Profile | How Hong Kong singer and actress Vivian Chow became a beloved Cantopop star
This is the 32nd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
Known to many in Hong Kong by her nickname “Jade Girl”, Vivian Chow Wai-man was one of the most beloved Cantopop singers of the 1990s.
Famous for her love songs, she was also known for her acting roles and wholesome, good-girl persona, which allowed her to maintain popularity over the years.
Although she declared her retirement from the entertainment industry in 1997, she has made numerous returns to the limelight, and still performs in concerts today.
Born in 1967, Chow was raised in Hong Kong. She made her first formal foray into the city’s entertainment industry in 1985, when she took part in TVB’s New Talent Singing Awards. She competed alongside other budding Cantopop artists including Alex To Tak-wai, Hacken Lee Hak-kan and boy band Grasshopper, and finished as a semi-finalist.
Soon after this, she entered a disc jockey competition organised by RTHK, coming in second place. She began hosting television shows, including TVB’s music programme Jade Solid Gold.
During this time Chow started recording songs and booking her first acting roles. In 1988, she starred in the romantic comedy Heart to Hearts – for which she was nominated for best new performer at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards – and also released her debut EP Vivian Chow, which became an immediate hit.
Chow was still hosting at the time, and in 1989 she began co-hosting the RTHK youth programme Modern Era with Joe Nieh, son of the celebrated writer Ni Kuang. Chow and Nieh would begin dating and embark on an on-again, off-again relationship.
In the early 1990s, Chow began shifting her focus to music, which led to the release of albums including A Long & Lasting Love (1991) and Endless Dream (1992). Aside from Hong Kong, the singer also entered the Taiwanese market with the hit duet “Rumour” (1992), which she performed with Taiwanese singer Kevin Lin.
Chow went on to release a string of hit Cantonese and Mandarin albums. She also released a Japanese album called Legend of Love, which saw her become one of the most popular Hong Kong singers in Japan.
As most of her songs centred on love, she, like many of her peers, became known for her romantic ballads, which include “Most Loved”, “Lonely Heartache” and “Delusional Love”.
But perhaps even more so than her music, Chow was known for her good-girl, feminine image, which led her to become known as Hong Kong’s “Jade Girl”, a term that is often used to describe beautiful women.
Aside from establishing herself as one of Hong Kong’s beloved Cantopop stars, Chow also made strides as an actress. She appeared in the hit television series Greed of Man (1992), as well as films like The Perfect Match (1991), Girls Without Tomorrow 1992 (1992) and The Kung Fu Scholar (1994).
By the mid-1990s, Chow had released more than 20 albums and appeared in over 20 films. It looked like things could only continue going up. But in 1997, at the peak of her career, she announced her sudden retirement from the entertainment industry.
“I’ve done what I wanted and have achieved my goals. I have no regrets,” she explained to Leo Ku Kui-kei during a radio programme later that year.
She would later say in interviews that she wanted to take some time away from the industry and had planned her retirement for a while, purposely choosing not to renew her recording and filming contracts.
Her retreat from the public eye coincided with her reunion with Nieh. After meeting through Modern Era, the two had secretly dated until 1992, before breaking up and reuniting in 1997.
The couple then moved to Vancouver in Canada together, and later to San Francisco in the United States, staying largely absent from the Hong Kong entertainment industry until their return to Hong Kong in 2003.
Chow and Nieh would eventually become known for their high-profile break-up and make-up in 2008, which came after Nieh was seen kissing a university student.
Chow promptly released a statement that the two had split up, but just weeks later, the couple announced they were getting hitched, to the surprise of many fans. The two got married in January 2009 and have been together ever since.
“Actually, I think my husband is a blessed man,” Chow said at her first public appearance following her nuptials. “I think everyone has different values [about getting married]. I have been many places and I realised that to have your own happiness is very simple. It is not built upon money, nor material.”
Professionally, Chow also made headlines with a variety of projects after her return to Hong Kong.
Prompted by her love for animals, the singer hosted a comeback concert called “Back to Love” in 2006 to raise money for the Non-Profit Making Veterinary Services Society (NPV), and even released a book about her Bengal cat.
Aside from NPV, the singer worked extensively with a number of charities and organisations, often appearing at awareness and fundraising events.
At a 2009 charity event for the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, for example, Chow highlighted the importance of self-examination and early detection for breast cancer – six of her relatives have suffered from the disease.
Chow never made a full return to entertainment but still regularly appeared in commercials and released new projects here and there.
In 2010, she made her first film appearance in 14 years, in All About Love, directed by Ann Hui On-wah, about two bisexual women and former lovers who get back together.
Chow followed that up with a comeback concert titled “Deep V 25”, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut. Despite the provocative name, the singer insisted it had nothing to do with being promiscuous.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to wear deep-V, low-cut dresses during the concerts,” the then 43-year-old said at a press conference in January 2011. “Here, deep means deeply in love and deeply devoted.”
Two months later, Chow said during an appearance at the More Beauty Product Awards: “My beauty secret is to keep in touch with my inner child and stay happy, not to put pressure on myself and exercise like a maniac.”
In 2014, she appeared in the Taiwanese film Cafe. Waiting. Love, and released her first gospel album, titled Him – the singer had begun going to church in 2009 and was baptised in 2010.
Although Chow has not released any new albums in the decade since, she still holds concerts now and then in Hong Kong, mainland China and beyond.
On August 31, she will appear in a concert titled “A Long and Lasting Love” at The Londoner Arena in Macau, which promises to revisit her classic hits.
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