Silly sound of success

TEN years ago, a 21-year-old man with dreams of becoming a singer watched a videotape of TVB's Jade Solid Gold and made a wish: that one day he too would get the chance to come to Hong Kong to pursue his career.

But Eric Moo Chii Yuan was in Singapore and at the shaky start of a singing career. Hong Kong seemed a million miles away. This week, however, the Malaysian-born singer can look back on all he has achieved in the past decade and pat himself on the back for a job well done.

Not only has he become a household name in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and now in Hong Kong, he is also the recipient of the first Billboard Asian Artistic Excellence Award presented by the US Billboard magazine on Monday as part of its 1994 US Billboard Music Awards.

The award is given to an Asian artist with outstanding performance on the music charts and in album sales with special focus on singer-songwriters.

'I am very honoured,' said Moo, in a telephone interview from Los Angeles where he received his award from Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen. 'There have been many outstanding artists in the Asian music scene this year such as Jonathan Li Zhongchen and Lo Dayou. I think it was possibly the timing and the performance of my album Too Silly that came to the attention of Billboard.' Which should not come as a surprise to watchers of the Chinese charts because Too Silly has already topped 1.4 million copies in sales and stormed up the charts of every country it has been released in.

Although he only made his first effort to penetrate the Hong Kong market in March, his songs have enjoyed tremendous success on the charts. Singers have been beating a path to his door to ask him to compose songs for them and he is in the midst of filming his first movie - in the lead role.

For someone who drifted into singing when he picked up his brother's second-hand guitar at 17, this has been the culmination of a big dream. But, he said, it does not end there. 'I think every singer hopes to be successful in mainland China because it is such a vast market. I'm no different. But I have to wait for the right time,' he said.