CASHFLOW no.38 - July 2002 - SPECIAL FEATURE

ANTHONY WONG: A STAR, AN ICON OR JUST A NICE GUY

Much of the curiosity over the up-coming collaboration of Anthony Wong and Leslie Cheung no doubt stems from the fact that they are two of the biggest gay icons 'made in Hong Kong'.

As the photographer and the stuff took care of the aftermath of this incident, Anthony and I marvelled over how Alexander McQueen has transformed himself from Fat Al to Chic Queen. We also took the chance to discuss his producing Leslie Cheung.

"No, no, no, you have it wrong. Both of us are producers on this project - an EP with 5 songs. We have one duet together, and Leslie and I each covered one of the each other's previous works and recorded them separately. Then we each wrote a new song for the other to record and we produced each other."

"It was really two people having some fun, a bit like having high tea in between our two respective massive workloads. There was no special concept, no propaganda, no special message. It is just that many people think that Leslie and I have so much in common and 'should' work together. It is true to some degree, for example, both of us have rather glamourous packaging when we perform on stage and neither of us is afraid to show our feminine sides, which everyone has."

"Ever our voices were quite similar when we first started recording, then we realized that we are totally different when it cames to our approaches and techniques as well as the ways we chose to express ourselves. As we got to know each other better, we could appreciate that we are in fact very different."

It is widely accepted that Hong Kong is known for creating gay icons for the Chinese population worldwide, and that a lot of them are pop stars. I doubt however that being a gay icon is a burden to Anthony in his musical journey. As I watch the careers of these successful individuals - everyone from Anita Mui, Sandy Lam and Faye Wong to the two gentlemen under discussion - I see none of them really navigates their career based on that iconic status. They each do their own thing with a clear understanding that "being an icon" is a status given to you, not something one can fabricate.

by Clarence Hui

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