Jonathan Lee (musician)

Jonathan Lee (musician)
Jonathan Lee Chung-shan (born 19 July 1958) is a Taiwanese musician and producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential and respected figures in the world of Mandopop music.
Life and career
Lee started in the music industry in the 1970s, during Taiwan's popular "campus folk song" era. He was a member of the "Wood Guitar" band. In 1983, Lee made his debut as a music producer for the album Light Rain Just Comes in Time by Zheng Yi, which became an instant hit. The self-titled single "Light Rain Just Comes in Time" ranked No. 1 for 13 consecutive weeks on Taiwan's main music chart; while the first single written, composed, and sang by Lee entitled "End", a duet in the album, also became a huge hit.
In 1984, Lee joined Rock Records, and has been credited with catapulting Rock Records into one of the foremost independent music labels in Asia. He helped pave the way for the golden era of Chinese pop music in the 1990s and 2000s, during which he wrote and produced many classic hits popular until today, setting impressive sales records, plus winning numerous accolades, such as Sarah Chen's "Dream to Awakening", Jackie Chan's "The Sincere Hero", Wakin Chau's "You Make Me Happy and Sad", Jeff Chang's "Love is Like Tidal Wave", Sandy Lam's "It Doesn't Matter Who I Am", Winnie Hsin's "Understanding", Karen Mok's "Overcast", and many more, which have all been hugely popular. As such, Lee has been hailed as the "million-dollar" producer, and deemed as the Godfather of Mandopop music, reaching and touching hundreds of millions of Chinese-speaking music fans around the world. He has been and remains one of the most successful and sought-after record producers in Chinese pop music scene. Given his iconic status in the Chinese music world, Lee's songs have influenced artists across Asia.
More than music production, Lee has also been involved in movie theme songs and OST projects, and having collaborated with many famous directors, including Hou Hsiao-hsien, Sylvia Chang, Jackie Chan, Chen Kaige, plus others.
In 2002, he founded his own guitar brand "Lee Guitars", and has been personally involved in the design and production of hand-made guitars ever since.
In 2009, Lee formed "Superband" with three other popular artists from Rock Records: Wakin Chau, Luo Dayou and Chang Chen-yue.
Lee also occasionally produces solo albums for himself and have recorded duets with many artists. His own songs "Jonathan's Song" in 2011 and "Hills" in 2013, both won "Song of the Year" and "Best Lyricist" awards at the 22nd and 25th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards respectively.
From 2013 to 2015, Lee embarked on his Even If Youth Is Never Lasting world tour, which kicked off in Taiwan, then toured on to China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., and U.K., etc., covering dozens of cities around the world, including two consecutive performances at Lincoln Center in New York, a first for a Chinese-speaking musician. He also held a concert at the famed Royal Albert Hall in London, also a first for a musician from Taiwan.
Lee also served as Chief A&R Consultant for Sony Music in Greater China from 2013 to 2016. In addition, Lee was also a driving force in introducing the renowned Blue Note Jazz Club to Beijing, China. In September 2016, Lee was joined by famous American jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea, for the grand opening of Blue Note in Beijing. His hope is to introduce the great American jazz music and culture, plus the many great jazz musicians, to the Chinese-speaking world.
In September 2017, it was announced that the Tony-winning Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, will help develop "Road to Heaven: The Jonathan Lee Musical", an original Chinese musical — in both Mandarin and English, based on music written by Lee. Adapted from the novel by Li Xiuwen, the original musical will feature music by Lee with English lyrics by Tony Award winner Richard Maltby Jr. (Ain't Misbehavin', Miss Saigon, Fosse) and a book by John Dempsey (The Pirate Queen, The Witches of Eastwick). The musical will then be translated back into Chinese for a world premiere in Shanghai in 2018. English-language productions are also planned for New York and other cities throughout the U.S. following the Chinese premiere.
Discography
Key productions
Discography
Film theme songs/score productions
1983 Growing Up
1983 The Boys from Fengkuei
1984 Ah Fei
1987 Eastern Condors
1987 Listen to Me
1991 Sisters of the World Unite – nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards "Best Original Film Score”
1992 Police Story 3: Super Cop
1992 Three Summers
1993 Farewell My Concubine
1993 The East Is Red
2014 Dream Flight
Television theme songs productions
1991 Farewell (TV drama) – theme song / TTV (Taiwan Television Enterprise)
1991 Eternal Love Like Ocean (碧海情天) (TV drama) theme and ending credit songs – "Ordinary Man" (凡人歌) and "Eternal Love Like Ocean"/TTV
1992 The Last Emperor (TV drama) theme song – "Infatuation"/TTV
1993 Young Heroes (TV drama) theme song – "Happy Like Gods"/TTV
1993 Happy Building (TV drama) theme and ending credit songs/CTS (Chinese Television System)
1994 Chivalry Under the Blue Sky (TV drama) ending credit song/TTV
1996 The New Longmen Roadhouse (TV drama) ending credit song/TTV
Songs for advertisements/commercials
1986 Little Cook Instant Noodles – Beef Flavor
1987 Laurel Frozen Dumpling
1989 Sprite and Coca-Cola
1990 PECOS Soy Milk
1991 FUJI COLOR Fuji Films
1992 Yamaha Corporate Song
1992 China Airlines
1992 Paolyta-B (energy drink)
1993 HeySong Sarsaparilla Drink
1993 BMW
1993 Maxwell House Coffee
1999 Suntory Whisky
2016 Apple China – Send you a Spring Festival Song
Filmography
Film
1983 Growing Up
1983 The Boys from Fengkuei
1984 Ah Fei
1985 My Favorite Season
1986 The Lock of Hearts
1987 Listen to Me
1988 Friendly Shock (Yaya)
Television
1985 What/TTV
1990 Sunday Fever – Apocalypse (variety show)/TTV
Concerts
2006–2009 Sense and Sensibility World Tour (11 Shows)
2009–2010 Superband World Tour (58 Shows)
Radio programs
"Talking Past Each Other" – Host / Taiwan PBS (Police Broadcasting Service) – nominated for Taiwan's Golden Bell Awards for "Popular Music Radio Program" and "Best Radio DJ”
"Appointment After Dusk" – Host / PBS
"Musician" – Host / i like radio (Broadcasting Corporation of China) – won Golden Bell Awards Best Radio DJ Award
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Lyrics of songs composed by Lee
1958 births
Living people
20th-century Taiwanese male singers
21st-century Taiwanese male singers
Musicians from Taipei
Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriters
Taiwanese record producers
Superband (band) members