Going places

By S.S. YOGA - THE STAR

There’s no looking back for Victor Wong as he moves into new territory.

They were the trail-blazers who went to Taiwan, kicked opened the door and made the Taiwanese music industry sit up and take notice of Malaysian Chinese musicians.

Thanks to the breakthrough made by musical duo Michael and Victor (otherwise known as Guang Liang Ping Guan to their Malaysian fans), Malaysian artistes such as Fish Leong, Penny Tai and Nicholas Teo are now enjoying success overseas.

However, eight years after they went their separate ways, there remains an aura of mystery behind the break-up.

So it was that when I got the chance to interview Victor Wong Ping Guan recently, I asked him why he and Michael Wong Guang Liang (no relation), broke up after five years as a duo, when they were at the top of their game.

“That is a very common question, and I’ve answered it many times before,” said the soft-spoken 36-year-old who was in town to promote his new English album, Need U Most.

“There was nothing really fishy about it actually. It was a natural progression of things – from the very beginning we had already decided that we would go solo eventually. In fact, we were already progressing down that path – we only sang two songs as a duo in our last album Xiang Jian Ni (Want To See You), the rest were all solo tracks.”

Victor said they signed their first contract with Rock Records as solo artistes, not as a duo. However, because they’d sung together before on a self-produced demo album, the label decided to put them together.

Their debut album, Zhang Xing (Palm), turned out to be a huge success, and they decided to continue as a duo. Despite the successes of Malaysian singers such as Eric Moo and Mindy Quah in past years, Michael and Victor are the ones credited with kick-starting the current influx of Malaysians into the Taiwanese music industry with the success of their debut album in Taiwan – Wu Yin Liang Pin x 2 – which went platinum.

As a duo, Victor and Michael won two Chinese AIM (Anugerah Industri Muzik) awards for Best Group and Best Album in Malaysia, and a whopping 15 awards in total at the 1996 and 1998 PWH (Persatuan Wartawan Hiburan) awards, arguably Malaysia’s biggest Chinese music awards.

Unfortunately, Victor and Michael had different views of their music, and after five successful years together, they decided to part ways.

“Five years together was a very long time for us, especially since we never expected to last so long as a duo in the first place. We both had our own perceptions and preferences on how to make music, and when you are in a duo or group, you are limited by other people’s needs. So in the end, we decided it was best to go separate ways,” said Victor.

English album
While Michael has since switched labels (he joined Seed Music in 2005), Victor is still going strong with Rock Records, and has since released eight solo albums, including his recent debut English album, Need U Most, which according to him is the culmination of his dream to release an English album.

“I’ve been exposed to English songs ever since I was a child, and always fancied doing an English album. So when the record company gave me the chance to do it, I grabbed it! My mother loves the album because many of the songs hold memories for her,” said Victor who dedicated the album to his mother. The album consists of cover versions of songs from different eras ranging from the 1950s to the 1980s, to recent numbers like Way Back Into Love (from the motion picture Music & Lyrics). The songs were chosen based on Victor’s personal favourites, and include classics like Every Breathe You Take, Pretty Woman, Top of The World, and so on. Having sung in Mandarin all these years, switching to English took more effort.

“I had no problem with the pronunciation, but I had to change the way I sing because the tone of Chinese songs is different from English ones,” he said. “We recorded the album in Los Angeles, and while there I did some vocal training so that I can have a different vocal delivery for the English songs.”

That was not the only obstacle Victor had to overcome. The musical arrangements are also different. The Chinese albums offer new compositions and songs, while the English songs have familiar and classic oldies.

“The main focus is still my Chinese audience. I want to let them know that I can sing English songs too. The response so far has been pretty good, and some are asking me when the next volume will be released!”

Challenges ahead

Victor has also branched into acting recently, playing the lead role in his first-ever feature film, Zhu Ting Ai Ni (Determined to Love you), a drama which is produced in China.

“Acting is something very new and interesting to me; it’s similar to singing in that I need to express myself a lot, but instead of just using my voice, I have to use my whole body,” he said. “I felt a bit of pressure because we did the movie in China, and the rest of the cast are trained actors and actresses from China.”

Despite the challenges of juggling a singing career and acting, Victor reckons that versatility is essential for an artiste to survive these days.
The Chinese industry is getting very tough, especially for recording artistes. It’s almost impossible to survive through recording albums alone, unless you’re at the very top. So these days we have to perform in shows, hold concerts, act, and so on.”Victor has never thought of getting back together with Michael, though it may be a hugely popular move.

“I think we are past that. The best time would have been during our 10th anniversary in 2005. Now it will be much more difficult because we’ve developed different styles, and different perception of things. Of course, I’ve had people tell me that our songs as a duo were better, but I think we need to move forward and not look back,” he said with an air of finality.

Well, a pipe dream it may be for now, but with the recent glut of bands reuniting like The Police and Led Zeppelin, anything is possible these days, right? So here’s hoping that we may yet see a reunion of Michael and Victor in the future.

Victor Wong’s debut English album Need U Most is now out in stores.