom's Biography
At the stroke of midnight, 17th May 1976, a future star named Alex Wang Leehom was born in Rochester, New York, United States of America.
Leehom was born into a middle-class Chinese family in the States. He is the middle child in his family. He has one older brother and one younger one. Leehom comes from a family of high-achievers. His father is a physicist, his mother a libarian(and also manages his finances for him), his elder brother a Yale graduate for medicine(currenty praticing in Chicago) and his high-schooler younger brother headed for the same road as his eldest brother. Leehom was different from his family members. Quoted from an interview, "My family likes chess and mathematics while I like music." unquoted. Although he was excellent in high-school academically, he was not interested in following the footsteps of his father and brother. Music is Leehom's passion.
How did Leehom get in touch with the world of music? Quoted from an interview, "My brother was 6, and I was 3. I remember a day when my mum sent my brother for violin lessons. I was so excited seeing the violin that I wanted to learn, too. But the teacher said "Xiao di di(little kid), you're too young. Come back when you are your brother's age. So I was thinking, that was really unfair, and I was kind of mad. I took up music lessons at the age of six, and developed a love for it." Unquoted. At first, Leehom prefered the violin to the piano. Quoted "I used to think the piano is as stupid and as dull as the type writer. You press a key, and a sound came out. With the violin, it is different. I am able to move my fingers anywhere I want and I can do vibrato for even more expression." Unquoted. But later on in his life, Leehom discovered the many uses of the piano, and jazz piano soon became his favourite subject.
In high school, Leehom was a curious and inquistive person. He joined 7 clubs and societies(quite exhausting, huh?)including the band and choir. Quote Leehom "I was stretched so thin that I couldn't really excel in any of them. My brothers are so much more focused.
Leehom's family, besides his mother, was against him making music his lifetime career. Being academically capable, Leehom's father had hoped that Leehom, like his brother, will go for medicine in college, as Leehom's results are good enough for major universities such as Princeton and Yale. But Leehom opted for music instead when it comes to choosing his career. His father, naturally, was very unhappy, but accepted his son's choice. In college, Leehom choose Music Composition as his major.
Leehom had his first album at the age of 19, "Rival Beethoven". It was quite a success and music critics were excited about this promising new singer. But since Leehom was still studying in William's College of Music, he was unable to do any promotion. It was Leehom's fourth album, "Wanting to See You in Every Second" that got him the credit he deserves. The album did quite well in Taiwan, entering the charts and staying there for quite sometime. Leehom's fifth album, "Revolution", was a huge success. The album sold 40,000 units during early sales in Taiwan and reached gold status in Malaysia, a sale of more than 15,000 units. His current album, 'Impossible to Miss You' are being snapped up by fans all over Asia as we talked.
On Leehom's achivements, he had managed to grab two awards at the recent prestigious Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan, Best Male Singer and Best Producer. Golden Melody Awards is Taiwan's answer to the American Grammy Awards. Leehom also won an award for the Best Song(Impossible to Miss You) at a music awards' ceremony at Hong Kong recently.
Leehom's goal in music is to create his own sound, a sound neither Western nor Oriental, yet combines to best essence from both worlds. In Leehom's opinion, to create your own unique sound is the key to longevity in the music circle.
Quotes and sources from : The Star Paper and Galaxie magazine.
Leehom's BiographyLeehom's Photo Gallery
Leehom's MusicLeehom's LinksArticles about LeehomUpdates
About MeSpecialsReviews: Movies and Music
My linksMain
The midi file that is playing is the courtesy of Robin's Chinese Midi Files Page. This is a song by Leehom and William So(also sung by Jacky Cheung and Roland Cheng), Zuo You Wei Nan.
