On January 18, 1979, a musical genius arrived in this world in a place called Taiwan. His name - Jay Chou (Zhou Jie Lun). At the tender age of three, he started to learn piano. With his mother keeping constant watch over him, Jay practiced piano diligently and eventually developed a love for the instrument and music. As he grew up, Jay also went on to master a number of other instruments, including guitar, cello, and jazz drum.
When he was around 13 years old, Jay's parents got a divorce. Already a quiet boy to begin with, Jay grew even more secluded. He became independent rather quickly and was absorbed in his own music world. Whenever any musical ideas came to mind, he would jot them down. Before long, he was writing his own songs. Basketball was his other love and he often played with friends. In terms of school, Jay was not very strong academically, but he did manage to complete high school.
By an interesting twist of fate, a schoolmate of Jay's signed up for a singing contest and wanted him to accompany her on the piano. The performance at the contest was by no means stunning, but somehow the host of the show, Jacky Wu, took notice of the musical score that Jay was playing from. And from that point forward, in the momentous year of 1998, the little boy who grew up in Linkou entered the entertainment industry primarily as a songwriter. Jay spent hours and hours on end in the studio, dreaming up melodies, and it soon became his second home. That was how he spent his first years in the industry. The songs he wrote for other artists were rejected fairly often at that time. After all, who was Jay Chou? No one really knew much about him. But over time, his songs were accepted and they paved the way for Jay's eventual successful musical career.
After working behind-the-scenes for quite some time, Jacky Wu was impressed with what Jay has to offer not only as a songwriter, but as a singer as well. And so, on November 1, 2000, he made his debut with the self-titled album Jay . His soulful voice and infectious tunes were well-received by listeners and Jay Chou soon became a household name. His unique musical style garnered him attention from fans and critics alike.
Released on September 20, 2001, Jay's second musical effort Fantasy propelled him to stardom with numerous hits such as Kai Bu Liao Kou, An Jing, and Shuang Jie Gun, just to name a few. He earned many awards with this album, including five Golden Melody Awards. This was an astonishing feat by an artist who has just arrived on the scene for a short period of time. After the success of his second album, Jay has gone on and given birth to two more albums: Eight Dimensions and Ye Hui Mei . With the plan of releasing one album per year in mind, Jay fine-tunes each song to perfection and never fails to surprise his audience with his innovative musical ideas. The growth from one album to the next has been evident to those who have traversed this journey of music with Jay. His own unique Chinese R&B style is unparalleled by another and he continues to make breakthroughs as he takes risks in attempting new things. The way he intertwines Chinese and Western music makes his songs endearing to people both young and old. The fusion of the two cultures is not only fresh-sounding, but has also rarely been done by other musicians before. Moreover, Jay is a strong lyricist with his personal style of storytelling, which reflects his sensitivity to human emotions and the details of life. He manages to touch people's hearts with striking words as well as educate people's minds with important lessons.
After being in the entertainment industry for several years, Jay has started to branch off from music a bit and ventured into the realm of acting. An interesting thing to note is that a lot of his musical inspiration simply emerges from watching movies. You may have often found that his music gives very vibrant visual imagery and his music videos bring those images to life. So it should come as no surprise that besides being a singer-songwriter, he has also dreamt of being a film director one day. In the movie Hidden Track (2003), Jay guest-starred as himself briefly and got a taste of what it is like to be part of a film. He also specially penned a couple of songs for the movie and has released the Hidden Track EP as a result.
With the arrival of summer 2004 comes Jay's much anticipated album: Qi Li Xiang . He has once again turned heads with critics and fans alike. The production quality has been taken up a notch and his musical style has also matured. Hence, it is not surprising that Jay has garnered more awards under his belt with this latest solo effort. As for what's up ahead, the shooting of the movie Initial D is well underway. Jay plays the leading role alongside co-stars Edison Chen, Anthony Wong, Anne Suzuki, etc. So, stay tuned and be sure to catch the movie when it's out.
In the meantime, you can enjoy the live concert album and DVD/VCD for the Incomparable concert tour that were released on January 21, 2005 and February 2, 2005, respectively. Relive the concert experience and let Jay's charming stage presence take your breath away time and again! And while you're at it, maybe you'd want to trace back to his 2002 The One concert and see how much Jay has taken things to a whole new level with this 2004/2005 Incomparable tour. As clich as it sounds, this Prince of R&B is truly incomparable .
At the moment, Jay is currently working on his next album. He once said that music is a universal language that transcends all barriers. For those of you who have chanced upon the talents of this man, you will undoubtedly declare that his music has connected people all over the world. With his boyish charm, down-to-earth personality, and kind-hearted nature in addition to his musical ingenuity, Jay will no doubt be the star of this generation.
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