劉家昌

简介

Steven Liu (Liu Jiachang) was born in 1943 in Harbin, China, to parents from Shandong province. In his childhood, he fled with his mother from the Chinese Civil War through Hong Kong to South Korea, where he also experienced the turmoil of the Korean War. He studied at Chinese schools in Seoul and began his professional singing career during middle school, initially helping an American military band move instruments before getting the chance to perform on stage. At age 17, he composed his first song and learned music theory by listening to his two sisters study piano without formally learning any instrument. He later moved to Taiwan, graduated from National Hsinchu Senior High School, and enrolled at National Chengchi University in 1962 to study political science but left after two years to pursue singing. He started his artistic career singing Western songs in Taiwan's nightclubs with little success, until he rose to prominence in 1968 with the title song for the Qiongyao film "The Moon Fills the Western Tower." He achieved major success in 1970 with "The Past Can Only Be Savored," performed by singer You Ya, which became a massive hit. Liu Jiachang created memorable works for many major singers including Teresa Teng, Jenny Tseng, Fong Fei-fei, Liu Wen-zheng, Fei Yu-ching, and Yang Lin. His work caught the attention of the Japanese music industry, and in 1974 he signed with Victor Records as a guest composer and artistic consultant, with his songs performed by Japanese artists achieving great success, including "The Sound of the Sea" which participated in the NHK Red and White Song Contest. He had a profound influence on later generations of musicians, with producer Ye Jia-shiu considering him his most important mentor, and singer Chen Sheng describing him as "an alien, a god in my heart." He founded Otiwei Records in the 1980s. Steven Liu passed away on December 2, 2024, leaving behind a monumental musical legacy in Chinese music history.