Wang Leehom
| Wang Leehom | |||||||||
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Wang Leehom at the 2011 Harbin Film Festival with the award for Best New Director
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| Chinese name | 王力宏 | ||||||||
| Pinyin | Wáng Lìhóng (Mandarin) | ||||||||
| Jyutping | Wong4 Lik6 Wang4 (Cantonese) | ||||||||
| Birth name | Alexander Leehom Wang | ||||||||
| Origin | Taiwan | ||||||||
| Born |
May 17, 1976 Rochester, New York, U.S. |
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| Voice type(s) | Tenor | ||||||||
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| Years active | 1995–present | ||||||||
| Ancestry | Yiwu, Zhejiang, China | ||||||||
| Influenced by | Stevie Wonder, Prince, Alicia Keys, Outkast, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, The Neptunes | ||||||||
| Website | www.wangleehom.com | ||||||||
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Wang Leehom (born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is a Chinese-American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor and film director. He is currently based in Taiwan. Formally trained at the Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his musical style is known for fusing Chinese elements (such as Beijing opera, traditional styles of ethnic minorities, Chinese classical orchestra) with hip-hop and R&B. Wang has been active since 1995 and contributed in 25 albums. He is also a four-time winner of Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards, the "Grammys" of Taiwanese music. His concert at the Beijing Bird's Nest on April 14, 2012 was the first solo pop concert to be held at the venue.
In addition to his music, Wang also acted in several films, including Ang Lee's Lust, Caution and Jackie Chan's film Little Big Soldier. He is an environmental activist, and his album Change Me was dedicated to raising eco-awareness among Chinese youth. Wang was one of the first torchbearers for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and performed in the Olympics' closing ceremony in Beijing. He was again a torchbearer for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, making him the only person in the Mandarin pop circle to have taken part in the event twice. He is a longtime ambassador for World Vision Taiwan and was appointed World Vision Malaysia's 15th anniversary ambassador (from October 2011 to September 2012).
He was listed as one of Goldsea's "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time".
Born in Rochester, New York, Wang is the second of three sons of immigrants from Taiwan of waishengren heritage. His father, a pediatrician, and his mother, moved to the United States to further their college studies in the early 1960s. Influenced by his older brother, Leo Wang, who had been taking violin lessons since he was seven, Wang began to develop a curious interest towards the violin and its musical counterparts when he was three. He begged his mother to put him in violin lessons with his brother but his mother was against it, reasoning that he was too young. When Wang turned six, his mother enrolled him in violin classes, performing along with his brother. As he became a teenager, he began taking piano lessons, also teaching himself the guitar. He also worked several jobs to earn money to buy a second hand drum kit.
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