Anita Mui


Anita Mui Yim-fong was a Hong Kong singer and actress making major contributions to the Cantopop music scene and receiving numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout most of her career, and was generally regarded as a Cantopop diva.
Mui once held a sold-out concert in Hammersmith, London, England, where she was dubbed the "Madonna of the East", which brought her to further international fame. That title stayed with her throughout her career, in both Eastern and Western media.
In the 1980s, the gangtai style of music was revolutionised by Mui's wild dancing and on-stage femininity. She was famed for her outrageous costumes and high-powered performances in combination with contralto vocals, which are rare in female artists.
Her fan base reached far beyond Hong Kong into many parts of Asia, including Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia, and other countries, as well. In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, where stars often rise and fall quickly, Mui remained in the spotlight for 21 years. Her career came to an abrupt halt in 2003 when she announced that she had cervical cancer. She died later that year at the age of 40.

Career

1963–1978: Early years

Mui experienced much hardship in her childhood. She was the youngest daughter in a family of four children. Her siblings Mui Kai-Ming, Mui Tak-Ming and Ann Mui Her elder sister, Ann Mui, was also a singer. The children were raised in a single parent family. Mui's father died when she was very young. In some of her interviews, Mui mentioned that she had little memory of her father and the family were very poor. This meant that she had to help provide for her siblings at an early age, dropping out of school at the age of 13 or 14. More hardship followed the family when the bar that her mother ran was destroyed by a fire. To earn a living, Mui entered show business around the age of four with her sister Ann. She performed Chinese operas and pop songs in theatres and on the streets. Both Mui and her elder sister Ann performed in practically any nightclub that offered them a chance to make a living.
At the age of 15, due to the frequency of performances at different venues that she had, her voice was affected due to the development of nodules on her vocal cords. Following the advice of the doctor, she took a year off and to keep herself occupied, she attended art lessons with her cousin. After a year, she started performing again despite the change in her vocal range, which lowered her voice by an octave.

1982–1989; 1994–2003: Singing

In 1982, as encouraged by her sister, Mui competed in the first New Talent Singing Awards. There, Mui got a big break by emerging champion with the song "The Windy Season", originally sung by Paula Tsui, beating over 3,000 contestants. Despite her title as "new talent" at that time, she had already been a singer for more than 10 years from street and club performances during her childhood.
As an award for winning the New Talent contest at the time, Mui's first album was released with the local record company Capital Artists.
Her debut album, Debt Heart, drew a lukewarm response from the audience. However, the subsequent album fared much better, as she developed her personal style and image. In 1983 and 1984, she won the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs awards back to back.
Her winning streak continued as she won another major award in 1985, her first top 10 Jade Solid Gold Best Female Singer award. Thereafter, she won the award every year until 1989. She was awarded the Gold Songs Gold Awards in 1989 for the song "Sunset Melody", which became one of her signature songs throughout her career.
Mui released 50 albums in total. Her best-selling album was the 1985 "Bad Girl", which sold over 400,000 copies. In her career, she sold 10 million albums.
In terms of live performances, in 1985, at the age of 21, her first concert was held lasting 15 nights. Beginning in late 1987, a series of 28 consecutive concerts at the Coliseum was held through early 1988. This established a record at the time and dubbed Mui the title of "Ever Changing Anita Mui", which had become her trademark. Her popularity was also gaining prominence outside of Hong Kong, as she was invited to sing at the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Seoul together with Janet Jackson. She performed in 300 concerts in her career. In 1995, Mui performed the song "Bad Girl" in Guangzhou, China, where it was banned, as it was considered pornographic in nature. The government authorities in Guangzhou were infuriated when she chose to sing the song on the last day of her concert.
In 1990, during her birthday celebration with her fan club, Mui announced that she would put an end to receiving music awards to give a chance to newcomers. She held farewell concerts for 33 consecutive nights before retiring from the stage. At the age of 28, she stepped down from the industry, only to return from retirement in 1994. Mui mentored several Hong Kong newcomer singers who have since become successful, most notably Andy Hui, Denise Ho, Edmond Leung, the band Grasshopper, and Patrick Tam.
In 1998, aged 35, she was awarded the RTHK Golden Needle Award, being one of the youngest recipients to receive the award as a lifetime achievement.

1983–2002: Acting

Mui was also well known as an actress across Asia, as she starred in more than 40 films over a 20-year period. Her films were mainly of the action-thriller and martial arts variety, but she had also taken comedic and dramatic roles.
Her first acting award as a supporting actress was won at the Hong Kong Film Awards for her performance in Behind the Yellow Line. Three years later in 1987, her performance in Rouge won her the Best Actress at the Golden Horse Awards. In 1989, she was awarded the Best Actress for her role in Rouge at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 1993, she starred in The Heroic Trio with Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung, and it proved to be one of her most popular action films. In 1994 and 1995, she found some international recognition by starring opposite Jackie Chan in The Legend of Drunken Master and Rumble in the Bronx.
Later, in 1997, she also won another best supporting actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for her role in Eighteen Springs. In 2002, she won Best Actress at the Changchun Film Festival Golden Deer Awards for Best Actress with her performance in July Rhapsody.
Mui was originally cast in Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers, but she resigned only two weeks before her death. Zhang had reserved her scenes to be shot last due to her poor health. Out of respect for Mui, Zhang did not cast another actress in the role and the character was removed from the screenplay. She received a dedication titled "In Memory of Anita Mui" during the closing credits.
Throughout her career, the tabloid magazines were unforgiving. Rumours never ceased to plague Mui, who was accused of being addicted to drugs, having tattoos on her arms, going for plastic surgery, being suicidal, and being linked to the death of a triad leader in the 1980s and 1990s. Rumours of affairs with leading actors also circulated.

1992–2003: Community work

Mui was actively involved in charitable projects throughout her career. According to the posthumous memoirs of democracy activist Szeto Wah, Mui lent significant financial and material support to Operation Yellowbird, to help activists flee from China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
The Tibetan red-crown Shamar Rinpoche once said "She had a true heart. She was an unconventional woman and brought happiness to lots of people during her life." Her establishment of a nursing home in San Francisco, prompted the mayor of the city in 1992 to name 18 April as "Anita Mui Day". In 1993, she established the "Anita Mui True Heart Charity Foundation". That same year, she was also one of the founders of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild. The Canadian city of Toronto declared 23 October 1993 to be "Anita Mui Day".
During the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, she initiated a fundraising concert titled the to raise money for SARS-affected families. She was also awarded the "Fighting Against SARS Award" from RTHK and the newspaper Ming Pao. In 2003, she wrote and published the book The Heart of the Modern Woman. Profits from the book went to the Children's Cancer Foundation.
On 23 September 2004, the Anita Mui True Heart Digital Multimedia Studio was opened at the University of Hong Kong. It included state-of-the-art equipment for digital audio and video editing. In Causeway Bay, an Anita Mui-themed cafe called Happiness Moon is also dedicated to her legacy.

Death and legacy

On 5 September 2003, Mui publicly announced that she had cervical cancer, from which her sister had also died. She held a series of eight shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum from 6–11 November and 14–15 November 2003, which were to be her last concerts before her death.
Her symbolic act was to "marry the stage", which was accompanied by her hit song "Sunset Melody" as she exited the stage. The last song she performed on stage was "Cherish When We Meet Again", a rendition of The Manhattans' "Let's Just Kiss And Say Goodbye" on 15 November 2003, where she was accompanied by her friends on the stage. She eventually succumbed to cervical cancer and died of respiratory complications leading to lung failure at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital on 30 December 2003 at 2:50am. She was 40 years old. Thousands of fans turned out for her funeral at North Point in January 2004.
In 1998, an ATV-produced television series Forever Love Song told a story of a character which was loosely based on that of Mui, but the character names were purposely changed. In 2007, a television series was produced in China titled Anita Mui Fei to tell the story of her life. The 42-episode series was broadcast by China Education Television. Some subjects, such as her suffering from cancer, Leslie Cheung's suicide and her mother's real estate dilemma, were avoided. Alice Chan portrayed Mui in the series.
On 11 October 2008, a show on TVB, titled Our Anita Mui, was dedicated to Mui. Many fans and off-stage personnel who worked with her had a chance to talk about their personal experiences with Mui. Singers who participated in the show included Andy Hui, Edmond Leung, and Stephanie Cheng. Mui was cremated and her ashes are interred at the Po Lin Monastery's mausoleum on Lantau Island.
On 18 July 2014, a statue of Anita Mui was unveiled on Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars.
In 2019 she was the subject of the biopic, Dearest Anita.

Will

In her will, Mui bequeathed two properties to her fashion designer, Eddie Lau, and the remainder to the Karen Trust – a trust she had set up and looked after by HSBC International Trustees. Its beneficiaries included her mother, Tam Mei-kam, and four nieces and nephews. The Karen Trust provided Tam with a life tenancy of HK$70,000 per month; upon Tam's death, the estate would go to the New Horizon Buddhist Association.
In 2005, Tam received a HK$705,000 lump-sum payment from the trust in May. She applied for and obtained a hardship grant to pay for medical expenditure of $50,000 in December; her application for funds from the estate to challenge the will was denied. In 2008, Mui's estate was estimated to be worth HK$100 million. Tam Mei-kam contested the will, arguing that Mui was mentally unfit when she executed her will in 2003, weeks before her death. The High Court ruled that Mui was of sound mind when she signed the will, and that she simply did not trust her mother with money.
Over the years, Tam mounted several legal challenges to the will, and succeeded in having the life tenancy varied to HK$120,000. Tam was reportedly owing $2 million in legal costs in 2011. A fresh appeal by Tam and Mui's elder brother Peter Mui Kai-ming failed at the Court of Final Appeal in May 2011.
After that challenge, the Court of First Instance of Hong Kong declared Tam bankrupt on 25 April 2012 for failing to pay legal fees, whilst allowing her to continue receiving her monthly allowance. In January 2013, the court ruled that the monthly tenancy of HK$120,000 to Tam, suspended since the previous July, would continue to be frozen due to mounting debts of the estate. Her brother was declared bankrupt on 17 January 2013 for failing to pay legal fees relating to the appeals. In May 2013, the court ordered the estate to pay Tam HK$20,000 a month for her living costs, as well as $240,000 to settle her overdue rent.

Discography

Usually, English translations of Chinese titles from AnitaMuiNet.com are used. However, some English titles are different from the website, and some other albums are romanized in case accurate translation may not be possible.

Studio albums

Cantonese

;Capital Artists Ltd.
;Go East Entertainment Co. Ltd.
English titles are official English titles used by record labels for below releases:
Express
;Rock Records
;Other record labels
;Anita Music Collection Ltd.
;Capital Artists Ltd.
;Music Impact Ltd.
;Music Nation Records Company Ltd.
Compilations released after 2004 are not included here:
Capital Artists Ltd.
;Other record labels

1980s

1990s

2000s

Tour setlists

  1. 留住你今晚
  2. 點起你欲望
  3. 魅力的散發
  4. 心債
  5. 赤的疑惑
  6. 交出我的心
  7. 信
  8. 24小時之吻
  9. 祝你好運
  10. 小虎子闖世界
  11. 歌衫淚影
  12. 殘月碎春風
  13. Medley:
  14. #再共舞
  15. #紗籠女郎
  16. #再共舞 Reprise
  17. 滾滾紅塵
  18. IQ博士
  19. 風的季節
  20. 中國戲曲
  21. The Way We Were
  22. 待嫁女兒心
  23. 日本演歌
  24. 合唱歌
  25. 夢伴
  26. 別離的無奈
  27. 冰山大火
  28. 幻影
  29. 蔓珠莎華
  30. 夢幻的擁抱
  31. 抱你十個世紀
  32. 孤身走我路
  33. 壞女孩
  34. 顛多一千晚
  35. 似水流年
  36. 不了情
  37. 逝去的愛
  38. Medley:
  39. #冰山大火
  40. #征服他
  41. #心魔
  42. #冰山大火 Reprise
  43. 痴痴愛一次
  44. 緋聞中的女人
  45. 妖女
  46. 將冰山劈開
  47. 愛將
  48. 飛躍千個夢
  49. 戀之火
  50. 殘月醉春風
  51. 夢
  52. 紗籠女郎
  53. Medley:
  54. #嘆息
  55. #歌衫淚影
  56. #千枝針刺在心
  57. 胭脂扣
  58. 夢伴
  59. 壞女孩
  60. 放鬆
  61. 暫時厭倦
  62. 蔓珠莎華
  63. 她的前半生
  64. 烈燄紅唇
  65. 尋愛
  66. Oh No! Oh Yes!
  67. 裝飾的眼淚
  68. 無淚之女
  69. 似火探戈
  70. 魅力的天橋
  71. 最後一次
  72. 傷心教堂
  73. 似水流年
  74. 珍惜再會時
  75. 愛我便說愛我吧
  76. 正歌
  77. 第四十夜
  78. Video Introduction
  79. 一舞傾情
  80. 難得有情人
  81. 愛情基本法
  82. 心窩已瘋
  83. 心仍是冷
  84. 明天你是否依然愛我
  85. Stand By Me
  86. Dancing Boy
  87. 玫瑰、玫瑰、我愛你
  88. 不如不見
  89. 最愛是誰
  90. 倦
  91. 夢裡共醉
  92. 焚心以火
  93. 脂胭扣
  94. 黑夜的豹
  95. Medley:
  96. #壞女孩
  97. #妖女
  98. #烈燄紅唇
  99. #淑女
  100. 封面女郎
  101. 她的前半生
  102. 孤身走我路
  103. 龍的傳人
  104. 血染的風采
  105. 蔓珠莎華
  106. 夕陽之歌
  107. 耶利亞
  108. 蔓珠莎華
  109. Faithfully
  110. 夢幻的擁抱
  111. 夢姬
  112. 妖女
  113. 緋聞中的女人
  114. 假如我是男人
  115. Touch
  116. 似火探戈
  117. 不信愛有罪
  118. 這一個夜
  119. Jungle Medley:
  120. #黑夜的豹
  121. #慾望野獸街
  122. #夜貓夫人
  123. #慾望野獸街 Reprise
  124. 教父的女人
  125. 壞女孩
  126. 胭脂扣
  127. 似是故人來
  128. 幾多
  129. 逝去的愛
  130. 赤的疑惑
  131. 夕陽之歌
  132. 親密愛人
  133. IQ博士
  134. 似水流年
  135. 心肝寶貝
  136. 孤身走我路
  137. 夢伴
  138. Stand By Me
  139. 珍惜再會時
  140. 回頭已是百年身
  141. 封面女郎 Introduction
  142. Medley:
  143. #淑女
  144. #壞女孩
  145. #夢伴
  146. #妖女
  147. 親密愛人
  148. Medley:
  149. #新鴛鴦蝴蝶夢
  150. #只羡鴛鴦不羡仙
  151. 女人心
  152. 激光中
  153. 黑夜的豹
  154. 放開你的頭腦
  155. 感激
  156. 珍惜再會時
  157. Overture
  158. 夢伴
  159. We'll Be Together
  160. Faithfully
  161. 愛是沒餘地
  162. 傳說 Interlude
  163. 莫問一生
  164. 烈女
  165. 耶利亞
  166. 夢姬
  167. 等著你回來 Interlude
  168. 得不到的愛情
  169. Medley:
  170. #何日
  171. #李香蘭
  172. #何日 Reprise
  173. 願今宵一起醉死
  174. Interlude
  175. Stand By Me
  176. 是這樣的
  177. Medley:
  178. #愛是個傳奇
  179. #粉紅色的一生
  180. 明星
  181. 女人心
  182. Medley:
  183. #分分鐘需要你
  184. #浪子心聲
  185. #胭脂扣
  186. #情人
  187. #明天我要嫁給你
  188. #憑著愛
  189. #心仍是冷
  190. #分分鐘需要你 Reprise
  191. 情歸何處
  192. 感激
  193. Interlude
  194. Touch
  195. 疾風
  196. 愛我便說愛我吧
  197. 歌之女
  198. 似水流年
  199. 是這樣的
  200. 艷舞台
  201. 淑女
  202. 抱緊眼前人
  203. 愛上狼的羊
  204. 女人心
  205. 愛的感覺
  206. 緋聞中的女人
  207. Touch
  208. 壞女孩
  209. 似水流年
  210. Medley:
  211. #似是故人來
  212. #心肝寶貝
  213. #胭脂扣
  214. #緣份
  215. #有心人
  216. #路...始終告一段
  217. #何日
  218. #夕陽之歌
  219. 夜蛇
  220. 烈艷紅唇
  221. 抱你十個世紀
  222. 眼中釘
  223. 一生何求
  224. 似夢迷離
  225. 但願人長久
  226. 不快不吐
  227. Medley:
  228. #你真美麗
  229. #第二春
  230. #夢
  231. #戀之火
  232. #今宵多珍重
  233. #我要
  234. #給我一個吻
  235. #玫瑰、玫瑰、我愛你
  236. 情歸何處
  237. 你留我在此
  238. 將冰山劈開
  239. 床前明月光
  240. 心窩已瘋
  241. Big Bad Girl
  242. 夢伴
  243. Opening
  244. Stand By Me
  245. 將冰山劈開
  246. 愛我便說愛我吧
  247. 長藤掛銅鈴
  248. Medley:
  249. #艷舞台
  250. #烈焰紅唇
  251. Medley:
  252. #憑甚麼
  253. #假如我是男人
  254. #黑夜的豹
  255. 蔓珠莎華
  256. Oh No! Oh Yes!
  257. Wonderful Night
  258. Faithfully
  259. 是這樣的
  260. 夢幻的擁抱
  261. 夢姬
  262. 烈女
  263. 心債
  264. 一舞傾情
  265. 約會
  266. 胭脂扣
  267. 床前明月光
  268. 心窩已瘋
  269. 芳華絕代
  270. 床呀！床！
  271. 似水流年
  272. 似是故人來
  273. 抱緊眼前人
  274. 親密愛人
  275. Medley:
  276. #孤身走我路
  277. #夕陽之歌　
  278. Medley:
  279. #愛將
  280. #壞女孩
  281. #淑女
  282. #妖女
  283. #放開你的頭腦
  284. #夢伴
  285. #冰山大火
  286. Overture
  287. 夢裡共醉
  288. 是這樣的
  289. 抱緊眼前人
  290. 心肝寶貝
  291. Medley:
  292. #何日
  293. #李香蘭
  294. #何日 Reprise
  295. 心債
  296. 第四十夜
  297. 夏日戀人
  298. 'O Sole Mio
  299. 親密愛人
  300. Medley:
  301. #愛情的代價
  302. #我願意
  303. #似夢迷離
  304. #今生今世
  305. #深愛著你
  306. 孤身走我路
  307. 胭脂扣
  308. 似是故人來
  309. 似水流年
  310. Sukiyaki
  311. 花月佳期
  312. 夕陽之歌

    Awards

Filmography

TVB