---

HONG KONG  March 04, 2006   Denise Ho -- Woman of Mystery

TALKIES Magazine Hong Kong – March 2006

Credits to missxmoody @ denisehocc.com (pics and article)

SWING OUT SISTER! It’s all go and all change for Denise Ho. The singer has moved from raw rock to glam rock and won over the mainstream audience, but remains refreshingly honest and open about her life – except, that is, for the gender of the person whom she might fall in love with. 

Last year really rocked for Denise Ho. The singer garnered a slew of awards, including Best Female Singer and Best Singer-Songwriter from Metro Hit Radio, the Excellence performance Gold Award from TVB and Best Improvement Award from RTHK Radio. She conceived and starred in a sell-out stage musical, Leung Juk, and presented a new image to fans with Glam album, which paid tribute to her mentor, Anita Mui, and the Cantopop superstars of the ‘80s.

None of the attention has gone to her head, though. Denise Ho’s higher profile and the more polished, flashy public person of the almost two years, as she remains natural, down-to-earth and un-demanding – she is the easiest person to interview and photograph (smiling and laughing on demand), and must be the easiest among her peers to manage (she is part of the growing star stable at Peter Lam’s Rich & Famous artiste management company). “I’m quite simple in what I want and aim for in life,” she says. “Money is not a big issue for me.” She grins. “I almost never go shopping. I just want to e happy in what I do.”

One thing she is coy about is her sexual orientation. The local press labels Ho as androgynous and has occasionally linked to other female singers, but this is the way she likes it, so to speak. As an artist, she deliberately wants to maintain an air of mystery. “They [reporters] are never certain if I have a boyfriend or girlfriend as I always use the word ‘lover’, “says the star, clearly amused. “It’s a mischievous thing for me. If people are curious it‘s better for me so I’ll keep [my sexuality] a secret; it’s more fun that way.”

She then becomes serious: “I don’t consider having an androgynous image a bad thing. That’s how I think people are – there’s a masculine and feminine side in everyone, no matter their gender. We’re in the 21st century – we shouldn’t be bothered by rumors about one’s sexual orientation. Besides, that kind of talk is part of the package of being a singer [in the public eye].” Eyes twinkling again, Ho adds grist to the mill: “In fact the question of whether I like girls or boys isn’t one I can answer because I might meet a guy now but later see a girl I like…”

Ho, tallish, slim, and today at least, tousle haired, attributes her grounded nature to her upbringing in Canada. Born in Hong Kong, she immigrated to Montreal with her family at the age of 11. (She apologizes for occasionally be tongue-tied in a an interview conducted in English, a langue in which she is fluent if a little rusty; French is now her first foreign language and since her return to Hong Kong Cantonese has been her major medium of communication.) Her parent, who had a real-estate business, apparently found the language of their adopted country more of a barrier than young Denise and her brother (who is now working a musician in Hong Kong). Canada, she believes, also instilled simple values and virtues. “I may appear glam, but off stage I’m quite down-to-earth because of the environment I grew up in. Canada is not very materialistic – not compared to Hong Kong, where even primary schoolchildren, conditioned by their parents, start to compare the brand of their schoolbags. I think I’m very lucky to have been raised in a world where these things aren’t important.” 

At 19, Ho returned to her home city to compete in the 1996 TVB and Capital Artists New Talent Singing Contest. Although she had enjoyed dancing and singing and appeared in a school production of Hair, her prime motivation for entering the contest was to meet her idol, Anita Mui (one of the judges that year). This wish came true beyond the star-struck youngster’s wildest dreams. Ho won the contest and a recording contract, and was invited to Mui’s home, beginning a friendship and music mentorship that was cut short by the latter’s death from cancer at the end of 2003.

Ho, whose career was slow to kick-start, became Mui’s only female protégé. The superstar no doubt recognized a kindred musical sprit in the aspiring singer, whose image in the early 2000s was that of a raw, casual rocker with a loud independent streak. “It was an image inborn, not designed [by the record company],” states Ho, firmly. “Everyone knew my character.”

With the release of Glam in January last year, Ho entered a new phase in her career. Her image is now glam rock, which isn’t to much of s stretch considering her favorite acts growing up where Mui and Queen. Fans weaned on Ho the alternative rocker, and the musical pubic at large, had to be convinced though. The singer believes most people, including herself, are now comfortable with her direction. “People think it was the [record] company [East Asia Music] that asked me to change, but that’s not the case,” she says. “I’m quite a stubborn person, with my own way of thinking and set of principles I won’t do something unless I believe in it.”

She attributes the shift in image to her growth as a person and performer over the last couples of years. “I like to move forward,” she notes. “Doing the same thing over and over again, even in the same year – I get bored. Also Hong Kong people get bored very easily, so you have to move faster then them to remain popular.” As for her particular group of diehard fans, she acknowledges: “They were doubtful at first, but then they started to understand what I wanted to – I don’t want to say they are more intelligent than fans of other singers, but they are definitely smart people with sense.” She is characterized in the Chinese press as ‘the alternative singer in the mainstream’. “The music industry is like a circle – I have one foot inside [the mainstream] and one foot outside trying to expand the circle,” she concurs.

Mui’s death also factored into Ho’s new direction. “Of course her leaving was a difficult time, but I tried to change that emotion into something that would push me to move on and get to a higher level. It really made me grow up – she’s like the icon that represented my adolescence.” Like everyone in Mui’s inner circle, Ho was touched by the ailing star’s courage in the staging farewell concert just weeks before her death. “Even though you could see how painful it was [for her to perform], she need ed to do it, to finish what she’d promised, to say goodbye.”

After her highs of last year, Ho vows to continue the good work and build on it. She says, wisely: “The importance of receiving awards is not the awards themselves – which are all part of the game – but the recognition that singer Denise Ho has done something. Once you have that recognition, it’s important to accomplish more.” Although it will be hard to surpass the success of Leung Juk, fans will be treated to a new Cantonese EP in April or May, and in October the singer’s first concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. The latter is meaningful to Ho, who remembers the likes of Leslie Cheung and Mui packing the venues in the ‘90s. “To me, if you can fill the Coliseum it proves you’ve reached a certain level [in your career], you’ve succeeded,” she says excitedly.

She is also giving acting another chance. After appearing in three films released in 2003 – Dante Lam’s Naked Ambition, Aubrey Lam’s Hidden Track, and Raymond Yip’s Anna in Kungfu-land – all of which she would rather forget, she will spend a few weeks this spring in Beijing shooting an independent short film. Like the idea to stage a full-scale musical, the film is one of Ho’s pet, and financially risky, projects that will have her management company tearing its hair out. “It always happens to me, I start something and then it gets bigger and bigger in terms of production and budget,” she says, smiling. “Every time I say, ‘Oh, I have an idea’, it’s the beginning of a big problem for my boss!” Her musical was popular but not profitable as the production ran over budget, prohibiting them from extending the run or making a film version this year as, in an ideal world, Ho would have wished.

In the as-yet-untitled sort film, HO collaborates with independent filmmaker Mak Yan-yan, whom she met when shooting music videos to promote the musical. “I like to work with Hong Kong artists – film directors, fashion designers and the like – because I think there’s quite a lot of talent out there, but, like Yan-yan, these don’t have the connection or opportunities to do what they want. It’s good that a mainstream singer, which is me, can help independent artists.”

Singers, mainstream or otherwise, are increasingly seeking alternative ways to express themselves. “The Hong Kong music industry is really going downhill a lot because not so many people are buying albums,” she says, candidly. “I have to find different ways to say what I want to say.” Ho believes more funding and attention should be given to music videos as, through the media of television and karaoke, these reach a wider audience.

Although a busy year has been mapped out for this rising star, there will time for a private life – though, to preserve the air of mystery, she doesn’t provide many details. She does admit to liking to cook for friends. Family is important to her. Ho’s parents are semi-retired and have returned to Hong Kong. “Their job now is to be my fans!” she laughs.

As Ho puts it, despite the fame and glamour that envelop the artists in this business “I’m happy to say I’ve kept this simple, down-to-earth side of my character.” Alongside the albums, musicals, the concerts and the mystery, it’s one of her biggest achievements.