Leon Lai

Lai was rewarded for his loyalty to the Hong Kong Government in July 2019 by the award of its second highest honour, the Silver Bauhinia Star. The award citation singled out for particular mention "his participation in the promotional footage for the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Annuity Plan in 2018".

In 2017, Lai got into a relationship with his label assistant and later sales manager Chan Wing-yee (陳泳儀 ), who was 19 years his junior and also a divorcee. On 22 April 2018, Chan gave birth to his daughter.

In 2008, Lai secretly married model Gaile Lok in Las Vegas at the Wynn Hotel, with his manager and assistant acting as witnesses. On 3 October 2012, the couple announced the end of their four-year marriage. Their joint statement stated that there were "different philosophies in life" which caused the divorce.

Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay. He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal held a three-day "Magic Live" charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9 to 11 November 2008.

He returned to the Hong Kong Coliseum on 13 April 2007 to perform in his one night only Leon 4 in Love Concert where he performed not only his own hits but also hits of the other three heavenly kings. He performed a total of 18 songs, all of which are newly arranged by Mark Lui. He subsequently released an album titled "4 in Love" on 3 May 2007, comprising 16 of the 18 songs he had performed at the concert.

In 2006 Lai starred alongside Fan Bingbing and Rene Liu in a love and horror, thriller film titled The Matrimony where he played a cinematographer Shen Junchu, the love interest of Manli and Sansan. JunChu was pressurised into marrying Sansan after the untimely demise of his true love Manli in an accident. The film was released on 8 February 2007. In the same year, Lai wrote and directed a musical film titled A Melody Looking which was shot in New York. It featured Lai and the rest of the Amusic family of singers. This film marked his debut as a director.

In 2007 Lai starred alongside Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Guo Xiaodong in the Ching Siu-tung film An Empress and the Warriors. He acted as a woodland medicine man who has a romantic relationship with a princess. Lai and Kelly Chen sang the theme song, "Fly With Your Dreams" written by Albert Leung and composed by Mark Lui.

In 2005, Lai invited Taiwanese music producer Jonathan Lee to produce his new Mandarin album "A Story". However, by doing so he had to give up the opportunity for a lead role in a big budget Taiwan movie "Gui Si" due to conflicts in his schedules.

In 2005 Lai acted as one of the seven warriors in the Tsui Hark directed wuxia film, Seven Swords. In the same year in the film Moonlight in Tokyo, he played a developmentally challenged Chinese man who pretends to be a Korean gigolo in Japan. He won the Golden Deer Best Actor Award from Changchun China Film Festival for his portrayal in Leaving Me, Loving You in 2005.

Ever since his decision not to receive any music award in HK, he has not appeared on the TVB Jade Gold Solid Awards ceremony even as a guest, but to secure more funds for charity, he agreed to perform in the ceremony as a guest performer on 8 January 2005. On 13 May of the same year, Lai co-operated with Mark Lui to compose the song "8858". The song will be used as the promotional song of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF). The title of song means "Help me (sounded like 'bang bang wo ba' in Putonghua)" and the number "8858" represent the SMS number people can use to donate the money.

In December 2005, Lai appeared in a Hong Kong government television advertisement in support of a gradual political reform package tabled by the ruling government rather than rapid political reform. This was the first time he got himself involved in a politically motivated advertisement.

In 2004, Lai formed a new record production company, "A Music", East Asia Record Production Company Limited, with Peter Lam. The first album produced by the company, "Dawn" was released in September of that year. The album, "Dawn", was released with minimum promotion as Lai went to Mainland China for a movie shoot on the day of the album's release.

He was awarded the Medal of Honour (M.H.) on 12 October 2003 by Tung Chee-Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region. In 2004, he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea.

In 2002, Lai took the spotlight at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language version of the Oscars in Taiwan. He won Best Actor for Three: Going Home. Lai played a minor role as Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing in Infernal Affairs III in 2003. In 2004, he starred with Faye Wong in the romantic movie Leaving Me, Loving You, the story of which he co-wrote with Wilson Yip and he was also the creative/production controller of the movie. However, the movie was a flop raking in HK$ 10,529,501 in the box office. Still in that same year he was ranked 8th on the China Celebrity 100 list released by the Chinese edition of Forbes.

He collaborated with Cecilia Cheung in 2001 for the first time in the Wong Jing directed romantic comedy film, Everyday Is Valentine. In the film, Lai played a serial liar.

In 2000, Lai's song All Day Love (全日愛 ) got him into trouble with the Chinese authorities for drawing passages from the Chinese National Anthem, March of the Volunteers. The starting tune was accused of plagiarism from the anthem. Lai was warned against using the song for commercial purposes.

In Polygram, he released his first album "Leon" and subsequent album "Meet in the Rain". His debut album went gold. After several years at Polygram, he signed a new contract with Sony Music on 23 March 1998. Together with Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, Lai was among the four most popular male singers during the 1990s, when the media referred to them as Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings.

Lai has also been elected as one of The Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in 1997, giving him a formal recognition of his professional endeavours and commitment to the community. He bought the first donation ticket, numbered 000001 at a "Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign" launch event at Tsuen Wan PARKnSHOP's Skyline Superstore in 2001 to encourage people to contribute to a meaningful social cause. The funds raised was donated to the Community Chest.

Lai once got in a relationship with an actress Shu Qi in 1997, they broke up in a low note in 2004.

In 1996, Lai was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the film Comrades: Almost a Love Story. The next year in 1997, he won the award of Best Original Song for the film Eighteen Springs both at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards. He was again nominated for the Best Actor and Best Original Film Song award for the film City of Glass in 1999, but he only won the award for the latter, which he shared with Albert Leung and Dick Lee.

His first work with UNICEF in a China polio eradication project in 1993. He raised substantial funds accruing from his supporters, fans and concert ticket sales. In July 1994, he was appointed the International UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and thus becoming the first Hong Kong citizen to be given this position. Since 1994, he has been involved in various fundraising activities of The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU). These activities include seven charity concerts, three charity chocolate sales and charity walkathon. Lai, along with HKCU representatives, visited Rwanda, Gansu of China and Brazil to study the work of UNICEF and to help promote public awareness to help children". In December 1995, he was appointed as "UNICEF Special Representative to Youth" in the New York headquarters recognising his contributions for the welfare of the children.

Paciwood Music & Entertainment Ltd. is a Hong Kong-based entertainment and artist management agency founded on 31 May 1991. In 2004, Paciwood co-invested with Esun Group to develop a music record company, East Asia Record Production Limited, with the music label Amusic.

In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang Cantopop and Mandarin, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold. In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album "Feel". Two years later in 1998, he became the first HK singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After loving you". In 1999 he announced that he would no longer accept any more awards in Hong Kong.

Apart from being an actor and singer, Lai is actively involved in the Community Chest. In the 1990s he began serious charity work when his father was diagnosed with rectal cancer. The doctors said it was incurable. But after operation, his father survived after surgery. When the Cancer Research Foundation and the UN organisation approached him for help, he started getting involved in charity work actively.

Lai initially worked as a salesperson for a mobile phone company. After being awarded second-runner-up in the 1986 New Talent Singing Awards, Lai received vocal coaching from Dai Si Zong (戴思聰 ). In the same year he signed with Capital Artists. He did not release any albums for four years.As a result, his teacher, Dai, arranged to have him signed a contract with Polygram, later known as Universal Music.

Leon Lai-ming SBS BBS MH (born 11 December 1966), is a Hong Kong actor and Cantopop singer. He is one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong. He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming", which literally means "dawn".