IT HAS BEEN FIVE years since Taiwan's Jeff Chang Shin-che last held a concert in Hong Kong - and the 'Prince of Love Songs' wants his fans to know he's sorry for being gone so long.
'Since 1996, I have been busy taking my touring show across North America, Singapore, Malaysia and the mainland,' says Chang, 34. He has racked up more than 50 concerts in that time and is coming to town this week fresh from sell-out concerts in Singapore.
Chang started his singing career in 1989 and says most of his early days were spent doing publicity rounds to raise his profile.
That's why, he says, he jumped at the chance to spend so long touring. 'Singers are supposed to flourish on the stage and it gives us a chance to deliver quality music,' says Chang. 'It's great to take your music on the road and deliver it fresh to your audience. You can have a more direct interaction. They respond to your feelings instantly. It is better than flaunting your face on TV.'
Chang's concerts on the mainland last year were hugely successful. He played in front of 70,000 people at Shanghai's Hong Kou stadium, as well as to full houses in Beijing and Nanchang. When he turned up in Lanzhou, a remote northeastern city in Gansu province, he was mobbed by adoring fans. 'When the show finished, they followed me back to the hotel. They surrounded the building for the whole night and refused to leave. They wanted more encores,' he says.
Hot on the heels of this success, Chang scooped the most outstanding male singer gong at the Shenzhen Music Awards last year. That was yet another accolade for a singer who seemingly goes from success to success. Chang's Putonghua classic, Ai Ru Chao Shui (Love Is Like A Tide), taken from the Mind album, achieved record sales that topped the million mark in 1993, reaching No 1 on Taiwan's Golden Song Annual Billboard that year. Not bad for a guy who started out singing in the local choir in the rural town of Yulin and who had his music career interrupted in 1990 by two years of compulsory national service.
Chang was spotted by Elite records in 1988 when he won an English folk-singing contest while studying music at Taiwan's Christ College. Within a year he had signed a contract with the label and banged out three albums. Then came the army's call. For two years, Chang was in the Military Art Troop, a travelling musical and theatre group. 'It was like a cross-country art tour,' he says. 'A team of 25 would just go around the island and perform for the public.'