|
Home>News Center>Life | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Play it again, Sammi!
The road to pop fame is paved with sacrifices. It's no exception to Sammi Cheng.
Hong Kong Heavenly Queen Sammi Cheng, who performs at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, knows that too well. A self-confessed food lover, she has endured enough killer crunches and diets-from-hell to maintain her chopstick-thin figure. At her pudgiest, she weighed a hefty 62.5kg, she tells Life!. So, what's her secret diet? 'A self-concocted veggie soup which you can drink all day and not, ha ha, get fat,' she says in Cantonese over the phone from a recording studio in Hong Kong earlier this week. She is chirpy, funny and friendly, tossing in an English word here and mirthful giggles there. After her much-publicised split from fellow Hong Kong singer Andy Hui in March, one would think she would be a little guarded and media-wary. But on the line, she sounds like an amalgam of the kooky and lovable screen characters she has parlayed to box-office success. Is her waist still 58cm, as she told audiences in her Sammi i concert tour in 1999, you ask. 'That's already history, baybee,' she replies, and the line crackles with infectious laughter. Nevertheless, Singapore fans will have a chance to size up her svelte figure at her concert tonight. Singapore is the last stop of her current Sammi Vs Sammi Asian tour. According to the organiser Unusual Productions, 95 per cent of the tickets have been sold. She completed a successful seven-night run in Hong Kong last month, and two sell-out shows in Genting on Aug 13 and 14. She has performed here three times, the last show being two years ago. 'But unlike previous years where there was a lot of flash and flesh, I've gone back to basics, with more emphasis on singing,' she says.
MAKEOVER QUEEN Back to basics, as fans would know, is part of Cheng's cycle of reinvention.
Without fail, she will sport a new look, flitting from sexy Rastafarian dreadlocks to a sassy, short bob in a blink of an eye. Among her most iconic looks is the Nike-esque eyebrow done by Zing, the Singapore make-up artist who has worked with her since her first concert in 1996. Musically, too, she is restless. When Cantopop started losing its lustre in the late 1990s, she responded swiftly by expanding her repertoire. 'I incorporated hip-hop, rap, techno, rhythm 'n' blues, bossa nova and jazz into my songs,' she says.
Just do it: One of Cheng's iconic looks is the Nike-esque eyebrow done by Singapore make-up artist Zing. Her latest Sammi Vs Sammi, a full-studio release, is her third album this year. It comprises covers of her favourite Cantopop songs, and includes a lusty cover of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart sung in English and a Mandarin version of Teresa Teng's Return. Such willingness to experiment explains why she remains on top of her game since she started out in 1988. But it is her ingrained humility which distinguishes her from her competition. When complimented on her sultry rendition of the Cantonese jazz number If, performed during her Hong Kong concert last month, her response is beguiling. 'Thank you. It's encouragement and recognition like this that spurs me to improve,' she gushes. While other divas in the regional Chinese pop scene may get by with peddling insouciance, she is known for her modesty and friendliness. Even though she is at the peak of her game, she invited veteran singer Teresa Carpio to coach her for this year's concerts 'to sharpen my technique and broaden my range'. Clearly, Cheng values feedback and thrives on improving herself. On the first night of her Hong Kong concert tour last month, she told the audience that she would devote more time to singing for the rest of the gigs. 'My Daddy told me I talked too much during the show,' she explained in all sincerity. FILIAL DAUGHTER Any surprise then that Cheng still lives with her family in a private apartment? Her parents, both retired, three elder sisters and a younger brother are not in showbiz. Positioned as a successor to Mui with her chameleon image changes, Cheng has won fans for her squeaky reputation as a filial daughter who works hard. Since coming in third in a Hong Kong talent contest in 1988 and winning a recording contract with Capital, and joining Warner soon after, her rise has been meteoric in this dog-eat-dog industry. Asked what she would most like to do when she retires, her answer is swift: 'To take care of and to teach the less fortunate.' Yet for all her amiability and chattiness, she refuses to be drawn into any mud-slinging regarding the paparazzi's interest in her love life. How does she cope with the stress, you ask? Her answer is candid. 'I don't let it affect me anymore. In fact, I find the tabloids very interesting, so I read lor.' Naturally, asking her to comment on her break-up with Hui is like pulling teeth. Even TV show host Carol Cheng, who is known for wheedling answers out of the most reticent interviewees, admitted defeat on a TVB Special last month. All the superstar would reveal then was: 'Like every woman, I hope to marry some day. It is important that we click. My partner should love me more than I love him.' With a new generation of stars nipping at her heels, she is astute enough not to bank on lucky breaks. She still works very hard though asthma has plagued her for the past eight to 10 years. At the last minute, the three-time winner of the Best Hong Kong Artist award cancelled a trip here for this year's MTV Asia Awards in February because of an asthma attack. She adds that she tries not to rely too much on medication to treat her condition these days. Instead, she prefers to 'conquer it with exercise, positive thinking and eating less cooling food'. Such is the change in her attitude towards life in general.
I'm like fatso: Cheng says she resembles Fei Mui in Love On A Diet, the character she played, because they both have the determination to achieve their targets. Asked which of the roles she has played in the past most resembles her personality, she pauses before replying: 'Mmm, a few years ago, it was Kinky (the ditzy happy-go-lucky girl) in Needing You. 'But now, it's Fei Mui (fat girl).' Then she breaks out in a peal of hearty laughter. Fei Mui is Mini Mo, the overweight character she played in the comedy and social satire Love On A Diet (2002). 'Not because I love food,' she is quick to clarify good-humouredly. 'But because when I've a target, I'm determined to achieve it, just like Fei Mui fought hard to be slim.'
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
