MUSICIANS from Hong Kong

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Chinese Musicians of all time. This list of famous Chinese Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Leslie Cheung (1956 - 2003)

With an HPI of 60.50, Leslie Cheung is the most famous Chinese Musician.  His biography has been translated into 41 different languages on wikipedia.

Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003), born Cheung Fat-chung, was a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential cultural icons in the Chinese world, Cheung was known for his debonair demeanor, flamboyant screen characters, and avant-garde, androgynous stage presence. Throughout his 26-year career, he released over 40 music albums and acted in 56 films. Born in Kowloon, British Hong Kong, Cheung studied in England since the age of 12 until he returned home in 1976. He garnered attention in 1977 when entering Rediffusion Television (RTV)'s Asian Singing Contest and achieved popularity in 1984 with a hit single "Monica." Cheung is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Cantopop for defining the music genre in the 1980s. He announced his "retirement" from music and emigrated to Canada in 1990, but returned to Hong Kong in 1994. His reemergence from the musical retirement in the late 1990s, particularly in his 1996 album Red, was marked by sonic experimentation and daring imagery. In addition to music, Cheung achieved pan-Asian fame with such films as A Better Tomorrow (1986) and A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). He won the Best Actor at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Days of Being Wild (1990), and became world-renowned for his performances in Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Happy Together (1997). On 1 April 2003, Cheung, suffering from clinical depression, died by suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Hong Kong. In 2010, he was voted third of CNN's most iconic musicians of all time, after Michael Jackson and The Beatles.

2. Herman Li (1976 - )

With an HPI of 42.35, Herman Li is the 2nd most famous Chinese Musician.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Herman Li (Chinese: 李康敏; born 3 October 1976) is a Hong Kong-born British musician who is one of two lead guitarists for the power metal band DragonForce. Li has played with the band based in England since it was formed in 1999 by Li along with Sam Totman, both of whom are also the remaining original members of the band. Before DragonForce he was in the black metal band Demoniac.

3. Coco Lee (1975 - 2023)

With an HPI of 39.61, Coco Lee is the 3rd most famous Chinese Musician.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Ferren "Coco" Lee (Chinese: 李玟; 17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer and songwriter. She was raised in Hong Kong and the United States. Lee began her career in Hong Kong before expanding to Taiwan and internationally. She released 18 studio albums, two live albums, and five compilation albums. Lee has been described as "enormously influential" and Asia's Mariah Carey. She was also noted for her Americanized dance routines. She voiced the lead character Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan, a 1998 animated Disney film, and sang its theme song, "Reflection". She was the first Chinese singer to break into the American market. Her album Just No Other Way, which was released in 1999, was the first English-language R&B album recorded by a Chinese singer. Her English single "Do You Want My Love" received international attention, appearing on the US Billboard Hot Dance Breakouts chart at No. 4 and entering the top 50 of the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart as well as the Australian Singles Chart. Lee performed the song "A Love Before Time" from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the 73rd Academy Awards, becoming the first, and so far only, Chinese to perform at the Academy Awards. She was also the first Chinese-American singer to sing at an NBA game, the first Asian to hold a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the first non-mainland Chinese singer to win the Chinese reality show I Am A Singer, and the first Chinese- brand ambassador for Chanel. She spent most of her life in Hong Kong and died there at the age of 48.