Book review: Firelight of a Different Colour: The Life and Times of Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, by Nigel Collett

by Nigel Collett
Signal 8 Press
3.5 stars
Douglas Kerr

Nigel Collett is an admirer of the late singer-actor Leslie Cheung, and has written a sympathetic and well-researched biography without being overwhelmed by the glamour of his subject. His book is especially interesting for its take on Hong Kong's once-covert gay scene, and on the sometimes creepy symbiosis between the recording and TV and film companies that control the entertainment business.

Sometimes, in the midst of Cheung's career, the story reads a bit like a list of films, concerts and TV appearances. Collett describes it modestly as a provisional biography, a first step in bringing Cheung to the notice of English-language readers. He has done these readers a service. I only wish the book had included photos of the star, to help explain what he meant to so many people.

Firelight of a Different Colour tells the story of a city that seemed sure of itself, as it started to enjoy the fruits of its years of hard work. It moved with a certain swagger on the international stage, and expressed itself in a strong popular culture at home, built on its own language and idiom and humour.

In this city there were more than 30 film production companies that turned out about 100 feature films a year, and people bought 66 million cinema tickets to see them. The stars of the era seemed to move effortlessly between live TV shows, movie sets, the recording studios, and the concert venues teeming with their fans.

With his talents as a singer and actor, and his great personal beauty, Cheung was the uncrowned prince of the city. In 1988, the year he starred with Anita Mui Yim-fong in Stanley Kwan Kam-pang's Rouge, Cheung staged 23 three-hour concerts at the Coliseum, before audiences of more than 12,000 adoring fans.

The following year, aged 33, he retired and emigrated to Canada.