Annabelle Louie
Annabelle Louie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 July 1959 British Hong Kong |
| Origin | Hong Kong |
| Genres | Cantopop |
| Occupation(s) | singer, actress and host |
| Years active | 1980 - present |
| Spouse | Jimmy Lau (m. in 1983) |
Annabelle Louie On Na or Annabelle Lui On Na (Chinese: 雷安娜; born 4 July 1959), originally known as Lui Wai-Mei (Chinese: 雷蕙薇), is a Hong Kong singer, actress and host. She debuted in the early 1980s with the song "When People Are Tears on the Road" (Chinese: 人在旅途灑淚時, sung with Michael Kwan), and then became famous with "Don't Remember the Old Dreams" (Chinese: 舊夢不須記). She was selected into the Top Ten Chinese Golden Songs of 1981, and her album Don't Remember the Old Dreams won the Platinum Record.
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]Annabelle Louie's real name is Lui Wai-Mei (Chinese: 雷蕙薇). She was born and raised in Hong Kong and has five brothers and sisters. In the late 1970s, she worked as a teller at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for a year before moving to Sun Hung Kai Securities and Barclays Bank. Like many young people back then, her spare time hobby was singing, so she often participated in singing competitions after work (her competitors, such as Cheung Ming Man, Agnes Chiang, Kinko Cheung, etc., all became singers later).[1]
In a competition, Louie was spotted by Chan Dik-Man of Hong Kong PolyGram.[2]She went for an audition and sang the theme song "When People Are Tears on the Road" (Chinese: 人在旅途灑淚時) with Hong Kong singer Michael Kwan for the Rediffusion Television (Asia Television's predecessor) drama "Blowing in the Wind". The female vocal part of this song was originally sung by Candice Yu, but was later replaced by Louie due to contract and other issues.[3]The stage name "Lui On Na"(Chinese: 雷安娜) was also given by Ricky Fung, a senior executive of PolyGram at the time, and from then on Lui entered the industry as a singer.[4]
Performing Arts Development
[edit]1981 to 1984 was the heyday of Annabelle Louie in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. Many of her songs became household Cantonese pop songs, and some of her songs are still popular KTV songs today. From 1981 to 1983, PolyGram's Polydor Records released four well-known solo albums for her.[citation needed]: "Old Dreams Don’t Need to Be Remembered" (Chinese: 舊夢不須記, 1981), "Song of Colorful Clouds" (Chinese: 彩雲曲, 1982), "Love in Disbelief" (Chinese: 癡情劫, 1982) and "Warmth Collection" (Chinese: 温馨集, 1983). Representative works that were once popular include "When People Cry on the Road" (Chinese: 人在旅途灑淚時), "Old Dreams Don't Need to Be Remembered"(Chinese: 舊夢不須記, which topped the Commercial Radio chart for nine consecutive weeks and was selected as one of the Hong Kong Radio's top ten of the year),[5][6] "My Heart Is in a Trouble" (Chinese: 無奈我心亂如麻), "Colorful Clouds Song" (Chinese: 彩雲曲), "Farewell" (Chinese: 暫別), "Love Tribulation" (Chinese: 痴情劫), "Ask Why" (Chinese: 問為何), "Far Away from Home" (Chinese: 遠方天外), "Warm and Clear Currents in Turbid Times" (Chinese: 濁世暖流清), "Unending Love" (Chinese: 停不了的愛) and "The Sun Keeps Me" (Chinese: 太陽留住我).
Although Annabelle Louie became popular rapidly from 1981 to 1983, she was only 25 years old at the time and was eager to start a family. Despite the opposition of the record company, she married her then boyfriend (former colleague of Berkeley Bank) Jimmy Lau in a low-key manner in 1983.[7] In 1987, Louie and her husband applied to immigrate to Canada. In 1988, she left the Hong Kong music scene and moved to Vancouver. After that, she worked as a fashion store owner, travel agency owner, and tour guide.[8] She also worked as an advertising spokesperson for a local beauty center. Over the past decade, she has been frequently invited by the Chinese community in North America to perform in cities such as Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Reno, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York, and in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong in Asia.[9]
In the late 1990s, Annabelle Louie began to become a singing teacher, occasionally hosting the New Age Television program in Vancouver and serving as a behind-the-scenes training mentor for contestants of the New Talent Singing Competition Vancouver Auditions.[10] In recent years, Annabelle Louie's husband, who is engaged in the fashion business, has to travel frequently between mainland China and Hong Kong, so she often travels back and forth between Canada and Hong Kong to accompany him.
References
[edit]- ^ "雷安娜嘆樂壇今不如昔". 澳門日報. 6 January 2016. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "吳啟華、雷安娜賀歲演唱會明天登場！". 星島日報. 2018-02-10. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "享樂主義 —— 雷安娜 幸運星". 雅虎香港. 2016-10-07. Archived from the original on 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
- ^ "舊夢不須忘記 雷安娜". 明報周刊 第2119期（Shall We Talk？）. Retrieved 15 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "回答吧！1981 雷安娜". 東周網. 16 October 2016. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "舊夢不須忘記 雷安娜". 明報周刊 第2119期（Shall We Talk？）第六頁. Retrieved 15 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "安娜與我共譜彩雲曲 雷安娜於Snoqualmie舉行兩場經典演唱會". 西城時報. 6 November 2014. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "舊夢必須記 雷安娜". 壹週刊 第1379期. 11 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "【流行經典50年】雷安娜因為學生先識吳若希：佢嘅歌好難哼得返". 香港01. 20 August 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
- ^ "新秀歌唱大赛温哥华选拔赛2011". 中華時報. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.