With his ballad Fairy Tale, Michael Wong Kong-leong follows in the footsteps of fellow Malaysian-Chinese entertainers who've made it big in Hong Kong such as actresses Angelica Lee Sin-je and Memoirs of a Geisha's Michelle Yeoh.
The song, which made Wong a household name in Taiwan and Hong Kong and on the mainland last year, boosted the singer's fan base and won him a handful of awards.
The album, Fairy Tale, featuring the hit single, has sold 1.2 million copies in Asia. Next week, Wong becomes the first Malaysian-Chinese singer to stage a gig at the 13,000-capacity Hong Kong Coliseum.
He says he's overwhelmed that tickets to the Hong Kong concert - the first leg of his first world tour - sold out in a few days. 'I haven't had too many chances to visit Hong Kong,' says the singer songwriter. 'I knew I had some loyal fans, but I didn't know there were so many people supporting me.'
Wong, who began learning the piano at the age of 10, started composing songs in secondary school. In the early 1990s, he entered a number of singing contests, which led to a deal with a Malaysian record label.
Wong then launched the duo Michael and Victor with fellow Malaysian-Chinese singer Victor Wong Pin-kuan in 1994. Their debut record, Palm, topped the Malaysian Billboard charts for 10 weeks. The duo were then signed to Taiwan's Rock Records and were nominated for best performing group at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards in 1995. Their following records were top-sellers, but they decided to split in 2000.