Roman Tam

Roman Tam
Roman Tam
Born	Tam Pak-sin (譚百先); 12 February 1945; Baise, Guangxi, China
Died	18 October 2002 (aged 57); Queen Mary Hospital, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1960s–2002
Awards	RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards; 1991 RTHK Golden Needle Award
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	羅文
Simplified Chinese	罗文
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Luó Wén
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	Lo4 Man4
	Musical career
Also known as	Law Kee (羅記); Saint of Singing (歌聖)
Genres	Cantopop; Hong Kong English pop;
Instrument	Vocals
Labels	EMI; BMG; EEG;

Roman Tam Pak-sin (Chinese: 譚百先; pinyin: Tán Bǎixiān; 12 February 1945 – 18 October 2002), known professionally by his stage name Law Man (Chinese: 羅文; pinyin: Luó Wén), was a Hong Kong singer. He is regarded as the "Grand Godfather of Cantopop".^[1]

Career

Born in Baise, Guangxi, China, with family roots in Guiping, Guangxi. He moved to Guangzhou (Canton) in 1947 at the age of two. He later emigrated to Hong Kong in 1962 at the age of 17 because his mother fell ill and was only able to get better medical treatment in Hong Kong.^[2] He was poor and was only able to sleep with a sleeping bag and a radio on the floor of a banking building. His musical interests started from listening to the radio. After forming a short-lived band known as Roman and the Four Steps to emulate The Beatles and winning a talent contest in Japan,^[3]^[4] he became a contract singer under studios term at TVB. He briefly switched to Asia Television in the early 1990s. His stage name was actually a transliteration of his English name, Roman.

During the 1990s, he accepted many budding singers as his students.^{[citation needed]} Some of whom that became famous included Shirley Kwan, Joey Yung and Ekin Cheng. He had sung many well-known solos and duets for various TV series including Below the Lion Rock, and the famous 1983 TVB TV series The Legend of the Condor Heroes main theme duet with Jenny Tseng.^[5]

Tam was also known for bending and breaking gender norms, with a "flamboyant" on-stage persona. He was the first Hong Kong pop star to perform in drag and was featured in a magazine while posing in the nude. Although the latter was controversial at the time, Tam "'got away with his on-stage flamboyance because of his off-stage discretion' and was accepted 'in mainstream Chinese culture at a time when homosexuality was outlawed'".^[6] He never married and maintained a high degree of privacy in his personal life.^[4]

Tam officially retired in 1996, but continued to perform occasionally with other artists.^[4]

On 19 October 2002, Tam died in Hong Kong at Queen Mary Hospital from liver cancer at the age of 57. Then-Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho expressed his condolences.^[7]^[8]

References

^ HKVPradio, "Roman Tam: The Grand Godfather of Cantopop". Archived from the original on 18 April 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2011., Retrieved 7 April 2007. Article archived in 2008. Excerpted from the original article in Rhythm magazine by Lucia Chan, 8 June 2004.
^ (in Chinese)"你记得吗？他来自广州..." Southern Metropolis Daily. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
^ Allen Chun; Ned Rossiter; Brian Shoesmith, eds. (2004). Refashioning Pop Music in Asia: Cosmopolitan Flows, Political Tempos, and Aesthetic Industries. Routeledge. ISBN 9781135791506.
^ ^a ^b ^c "How 'Godfather of Canto-pop' Roman Tam lives on in hearts". South China Morning Post. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "5 songs that defined Canto-pop legend Roman Tam's career". South China Morning Post. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ Hutton, Mercedes (15 October 2020). "Godfather of Canto-pop Roman Tam: 'an imperfect man' who sought perfection". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Canto-pop legend Roman Tam dies of cancer". South China Morning Post. 19 October 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Hong Kong pop icon Tam dies". 19 October 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2022 – via news.bbc.co.uk.