Wakin Chau Soars High Again in San Francisco It's his 2nd Papillon event, and the Special Guest is R&B Singer Patti Austin [11 November 2007]
Well-written and lavishly illustrated articles about Wakin's 20th anniversary concert tour are presented in the Mainland-based Wakin 20 International Special Edition maintained by webmaster Mitch @ wakinchau.net
Still high after four-and-a-half hours of Wakin mania, the Malaysia fans put up their large 2007 Wakin 20 Concert photo gallery at wakinchau.cjb.net
There is also a great personal story about this San Francisco event written by Kristy, the webmaster of wakin-chau.us
J&W Anthology Concert in Taipei, 27 August 2005: Only
press photographers' cameras were allowed inside the stadium
that night, but we were lucky to get a few shots of Jonathan Lee & Wakin Chau at other times [2005.8.26~27]
Wakin Chau Charms a Jam-Packed Stadium in
Shenzhen, China on Sunday, November 21, 2004 — and Jonathan Lee showed up
as the Special Guest! (Photo Gallery)
Setting the Night on Fire on June 12, 2004 in Shenyang,
China! (PDF Photos) The concert was sponsored by TIENS, a healthcare products brand for which Wakin has served as a spokesperson.
Here is one of
the cute Shockwave Flash cartoon animations of the special song
that Wakin had sung at his concerts for his mainland China fans,
titled The Northeast Man Is a Live Example of a Chinese
Soldier.
A few other versions are located here (the website is Big
5 encoded)
Wakin starts
a riot at Genting Highlands on December 12 & 13, 2003, in Malaysia
(Photo Gallery) —
For more fine shots of this concert, have a look at both the
Taiwan Baiyous' and the Malaysia Elite Team's Genting albums
(link
below)
Treasures of
Taipei and spreading some love around at the Chinese Valentine's Day Concert on August 3, 2003 at Tamshui Fisherman's Wharf (PDF Photos)
October 19,
2002 @ SINGAPORE INDOOR STADIUM: Emil Chau Wakin takes the country by storm on his 2002 World Tour (PDF Photos)
★ And learn more
about a musicmaker's life — in pictures
★ Oops — He's NOT "the new guy" ! Setting the record straight about
Max Tu Yin Laoshi (9 December 2006) [英文・日文]
Are you curious
about the Japanese songs that Wakin turned into his own huge
hits? Have a listen. [日文]
The saga of
Wakin's broken guitar — victim of his Spring 2003 KL tumble
Nov. 16, 2002:
Purple Storm hits the big screen in Japan! [日文]
* And of course
there is a long and interesting history behind the family
name Zhou as well
Taiwan's Bass Ace: This 2001 article & interview in English stored in the Globalbass.com archives goes into wonderful detail about the background and ability of Taiwan's veteran bassist Guo Zong Shao 郭宗韶 [See also the WWS profile of this artist]
The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Friday, 17 June 2005 for Wakin Chau's new Hong Kong-style restaurant Chao Lou, his fourth self-owned eatery in Taipei.
SkyPerfecTV! Japan's TVB-Daifu channel e-News had shown a report about the event, where a roast pig was waved around excitedly! (11.1 MB .mov / WWS)
A second Chao Lou branch was opened in December 2005 on the first floor of the shopping center "愛買 Ai Mai" adjacent to Taipei's Miramar Entertainment Park.
In spring 2006, the first of the Chao Lou restaurants (忠孝) regrettably closed its doors, but this second one is doing great!
KTSF Sponsors Emil Chau Wakin's 2007 San Francisco Concert — The largest U.S.-based Asian-language broadcaster featured special programming to celebrate this popular Asian entertainer [Press release: Oct. 7, 2007]
Wakin's North America concert tour organizer, the San Francisco-based Q Production Inc., approached sponsors with a full-color Powerpoint presentation in English [See also Q Production'sPapillon Series]
And check the lefthand side of the Q Production website for the Papillon VI commercial videos featuring Wakin!
Wakin 20 in Malaysia 2007: Irrepressible veteran Emil Chau — the $$million spokesman for Ogawa Health & Massage Equipment Corp. — sets a new personal record [PDF] in Malaysia to celebrate his two decades as a singer-songwriter. Article published by Sun2Surf.com
★ Wakin recorded Mandarin and English versions of The Carpenters' classic "Close to You" for Ogawa's ad campaign that launched in August
The Taiwaners have a nice photo gallery of shots from Wakin's power-packed "Wakin 20" Taipei double-header concerts on September 2 & 3, 2006! Be sure to check out their other photo albums as well! Courtesy of the Stars
Ferry's Friends
website
周華健 [ｴﾐｰﾙ･ﾁｮｳ] インタビュー (08/17/2006): "歌手生活20周年" Wakin Chau interview in Japanese (PDF) with pics, courtesy of the Japan-based Taiwan pop music website http://www.hualiu.net/
The Singapore fans have worked up English translations for the songs on the "雨人・Rainman" album — thanks a bunch to the EWM!
How Wakin Got His Groove Back: Otherwise, the singer might have made good on his plans to quit singing and move on to directing! (The Electric New Paper online in Singapore, 9 April 2006)
Here are a couple of Wakin concert-related photo and video links from Beijing (many thanks for the info, Angela! ):
Songs sung duo: Despite being an odd couple on stage, singer-songwriters Emil Chau and Jonathan Lee had enough songs and experience in their bag to give their Malaysia fans a night of good music in Kuala Lumpur (Sun2Surf, 29 September 2005)
Yep, the Malaysia fans had a blast at the J&W Anthology 2005 Concert in Kuala Lumpur~! Enjoy a few shots of the promo visit (30 Aug. 2005 — Wakin's spiffy Malaysian road crew shirt!!) and the KL concert (24 Sept. 2005), courtesy of Wakin's Malaysia Friends site (2 Oct. 2005) >> Song list courtesy of wakinchau.com
Here are more shots of the J & W Anthology Concert 2005 at Stadium Merdeka, courtesy of Edith and wakinchau.com
A photo album about the launching of Galaxy KTV Subang Jaya by Wakin Chau and Jonathan Lee, courtesy of SONGBIRDSTAR.com.my (Hey! Some familiar faces are smiling so happily to be standing next to J & W!)
Wakin Chau takes part as HONG KONG DISNEYLAND celebrates its September 2005 Grand Opening as the first Disney theme park in China (12 September 2005). * There is a video stored at YouTube
Wakin Chau / Jonathan Lee Joint Concert in Shanghai on 12 May 2005: Press photos courtesy of ent.163.com, plus a 6 min. 30 sec. Mainland "Showbiz" TV report in .mp4 format (37.7MB download — SkyPerfecTV! Japan / WWS) — Lots of joking along with the singing in the concert highlights, great for those of us who couldn't attend!
How Jackie Chan Nosed In On Emil Chau's Marriage: English translation of a 25 April 2005 article posted at sina.com, kindly supplied by Tin Lun Lau (grateful thanks!) at jc-news.net
The Father of Instant Noodles Turns Out to Be Taiwanese [Liberty Times]
* Wakin performed his new song "Ai Zai Tian Di Jian / Love Between Heaven and Earth" live at the NKF Charity Show on April 10th [Download the 20.6 MB zipped .wmv file] — He debuted this song as the eighth one he sang at his 12 June 2004 concert in Shenyang, China, an even more exceptional performance!
* Here are samples of the promotional E-mails under Emil's name that were sent out as an appeal before and as a thank you after the NKF event — Thanks a lot for these three items, PY!
Blast to the Past: A lively pictorial account of a guided pilgrimage to Wakin Chau's childhood home, courtesy of the Malaysian fan club (8 March 2005)
Fishing for a Wife: Love was in the air at Fish Leong's concert where she and Emil Chau helped a Singaporean man propose to his girlfriend (The Electric New Paper Web Exclusive, 7 March 2005 — Thanks, SH!)
19
December 2004 Located at the EMILCHAU MUSIC GROUP Hosted by Yahoo
THE 2004 WAKIN WORLD PARTY!
A handmade International Fans' Songbook with MP3 CD compiled with the creative and heartfelt contributions of 19 people around the world were presented to Wakin during this special event — he and his family appeared to be genuinely impressed!
Wakin listens to an explanation about the project as he looks inside the Songbook that was his 2004 birthday gift from the international fans (Thanks, JW!)
And there
is a first-hand, detailed account written by one American Wakin
fan, who with her better half had traveled all the way to Taipei
from Texas! (PDF report)
The
Taiwan Baiyou have some of their own World
Party photos posted at their Stars Ferry's Friends website too~!
Windows Media
video clip of Wakin's chatty
interview at the opening
of his friend Dr. Lee's new cosmetic surgery clinic in Taipei,
courtesy of sina.com (11 August 2004)
On the "Feng
Mian Ren Wu" (translates roughly as "Headliner")
TV talk show, "Superhuman" Zhou Huajian chats about
the highlights of his career and his family life (and how his
wife's superhuman skills keep his home a calm refuge)..... The
four Windows Media clips of the August 2004 program, accessible
by clicking on the labeled orange buttons to the right of Wakin's
photo, are courtesy of AVL.com.cn
Wakin sings
in the Mainland for Toyota Corolla, and it's a silky, Sino-fied version of American
songwriter Burt Bacharach's late '60s megahit What the World
Needs Now Is Love
There are quite
a few great shots of Wakin's Corolla project promo activities
(click to view the full-size images) at www.tom.com and www.sina.com (23 February 2004), and Wakin geared up
to help Toyota promote China's first-ever hosting of the Formula
One Grand Prix, as reported in pix and text by the Shanghai Hotline (12 March 2004, courtesy of wakinchau.com), which took place in Shanghai on September 24~26, 2004
* Plus there is
an admirable English translation of one of Wakin's Toyota project interviews
that was kindly provided by JF (Xie xie ne!)
2E ZONE: Cold concert in Nanchang,
China! (Dec. 25, 2003)
This collection
of Genting Highlands concert photos from Dec. 12-13, 2003,
evokes some very special memories — Wakin looks so happy
holding the bouquet that the Japan Baiyou gave to him!
— and it is courtesy of the Stars
Ferry's Friends
in Taiwan
Some lovely
close shots of Wakin's fuchsia fashion statement and fantastic
singing at his KEEP WAKIN outdoor concert in Taipei on Nov. 8, 2003, courtesy of
the Stars Ferry's Friends in Taiwan
Wakin's Yi Qi Chi Ku De Xing Fu concert (09/28/2003, 33 minutes,
Windows Media Player) where he sings the great songs from Love Hotel and some of his other famous hits with
much charm and chatter, courtesy of Kiss Radio Online at http://021.hichannel.hinet.net in Taiwan (Ahh, shades of the Chinese
Valentine's Day concert at Tamshui Fisherman's Wharf in August.....
[see
above])
"Great
Ambition Soars High": a few vivid blue pics of Rock Records' eldest brother Zhou Hua Jian at an anti-SARS
recording session (June 26, 2003), courtesy of Tom.com
"Karaoke hits, screaming fans, and someone
falling into a disappearing platform: it was indeed an
eventful night at the Emil Chau concert" on March 29, 2003 (The Star Online, 04/01/03, courtesy of Malaysia's Galaxy Group)
From Malaysia's
Sin Chew Entertainment, a color photo-filled, one-page rave review
of Wakin's KL concert on March 29, 2003 (04/02/03)
Cute blurb about Wakin's fall at
the 29 March 2003 KL concert in the Life section of the Straits
Times newspaper (04/01/03)
The 1 min. 15 sec. giant tortoise preservation commercial (15.8 MB MPEG4 / WWS) that Wakin made in his shorter-hair days has been shown periodically on SkyPerfecTV! Japan's Animal Planet channel
Blast from
the past: High-resolution photos of Wakin Chau's World Tour 2002
stopover in Auckland, New Zealand, courtesy of Chinatown
Entertainment
(Thanks for the 04/15/2004 heads-up, AF!)
WAKIN IS A ROCK CLIMBER:
And it's not only in the biz sense of "gaining seniority
at his record company" but also in the
sense of outdoor sports! Summer 2002 photos courtesy of Taiwan's Climber's Network
A great pictorial
report about the 2002 charity show for Singapore's National Kidney Foundation,
where Wakin set a record for getting phone pledges, courtesy
of Mediacorp TV
Year 2001
Wakin's Wang
You Cao concert swing through Malaysia
12/26~29/2001, c/o wakinchau.com
More worthy articles edited and updated for the enjoyment of the newest Wakin fans
Prior Years
Cruising
along
in a lower gear (12/08/2000, The Electric New Paper, Singapore)
A well-rounded
profile article on Wakin in English (scroll down the page a bit
to access) from The South China Morning Post (published
26 February 1999), courtesy of wakinchau.com
Emil & Friends A chat with the local
press about his album, his family, and the opportunity for a
new singing star to shine from Singapore (Teen Magazine, 1997)
Born in
Hong Kong on December 22, 1960, Emil Chau Wakin (pronounced
Zhou Hua Jian in Mandarin) has been one of the best-loved
entertainers
in Asia and internationally for more than two decades.
Growing up as
the fourth
son in a family of seven,
Wakin picked up a guitar and learned to play when he was about
13 years old. In 1979, he set off to major in math at National
Taiwan University
in Taipei, where he became enthusiastically involved in the popular
campus tradition among students, singing and playing original
folk songs in local coffeeshops. During this period Wakin learned
to sing in Mandarin, and this would be key to his future as a
music-maker
in Taiwan.
With his hopes high for a successful career
as a recording artist, Wakin sought out contacts in the music
industry, but he met discouragement at every turn. That finally
led him to set his sights on a seemingly more practical alternative:
becoming a record producer. So he gave up his dream of being
a performer and joined Rock Records as an assistant producer, writing wonderful
songs for other artists.
But finally, opportunity
knocked at Rock. Wakin was encouraged by Chyi Yu to sing some
jingles for commercial advertising spots. One of these tunes
was for a car commercial, and it happened to catch the attention
of Wakin's boss. Almost as an afterthought he remarked, "Is
that your voice? Why don't you release an album?" BINGO!
So Wakin recorded
and released his first Mandarin album under the Rock Records
label in 1987. In an interesting twist of fate, Wakin had struggled
to become a singer, had settled on being a record producer, and
while working as a producer he became a singer! A dream come
true by detour.
And
it was a detour of particular good fortune. While working diligently
at Rock as a producer, Wakin met an American girl named Constance
Woods, whose father was in Taiwan as a Fulbright scholar. Having
plenty in common — including birthdays only one day apart
— Wakin and Constance began to date, got engaged and then
on November 16, 1986, they were married in Taipei. (Four months
later there was another ceremony with family and friends in the
U.S. on March 14, 1987). They now have a son and a daughter.
Emil Chau Wakin's
career in music has soared ever since. From 1985, he has released more than 40 records in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, becoming an important name in the music of Taiwan and appealing to music lovers around the globe. You Make Me
Happy and Sad,
The Flowery Heart, Music Brings Us Together, and Emil & Friends have brought him numerous awards from Taiwan,
Hong Kong and Singapore. And with his burgeoning international
popularity, Wakin packs concert halls wherever he goes. His concert productions have remained relatively simple by Asian
standards: usually no mirrors, no smoke or explosions, no colored
lights — just Wakin, his guitar, and his backup
musicians.
With
his clean-cut image, friendly disposition, and passion for music, Emil Chau Wakin
remains one of the most admired artists in the entertainment
industry.
Around autumn of 2005, I discovered that a Wakin page had been created at Wikipedia and that the above profile had been copied verbatim into it. Over time, various people were upgrading the page to Wikipedia specs, and in late 2006 I went through that profile and completely revamped it. Further info has been added by others and myself since then. Naturally, I have not copied the updated one back over here — please visit Wikipedia to read it. [WWS]
Please
do not use any of the content on this website commercially,
and do not repost such content on the Internet without written permission from the WWS.
日文
The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Friday, 17 June 2005 for Wakin Chau's new Hong Kong-style restaurant Chao Lou, his fourth self-owned eatery in Taipei.
A second Chao Lou branch was opened in December 2005 on the first floor of the shopping center "愛買 Ai Mai" adjacent to Taipei's 
In spring 2006, the first of the Chao Lou restaurants (忠孝) regrettably closed its doors, but this second one is doing great!
Wakin 20 in Malaysia 2007: Irrepressible veteran Emil Chau — the $$million spokesman for Ogawa Health & Massage Equipment Corp. — sets 
)
but also in the
sense of outdoor sports! Summer 2002 photos courtesy of Taiwan's Climber's Network
With his hopes high for a successful career
as a recording artist, Wakin sought out contacts in the music
industry, but he met discouragement at every turn. That finally
led him to set his sights on a seemingly more practical alternative:
becoming a record producer. So he gave up his dream of being
a performer and joined 
And
it was a detour of particular good fortune. While working diligently
at Rock as a producer, Wakin met an American girl named Constance
Woods, whose father was in Taiwan as a Fulbright scholar. Having
plenty in common — including birthdays only one day apart
— Wakin and Constance began to date, got engaged and then
on November 16, 1986, they were married in Taipei. (Four months
later there was another ceremony with family and friends in the
U.S. on March 14, 1987). They now have 
Emil Chau Wakin's
career in music has soared ever since. From 1985, he has released more than 40 records in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, becoming an important name in the 
Around autumn of 2005, I discovered that a Wakin page had been created at Wikipedia and that the above profile had been copied verbatim into it. Over time, various people were upgrading the page to Wikipedia specs, and in late 2006 I went through that profile and completely revamped it. Further info has been added by others and myself since then. Naturally, I have not copied the updated one back over here 
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