Wu Bai
Encyclopedia
Wu Bai is a Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...

 rock
Taiwanese rock
Rock music in Taiwan grew up separately from its counterpart in mainland China, and although there has naturally been some cross-fertilisation, and Taiwanese rock acts such as Wu Bai and Wu Yue Tian have performed frequently in the mainland the Taiwanese rock scene is quite distinct in character...

 singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. He formed the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 Wu Bai & China Blue with Dean "Dino" Zavolta on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, Yu Ta-hao (余大豪 Yú Dàháo, aka “Big Cat”) on keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

, Chu Chien-hui (朱劍輝 Zhū Jiànhuī) on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 and Wu Bai himself on lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

 and lead vocals. Labeled "the king of live music," Wu Bai is considered to be one of the biggest rock music stars in East and Southeast Asia.

Biography

Wu Bai was born in Suantou, Lioujiao -- literally "Garlic Village" -- in Chiayi County
Chiayi County
Chiayi County is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. Its historical name in Taiwanese Hokkien derives from Tsirosen in the Formosan languages...

 in south-central Taiwan. His father was a retired Taiwan Sugar Corporation
Taiwan Sugar Corporation
Taiwan Sugar Corporation or Taisugar is a state-run enterprise in Tainan City, Taiwan.The corporation was created in 1946, following Kuomintang's entrance to Taiwan, by merging all sugar companies in Taiwan...

 worker and his mother a betel nut
Betel nut
The Areca nut is the seed of the Areca palm , which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. It is commonly referred to as "betel nut" as it is often chewed wrapped in betel leaves.-Description:...

 vendor, and he had two younger brothers who died in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...

. His nickname Wu Bai, meaning "five hundred," derives from several stories, none of which can be proven to be fact: one story says the name came from his early academic success when he scored 100 points on each of five examination subjects.However, an interest in music in his teenage years led to a decline in his academic performance and he failed to pass the university entrance examination
Entrance examination
An entrance examination is an examination that many educational institutions use to select students for admission. These exams may be administered at any level of education, from primary to higher education, although they are more common at higher levels....

s. Another story says he used to charge 500 Taiwan Dollars for his early concerts.

In 2003, Wu Bai married Chen Wen-pey (陳文珮), his manager and girlfriend for over 10 years, in a private ceremony in Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Wu Bai is an avid fan of Japanese pro wrestling
Professional wrestling in Japan
Puroresu is the popular term for the predominant style or genre of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of "professional wrestling" , which is shortened to puroresu . The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu...

, and has even written a theme song for his close friend, Keiji Mutoh
Keiji Mutoh
is a Japanese professional wrestler who first gained international fame in the National Wrestling Alliance. He is mostly known for his work as The Great Muta in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s, but he has also competed in United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Taiwan...

.

Overview

Wu Bai is one of the biggest rock stars in Mandarin-language music which is marketed in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 , Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, and Malaysia. He also has fans in Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland. He also has released a number of works sung in Taiwanese Minnan. Throughout the years, he held numerous sold out concerts in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong and has performed in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 as well. His albums have won many awards and have topped the sales charts. He writes almost all of his own songs for his albums and also writes for many popular artists including Andy Lau
Andy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...

, Emil Chau, Karen Mok
Karen Mok
Karen Joy Morris, known more commonly in the Sinosphere as Karen Mok or Mok Man-Wai, is a three-time Golden Melody Award-winning Hong Kong-based actress and singer-songwriter.- Biography :...

, Tarcy Su
Tarcy Su
Tarcy Su is a Taiwanese singer and actress who was popular in the 1990s during her recording days with Rock Records.Her first album was released in 1990, when she was 20 years old and still schooling...

 (蘇慧倫), and Vivian Hsu
Vivian Hsu
Vivian Hsu is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and model who has gained remarkable popularity in East Asia, mainly in Taiwan and Japan.Hsu rose to prominence in Japan, where she made her first appearance in 1995 and has become a highly-recognized celebrity with her countless appearances in media...

. His guitar-driven rock music differs from that of many mandopop
Mandopop
Mandopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Mandarin popular music." It is categorized as a subgenre of commercial Chinese-language music within C-pop. Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. As the name implies, Mandopop features songs...

 or cantopop
Cantopop
Cantopop is a colloquialism for "Cantonese popular music". It is sometimes referred to as HK-pop, short for "Hong Kong popular music". It is categorized as a subgenre of Chinese popular music within C-pop...

 stars and, with his Taiwanese Mandarin
Taiwanese Mandarin
Taiwanese Mandarin is a variant of Mandarin derived from the official Standard Mandarin spoken in Taiwan Area of the Republic of China . The latter's standard lect is known in Taiwan as 國語 , based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect together with the grammar of Vernacular Chinese...

 accent and rough looks, he projects an image of an archetypal Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...

 taike (台客) man in his music and film roles.

Early career and the formation of China Blue

Wu Bai left Chiayi County for the capital of Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

 in the late 1980s and worked in a number of menial jobs. One of those jobs in a music shop led to the formation of his first band, Buzz, which soon broke up.

Dean Zavolta describes the formation of Wu Bai & China Blue noting that the members originally "played for different bands up until about 1991, after which [Chu Chien-hui] and I began jamming together with the eventual idea of forming a newer, fresher, and original rock band...Then one day, he called me up and asked me if I would mind filling in for a one-off gig with himself and a guitarist named Wu Bai...Something just clicked between us. Both the music and the mo chi (默契) we had were fantastic. What really helped us though, was that when we first came out, Taiwan—along with other Asian countries—was ready for an Asian rock band that played live music."

Wu Bai debuted with two songs on the Taiwanese-language Dust of Angels Soundtrack
Dust of Angels (soundtrack)
Dust of Angels is the soundtrack to the Taiwanese motion picture of the same name directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming . It features ten Taiwanese-language and instrumental rock and ambient music songs by performers considered to be alternative or avant-garde in the Taiwanese music scene at the time...

 in 1992 which were credited to his real name, Wu Chun-lin, and featured Chu Chien-hui and Dean Zavolta credited as China Blue. The same year, Pony Canyon
Pony Canyon
is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...

 Taiwan released Wu Bai’s first album, Loving Others is a Happy Thing, a solo effort credited to Wu Chun-lin / Wu Bai, and featuring each of the three other China Blue members on at least one song but without the group being mentioned by name. The 1993 soundtrack to Treasure Island featured Wu Bai as Wu Chun-lin with the three members of China Blue designated as such. All subsequent albums have been credited to Wu Bai & China Blue.

Growing popularity

Wu Bai's initial releases were followed by performing live at pubs throughout Taiwan notably Sleeping Earth in Taipei and, upon its closure, Live A Go-Go. As his fan base grew, "Friday with Wu Bai" became a weekly event for many listeners, especially college students. Based on this increasing popularity Wu Bai was given a contract with Rock Records
Rock Records
Rock Records is a Taiwanese record label founded in 1980 by Sam and Johnny Duan . The record label had their first multiseller in 1989 with Sarah Chen.It is now Asia's largest independent record label....

’ Mandala Works which released his second album Wanderer's Love Song and accompanying music videos. Sales were limited but Wu Bai’s following continued to grow due to his live performances.

Music and film success

In January 1996, Wu Bai & China Blue brought their powerful live show to Hong Kong for the first time to great success and Wu Bai began to be known as Taiwan's "King of Live Music." Later that year they released the smash hit album The End of Love, which, propelled by the hit single "Norwegian Forest," sold over 600,000 copies and was honored by the China Times
China Times
The China Times is a newspaper published in the Republic of China in Traditional Chinese. It is one of the four biggest newspapers in Taiwan, the other three being the Liberty Times, United Daily News, and Apple Daily ....

and the United Evening News
United Daily News
The United Daily News is a newspaper published in the Republic of China in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in Taiwan, the other two being the China Times and the Liberty Times.-History:...

as one of the year's Top 10 albums. The album also ranked in the Top 20 Music Videos on television’s Channel [V]
Channel V
Channel [V] is the brand name for multiple international music television networks owned by STAR TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation.-Channel [V] International:...

 and was nominated by MTV for the best music video of the year.

In June 1998, after representing Taiwan Beer
Taiwan Beer
Taiwan Beer is brewed by the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation . The brand, an icon of Taiwanese culture, began as a monopoly product but has remained the best-selling beer on the island in the era of free trade.-History:The company today known as TTL had its origins in a government agency...

 in its new television commercial, Wu Bai also appeared in a Chinese movie A Beautiful New World
A Beautiful New World
A Beautiful New World is a 1999 film directed by Shi Runjiu. The film, Shi's first , was co-produced by the Xi'an Film Studio and the independent Imar Film Company...

, playing the part of a street singer. He also wrote and sang the title song for the movie.
In 1999, Wu Bai had a small role in The Personals
The Personals (1998 Taiwanese film)
The Personals is a 1998 Taiwanese drama film directed by Chen Kuo-Fu. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Rene Liu - Dr. Du Jia-zhen* Wu Bai* Chao-jung Chen* Bao-ming Gu* Chin Shih-chieh...

, a motion picture with good box office sales. That November, Wu Bai released a Mandarin album, White Dove, and started a tour of three cities in Taiwan. He held six sold-out concerts in a gigantic tent called "Super Dome", which was also a ground breaking event for the Taiwanese concert scene. The album and the concerts were the first big events after Taiwan's devastating earthquake, which comforted so many people's broken hearts. As a result, Wu Bai was voted as the most popular singer of the year, and also rank number three as the Man of the Year, outranking the President of the Republic of China
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...

 Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui is a politician of the Republic of China . He was the 7th, 8th, and 9th-term President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He presided over major advancements in democratic reforms including his own re-election which marked the first direct...

.

In the year 2000, Wu Bai wrote and sang the theme song for the Pili
Pili (TV series)
Pili is a puppet show from Taiwan. It is made by Pili International Multimedia. The TV series started in 1985, and it still continues today. It is one of the most popular TV shows in Taiwan. Pili puppet show is performed by many kinds of puppets, some of them are cool, some are intelligent, and...

 movie Legend of the Sacred Stone
Legend of the Sacred Stone
Legend of the Sacred Stone is a 2000 Taiwanese puppetry feature film written and directed by Chris Huang, a spin-off from the glove puppetry wuxia television series Pili...

. This time his backing music had a full orchestra, and the lyrics were written in Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...

. Between March and April, Wu Bai and China Blue held three concerts in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In Singapore, the Strait Times' headline after the concert was "King of Chinese Rock", in Malaysia, the media headline was "Cult Master arrived, all congregation bowed." and in Hong Kong, the whole audience stood up in a stadium that has rules against standing during concerts. After these phenomenal successes, Wu Bai sang at Taiwan's new president's inauguration, Singapore's National Day concert, and Japan Fukuoka's Music Festival. In Fukuoka, Japanese audiences all stood up to enjoy the concert even though they likely did not understand the lyrics. Wu Bai has also appeared in Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark , born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong New Wave film director and producer. He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema .-Early life:...

's movie Time and Tide
Time and Tide (2000 film)
Time and Tide is a 2000 Hong Kong action film directed by Tsui Hark. The film is set in Hong Kong where a young man becomes a bodyguard and befriends a mercenary determined to begin life a new with the woman he just married...

as the lead actor, and also wrote two songs for the soundtrack.

Music

Wu Bai listened to 1970s English-language rock music such as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

 and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

 in his formative years and has said he felt it unusual for a Taiwanese person to play the guitar. Prior to Wu Bai & China Blue's achieving widespread popularity in Taiwan in the mid-1990s, guitar-oriented rock music was unusual in the country's domestic popular music scene. Live concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

s were similarly rare but the group's frequent touring and live album releases set a new standard for live performing in Taiwan. The band's distinctive blend of poetical lyrics with rock tunes has won them fans not only in Taiwan but throughout East
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 and they have had successful regional concert tours in the many cities.

Studio albums

  • 愛上別人是快樂的事 (Loving Others is a Happy Thing) (1992)
  • 浪人情歌 (Wanderer's Love Song) (1994)
  • 愛情的盡頭 (The End of Love) (1996)
  • 樹枝孤鳥 (Lonely Tree, Lonely Bird) (1998)
  • 世界第一等 EP
    Extended play
    An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

     (1998)
  • 白鴿 (White Dove) (1999)
  • 伍佰&CHINA BLUE電影歌曲典藏 / 順流逆流電影原聲帶 (Wu Bai & China Blue Movie Song Book / Time and Tide Soundtrack) (2000)
  • 夢的河流 (Dream River) (2001)
  • 淚橋 (Tear Bridge) (2003) (CD+VCD)
  • 雙面人 (Two Faced Man) (2005)
  • GO PA 人面鯊 (2005)
  • 純真年代 (Innocent Years) (2006) (CD+DVD)
  • 忘情1015 新歌+精選 (2007)(CD+DVD)
  • 太空彈 (Spacebomb)(2008)
  • 詩情搖滾 (Poetic Rock) (2009) (CD+DVD)
  • 單程車票 (One Way Ticket) (2011)

Live albums

  • 伍佰的LIVE (1995)
  • 夏夜晚風 (1997)
  • 伍佰97亞洲巡弋紀念盤EP (1997)
  • 空襲警報 (1999)
  • 1999~2000真世界巡迴演唱會全紀錄 (2000)
  • 冬之火 (2002)
  • 伍佰力 (2004)
  • 2005厲害演唱會全紀錄 (2005)
  • 妳是我的花朵演唱會全紀錄(2007)

Soundtracks and compilations

  • Dust of Angels Soundtrack
    Dust of Angels (soundtrack)
    Dust of Angels is the soundtrack to the Taiwanese motion picture of the same name directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming . It features ten Taiwanese-language and instrumental rock and ambient music songs by performers considered to be alternative or avant-garde in the Taiwanese music scene at the time...

     (少年吔,安啦!) (1992) – 2 songs
  • Treasure Island Soundtrack (只要為你活一天) (1993) – 2 songs
  • Time and Tide Soundtrack (順流逆流) (2000)
  • Legend of the Sacred Stone Soundtrack (聖石傳說) (2000)

Music and concert videos

  • 2005厲害演唱會全紀錄 (2005)
  • 妳是我的花朵演唱會全紀錄(2007)
  • 太空彈 世界巡迴演唱會精選實錄 (2009)


Films

  • The Personals
    The Personals (1998 Taiwanese film)
    The Personals is a 1998 Taiwanese drama film directed by Chen Kuo-Fu. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Rene Liu - Dr. Du Jia-zhen* Wu Bai* Chao-jung Chen* Bao-ming Gu* Chin Shih-chieh...

     (徵婚啟事) (1998)
  • A Beautiful New World
    A Beautiful New World
    A Beautiful New World is a 1999 film directed by Shi Runjiu. The film, Shi's first , was co-produced by the Xi'an Film Studio and the independent Imar Film Company...

    (美麗新世界) (1999)
  • Time and Tide
    Time and Tide (2000 film)
    Time and Tide is a 2000 Hong Kong action film directed by Tsui Hark. The film is set in Hong Kong where a young man becomes a bodyguard and befriends a mercenary determined to begin life a new with the woman he just married...

     (順流逆流) (2000)
  • New Police Story
    New Police Story
    New Police Story is a 2004 Hong Kong action film starring Jackie Chan and directed by Benny Chan.The film is a reboot of the Police Story series. New Police Story relies much more on drama and heavy action than its predecessors.-Plot:...

    (新警察故事) (2004)

Commercial advertisements

  • Taiwan Beer
    Taiwan Beer
    Taiwan Beer is brewed by the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation . The brand, an icon of Taiwanese culture, began as a monopoly product but has remained the best-selling beer on the island in the era of free trade.-History:The company today known as TTL had its origins in a government agency...

  • Hey Song Sarsi
    Sarsi (drink)
    Sarsi is a sarsaparilla based soft drink sold in Taiwan, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries. It is similar to root beer.-Philippines:...

     (黑松沙士)
  • Golden Life Gold Jewelry Co. (今生金飾)

External links

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