MORE than a decade ago Hong Kong-born but Taipei-based singer Dave Wang Chieh was in a taxi when he heard that his first single A Game, A Dream had gone straight to number one on the Taiwan charts.
The singer was so happy that he burst into tears: it seemed his dream was coming true.
Indeed, that stunning debut brought him the success he had always hankered for. But with success came excess. A few years later, at his last concert in Hong Kong, he ended the show with a lament: Who Will Understand Me? Fans would remember how a sobbing Wang sank to his knees, singing his heart out. His dream was turning into a game without proper rules, even into a nightmare.
The workload and the pressure had become unbearable.
Then, at the height of his career, Wang quietly left to get married in Canada and ended up staying for six years.
'I simply needed a rest, to take refuge. There was a point when I was afraid to be in a studio or on a plane,' he recalls.