Asian Buzzing

Vivian Chow is a Hong Kong based Cantopop singer and actress. She is well known for her ladylike stage image as well as her charity works for animal rights and breast cancer awareness.

She retired from the Chinese entertainment scene in the late 1990s when Vivian and her long time partner, Joe Ngai, emigrated to Vancouver, Canada. However, she still makes frequent trips to Hong Kong to visit her family and to support animal-rights charities.

Early life

Vivian was born in Hong Kong and brought up by her mother. Her father died the same year she was born due to heart problems. As a child, Vivian studied at St. Stephen's Church College, passing A-levels (thirteenth grade) in high school.

Career

Radio years

After high school, Chow entered the Fourth Annual New Talent Singing Awards in 1985 with Yoshie Kashiwabara's song Saiai (最愛). The same contest also saw the rise of William So (蘇永康) and Hacken Lee. Although Vivian did not receive any prizes in the contest, this failure did not diminish her hopes of becoming a singer, instead, Chow entered the entertainment business by becoming a DJ in Radio Television Hong Kong in 1987.

As a DJ for RTHK, Chow was the main character in three of the radio dramas, they are "Love in the Summer" (夏之戀) as 'Tung Tung' "The Teenage Period" (青蔥歲月) as 'Fong Ka Yiu', and "Life in Paris" (在巴黎的日子) as 'Joyce'.

Acting

In 1988, Chow made her movie debut in the smash-hit comedy "Heart to Hearts" (三人世界). She played the role of the daughter of Carol Cheng, a single mother who is quite protective of Vivian. They then meet a man played by George Lam. For her role in the series, Chow won the 'Best New Performer' award of 1989.

Music

In the same year that Vivian won the 'Best New Performer' award, she also released her first album, titled by her Chinese name, 周慧敏. This album contained only 4 songs, and its main purpose was to test the response of the people of Hong Kong for the rising star. Sales did not disappoint, and Vivian started to develop her own fan-base by releasing two new albums, Vivian and Qing Mi (情迷), in 1990; 5 new albums (see Discography) in 1991, and 6 new albums in 1992-1993. Vivian had to take Mandarin lessons in order to perfect her pronunciation prior to the release of the Mandarin album, Liu Yan (流言). In view of her elegance the media^[who?] dubbed her "玉女掌門人", a colloquial term that can be loosely translated as the "eternal maiden queen".^{[citation needed]}