Wang Leehom

Few performers move as easily between Mandarin pop and film as Wang Leehom. Born in Rochester, New York, to a Taiwanese American family, he blends hip-hop and R&B with traditional Chinese music, and he works as a singer-songwriter, actor, producer and film director. Those roles rarely sit side by side, yet in his hands they feed one another, which is why his career reads as a single long project rather than a sequence of detours.

He released his debut, Love Rival, Beethoven, in December 1995, but it was Revolution in 1998, released on Sony, that brought him real attention and won two Golden Melody Awards. Since then he has released 25 albums that have sold more than 60 million copies. In 2012 he filled the Beijing National Stadium, the first solo pop concert held there, and he carried the torch at the Beijing and London Olympics. His film work includes Lust, Caution and Blackhat, and in 2018 CNN called him King of Chinese Pop.