As his continued popularity after his tragic death proves, Leslie Cheung is one of the few stars to truly achieve immortality. Equally loved as an actor and singer, he featured in many of the iconic films of the Hong Kong golden age of the mid 1980s - mid 1990s as well as releasing a staggering list of best selling hit songs. Known to his fans as "Gor Gor" (literally meaning "elder brother"), Cheung was a respected performer of diverse talents, whose charismatic personality is sorely missed in a modern industry overpopulated with vacuous, mass-marketed teen stars.
Leslie Cheung was born Cheung Fat Chung on September 12, 1956 in Hong Kong, the youngest of ten children. He was exposed to the film industry at an early age by his father, who worked as a tailor for the likes of Cary Grant and William Holden. His was not a happy childhood, being raised largely by his grandmother and the family maid, with his parents constantly arguing on the rare occasions when they were together. After his parents divorced, a 15-year-old Cheung was sent to a boarding school in Norwich, England, where he worked at his relatives' restaurant between studies. It was during this time that he took the name "Leslie", apparently as he liked the fact that it was unisex, suiting both men and women. Cheung stayed on in England to study textile management at Leeds University, though returned to Hong Kong after his father fell ill.
t was in 1976 that Cheung got his big break in the entertainment industry, winning second prize in the ATV Asian Music Contest. This led to numerous television appearances and the signing of a contract with Polydor Records, with whom he released the albums Day Dreaming and Lover's Arrow in 1977 and 1979 respectively. Unfortunately, the public proved difficult to win over, and both releases, along with his early attempts at touring were unpopular. Cheung's film career got off to a similarly undistinguished start in 1978 with The Erotic Dream of the Red Chamber, an obscure piece of soft pornography whose sexual content he later claimed not to have been aware of at the time.
In 1982, Cheung joined Capital Artists, releasing his first hit album, The Wind Blows On, which helped establish him as one of the leaders of the new breed of Cantopop singers. It was then that he met his long time friend Anita Mui, a fellow singer and actress, with whom he would later star in several famous films. His star continued to rise with the 1984 release of the song "Monica", which won the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award and ushered in a new era of fast-moving dance music. Cheung's musical career continued to flourish with albums such as For Your Love Only and Love in Those Days, both of which contained several Top Ten Gold Songs.
On April 1, 2003, Cheung leapt to his death from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, stunning the industry and his adoring public. There was much speculation in the wake of his suicide as to why he had taken his own life, and family members disclosed that he had been suffering from depression for some time, having attempted to kill himself previously in 2002. His funeral drew fans from across the world, clearly demonstrating the extent to which his work had touched them, and how they had taken him to their hearts. To this day, Leslie Cheung's films and music continue to be as popular as ever, and it is clear that he will always be remembered as one of the greatest ever Asian entertainers.
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