Fei Xiang (right) and Heather Laws (left)
Courtesy of Forward Music
People haven’t seen Fei Xiang (費翔) since his last record, Wild Flower (野花), in 2001 and 2002, when he published his first book, Twelve Gold Keys For Fei Xiang (給費翔的12把金鑰匙). Now, the famous singer returns to Taiwan, his home before his 1987 relocation to China, again to promote his new record, Broadway Album, and his concert, Summon Wind and Rain (呼風喚雨), which will take place at the Taipei International Center on Jan 21 and 22.
It’s the first time for Fei Xiang to host his own concert that audience has to pay. For this concert, to be presented by Kuang Hong Arts (寬宏藝術), Fei gets ready to reminisce with us his classic hits from the past two decades and some popular Broadway music, some of which he has taken parts sometime within the last decade. The exact repertories are a secret, however. According to Ms. Yang of public relations at Kuang Hong Arts, “Fei Xiang wants to surprise the audience, so I can’t talk too much about the details of concert. We even don’t know his next plan of tour.”
“In this past year, Fei had been busy touring China, with a series of solo concerts in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu, and Wuhan.”
For his Taipei concert, Fei has invited Tony Award winner Rofer Kirk (The King and I) as costume design for him and his twelve dancers. According to Yang, this is not the first partnership between Fei and Kirk.
Other big names in the production team include Guo Zi (郭子), Zhong Xing-min (鐘興民), and Zhang Sheng-feng (張勝豐), in an attempt “to adjust different audience and music market,” said Yang.
In addition, there will be a special appearance by Broadway actress Heather Laws, singing a tune from “The Phantom of the Opera” and another from “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.” Heather Laws was last seen in musical, “Boy from OZ,” with Hugh Jackman.
Fei hopes that the audience will enjoy the best sounds and light effects from the stage and appreciate his 23-year singing career. After all, as a star, the process of Fei Xiang’s performing career has been varied and graceful. He made his first appearance in 1981 in Cheng Ai-jia (張艾嘉)’s teleplay, “Eleven Women (十一個女人)”. Fei began his music career a year later. His first albums included Linger (流連) and Asking Sunset (問斜陽). Since then, he has also appeared in the films with entertainers of Hong Kong, like Liang Jia-ren (梁家仁), Zhong Chu-hong (鍾楚紅), and Taiwanese actor Lin Rui-yang (林瑞陽) from 1984 to 1985. Unexpectedly, the Taiwan-based singer transfers his career to China in 1987. Due to the political reason, he doesn’t come back to Taiwan until 2000.
In 1987, Fei Xiang sang the two songs, “Fire of Winter (冬天裡的一把火)” and “Clouds of Hometown (故鄉的雲),” in the Spring Festival Show (春節聯歡晚會). His Chinese-American facial features quickly won numbers of fans. Fei gave sisty-three solo concerts in twelve Chinese cities in 1989. When he picked up Taiwanese singers’ successful songs and Western oldies as a producer, the album sold twenty million copies. The record is still unbroken.
Once again, he felt his career was at a standstill; he changed his name back to his born-name Kris Philips in 1991 and auditioned for Broadway, eventually landing a role in “Miss Saigon”, and later, cooperating with Andrew Lloyd Webber, in the international tour “Cats”.
Tao Jing-ying (陶晶瑩), hostess of entertain news programs tried to find her idol in “Super Sunday (超級星期天)” in 2000. The program made the huge impression after Fei showed up. People felt surprised about his voice, gentle figure, and the looking, these things don’t change even the day past. Fei Xiang came back to Taiwan, signed the contract with “Forward Music (風華唱片)”, and made two albums for Taiwanese audience.
Due to Fei’s hard working in his career, Yang is confident about this upcoming concert. “Fei Xiang has many fans that across age,” she said. “Some people was his loyal fans when he made performance in the early 1980s; He won some young fans’ heart after his return; and the newest record has attracted some audience, too.” Yang continued, “Fei sings many kinds of songs, no matter what their styles are. I believe that foreigners would also like his music because of his various experiments in singing.”
“Fei Xiang Concert” will perform on Jan 21and 22 at 7:30 pm at Taipei International Convention Center, located at 1, Sec 5, Hsinyi Rd, Taipei (台北市信義路五段一號). Tickets cost NT$1200-3600. Please go to the ERAticket website at www.ticket.com.tw or Kuang Hong Arts website at www.kham.com.tw, and call 07-7403466 for more information.
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