PERHAPS his half-and-half album is the best indication of John Laudon's life. He is Canadian, but after 10 years in Hong Kong he considers the territory home.
When Laudon started a career in Hong Kong, he was known mainly as a singer-songwriter and Citybeat band member, but today, using his Chinese alias - Lau Yok-sang - Laudon is more recognised as the composer of some of Jacky Cheung's big hits such as Legend Of The Hungry Wolf and Forget Her.
But, last week, the ex-Citybeat lead singer added another feather to his cap by releasing his self-produced, self-written, self-arranged solo album, which features seven Cantonese numbers and five English ones.
Although it would have been possible to have recorded the whole I Believe In Love album in Cantonese, Laudon decided to keep a few English songs to cater for the audience who attend his live gigs.
'When Citybeat released a half-half album, it was very well-received even by the Chinese, who told us they liked the English songs,' Laudon said. 'And then there's a side of my people I play for who like my English stuff.
'Naturally, with my own language, more of my expressions are in the songs. Even though the Chinese ones do keep to my meaning, they are adapted. And, of course, it was easier recording in English.' I Believe In Love took Laudon more than a year to produce, in what he describes as a 'demo studio'. Because he did not have financial backing from a big record company, he elected to do most of the work himself and even brought in his wife to sing backing vocals. But, despite all that, I Believe In Love has come out not much different from other more expensive albums.