Denise Ho Wan-see, also known as HOCC (born 10 May 1977), is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer and actor, as well as a pro-democracy and LGBT rights activist.
Video Denise Ho
Early life and education
Denise Ho was born 10 May 1977 in Hong Kong, to two parents who were both teachers. There, she began her primary school education, at the Diocesan Girls' Junior School.
At age 11, in 1988, she moved with her parents from Hong Kong to Montreal, Canada. Ho first attended Jean-de-la-Mennais College, an elementary and middle in La Prairie, on the Rive-Sud (the suburban South Shore of Montreal), then attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, a Catholic college preparatory secondary school and private college. There, she received a Quebec Diploma of College Studies in Arts and Communications.
She then began studies at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), in graphic design.
Maps Denise Ho
Career
1996-1999
At age 19, Ho enrolled in a song contest in Hong Kong--the 1996 New Talent Singing Awards--and to her stated surprise, won the competition (referring to it as an "accident").
This gave her the opportunity to meet Anita Mui, a diva of cantopop--"queen of Hong Kong movies and...renowned in the... world of Cantonese pop music"--of whom she had been a fan since childhood, and who would become her mentor following her win. This launched her career, and at this time she took on the stage name, "HoCC"; this gave her the opportunity to record an album, and gave her a recording contract with Capital Artists. In the intervening period between the contents win and her first album, Ho toured as a background vocalist with Mui, and hosted various television programs produced by TVB.
2000-2004
Ho released her first album "First" in 2001, in her fourth year of the contract with Capital Artists. Produced by Choy Yat Chi of Grasshopper (band), this EP, containing her first single "Thousands more of me" (??????)and "Home of Glory" (????),defined with success Ho's style as the rock pop independent female she is up till recent years. She earned the gold award of "Best new singer" of the year in CRHK and also in various awards ceremony. In October of the same year, Capital Artists announced bankruptcy, resulting in the end of Ho's first record label era.
After Capital Artists closed, Ho joined EMI in 2002. Although she was only with the company for a brief 2-year period, it was during this time that her musical talents flourished. She teamed up with Ying C Foo (???) for her first EMI label release, hocc². The song "Angel Blues" (???), composed by Ho herself, not only reached top spots on music charts, but according to Ho, it is also her "growing up" song.
Another single in the EP, "Rosemary" (????), written by Wyman Wong, created considerable controversies at the time, as it touched on the topic of lesbianism. This song also marked the beginning of Ho's series of songs containing gay themes. Following the success of "Rosemary" (????), Ho continued the story of the two lovers in "Goodbye... Rosemary" (??...????) in her first full-length album, free love.
The year 2002 proved to be a successful year for Ho. The two singles "Angel Blues" (???) and "Goodbye... Rosemary" (??...????) won multiple music awards in Hong Kong, including CASH Golden Sail Music Awards (CASH?????) - "Best Vocal Performance by a Female Artist" for the song "Angel Blues". In the same year, Ho won the renowned "Female Singer Bronze Award" in the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards (???????????).
In 2003, Ho did a "Music is Live" concert with Andy Hui, who is also an apprentice of Anita Mui. Their performance won praise from the critics, and Ho proved to the audience her abilities to perform live as a musician. Later that year, Ho released her second full-length album Dress Me Up!. She was the credited as the producer of the album, indicating that Ho has finally gained full control over her music. In September 2003, Ho's longtime mentor, Anita Mui announced she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Shortly after the announcement, Anita lost her battle against cervical cancer and died on 30 December 2003. Between 2003 and 2004, Ho took on the role of hosting TVB's weekly live music show, Jade Solid Gold. In 2004, she appeared in Sammi Cheng's 2004 "Sammi vs. Sammi" concert as a cross-dressing cigarette-smoking admirer of Sammi Cheng. Ho's critically acclaimed performance in the short musical segment not only brought attention to the role she played, but also further established herself as a tremendous live performer. In September 2004, Ho signed a contract with East Asia Music.
2005-2009
The album Glam, which pays tribute to the superstars of the 80's, was released in January 2005. It also marked the start of a close collaboration between Ho and the Green Mountain Orchestra band. She was named the Orbis Student Ambassador 2005, and visited Hainan in July. In September 2005, Ho performed in the musical Butterfly Lovers (??????) as the leading actress, producer and musical director. Her album of the same name gave her three Number 1 singles - "Becoming a Butterfly" (??), "Lawrence and Lewis" (??.??) and "Coffee in a Soda Bottle" (???????), which are all based on the story of the Butterfly Lovers, with possible homosexual themes. These singles helped her to receive the "Female Singer Silver Award" at the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards 2005 (???????????).
Ho held her first Hong Kong Coliseum concert "Live in Unity 2006" on 26-28 October 2006. The concert was a great success and was positively received by the public. She decided to stage a second concert, "Live in Unity 2007", on 19-20 January 2007 following the original concert's success. Her single, We Stand As One, named after the slogan for the "Live in Unity" concerts, was released on 11 January 2007. Recordings of the concert were later released in February 2007. She went on a worldwide tour, performing in Toronto, Canada and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The significant public attention and positive reception to her music helped her garner the "Female Singer Gold Award" at the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards 2006 (???????????). She sang the Chinese version of Ayumi Hamasaki's song "Secret", known as "Wounded City Secret" (????), for the 2006 movie Confession of Pain. She continued as the Orbis Student Ambassdor 2006 and visited Vietnam, and later started her own charitable fund. In 2008, a new album Ten Days in the Madhouse was released. She produced this album from the viewpoint of society's outcasts and to raise awareness of mental health issues. She encouraged people to understand and find out more about people with mental illnesses and those who formerly suffered from mental illnesses, and care about their needs and situations. Ho encouraged communication between them and the public, ultimately, to achieve social harmony. "Ten Days in the Madhouse" was Ho's most ambitious project yet with the release of a documentary by Hong Kong director Yan Yan Mak (Butterfly) and an exhibition for charity, Ho showed that a multimedia project by a musician can be about something more important than clothing tie-ins.
In 2009, she followed up her plan from the previous year and organised a free concert (a rarity in Hong Kong) called "Happiness is Free" in the outdoor courtyard in Diocesan Boys' School. She managed to book the place because her father was a teacher there. In June, she began shooting a new TVB sitcom titled O.L. Supreme with Liza Wang. In July, she released her new song "The Old Testament" (??) and announced that she would hold her "SUPERGOO" themed concerts would be held from 9-12 October that year. Following the concerts, Ho took on a role in the new stage comedy "Man and Woman, War and Peace" (???????????) directed by Edward Lam. The stage comedy was presented on 13-16 November at Kwai Tsing Theatre in Hong Kong.
2010-2015
In 2010, Ho appeared in the film Life Without Principle directed by Johnnie To.
In September 2010, her first Mandarin album Nameless Poem (??.?) was released in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and she held "Homecoming" concerts in Hong Kong in December 2010. In 2011, Ho received her first nomination for a Golden Melody Award, as Best Mandarin Female Singer, at the 22nd Annual ceremony for those awards.
In 2012, she was nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the movie Life Without Principle, which was won by Taiwan's Gwei Lun-mei at that 49th Annual ceremony. In 2013, Ho continued the tour of her play, Awakening, in Singapore and in many cities in China. She released her second Mandarin album, Coexistence, whose theme is embracing and supporting others despite differences. Ho received her second nomination for a Golden Melody Popular Music Award, as Best Mandarin Female Singer, at the 25th Annual ceremony in 2015.
2015-present
Activism
When asked about the origins of her "passion for freedom of expression," Ho replied to reporter Frédéric Lelièvre of La Presse that it was probably from her being an adolescent in Montreal at the time of the 1995 Quebec referendum.
LGBT issues
Ho proudly announced herself as "tongzhi" (Cantonese:tongzi), a Chinese slang term for gay, at age 35, the fourth annual Hong Kong Pride Parade on 10 November 2012.
Sara Gates of The Huffington Post reports the various Hong Kong media outlets had indicated that Ho was the first "mainstream female singer in Hong Kong to come out of the closet." Since then, Ho has been involved in the Big Love Alliance (????), a civil rights group striving equal rights for the LGBT community, and she became a columnist for Apple Daily in 2014 and was recognised for her activism for LGBT rights in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy activism
Ho supported the 2014 Hong Kong protests, and a protester herself. On the subject, she stated, "I saw the students rushing in, then the tear gas... There was no option but to stand up. [...] My favourite thing about Hong Kong is this moment in time - but it's also my least favorite. The most beautiful and the ugliest sides of Hong Kong are both happening right here. The Hong Kong spirit of helping each other out is something that was lost for a long time. But that's making a return. I don't like the greed, the selfishness, and the indifference some people feel towards what's happening in society."
On 5 June 2016, French cosmetics brand Lancôme cancelled a promotional concert by Denise Ho that was scheduled to be held on 19 June in Sheung Wan. This action was taken in response to a boycott campaign launched by the Communist Party-controlled Global Times, which denigrated her for supposedly supporting Hong Kong and Tibet independence.
Lancôme added, in a Facebook post, that Ho is not a spokesperson for the brand. The Tibet allegation appeared to have stemmed from Ho's May 2016 meeting with the Dalai Lama. The cancellation drew a heavy backlash in Hong Kong. Ho says that citizens' wish for self-rule ought not to be considered a crime.
Shortly after the Lancôme incident, Ho announced a crowd-sponsorship campaign named "Togetherly Exclusive Sponsorship" for her Hong Kong Coliseum concert "Dear Friend,", (which was planned to be held in October of the same year), in response to being avoided by corporates. The campaign amazingly drew in near to 300 individual and business sponsors priced at $15k HKD each, which headlined newspapers and generated overall support within the general public. The 4 showings of the concert, a total of 50000 tickets, sold out within two hours.
In 2016 she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women
Discography
- 2001 - first. (EP)
- 2002 - hocc² (EP)
- 2002 - free {love}
- 2003 - Roundup (Compilation)
- 2003 - Music is Live 03 Andy Hui X Denise Ho (??? X ??? 2???????03) (Live Album)
- 2003 - Dress Me Up!
- 2004 - The Best of HOCC (Compilation)
- 2005 - Glamorous (????)
- 2005 - Butterfly Lovers (??????)
- 2006 - Our Time Has Come (EP)
- 2006 - HOCC - The Greatest Hits (?? ???) (Compilation)
- 2007 - We Stand As One (Single)
- 2007 - HOCC Live in Unity 2006 (HOCC Live in Unity 2006 ???) (Live Album)
- 2007 - What Really Matters
- 2008 - Goomusic Collection 2004-2008 (Compilation)
- 2008 - Ten Days in the Madhouse
- 2009 - Heroes
- 2009 - HOCC Supergoo Live 2009 (HOCC Supergoo Live 2009 ???) (Live Album)
- 2010 - Poem and Nonsense ???? (Single)
- 2010 - Unnamed.Poem ??.? (Debut Mandarin Album)
- 2011 - Green (Single)
- 2011 - Awakening
- 2012 - Awakening (Mandarin Version)
- 2012 - All is Fair ??? (Single with Bonus Track of English Version)
- 2013 - Coexistence ?? (Mandarin Album)
- 2013 - Recollections (Cover Album)
- 2014 - Memento Live 2013 Concert (Live Album)
- 2015 - ???????? REIMAGINE LIVE CD
- 2017 - Dear Friend, Hocc Live 2016 CD
Songs
The following are songs which have not appeared on any of Denise Ho's albums:
- 2003 - Fiery Fire (????) (Miriam Yeung / Edmond Leung / Ronald Cheng / Denise Ho)
- From Ronald Cheng's album - ??, ??? "????"? (Please Help!!! - 2 AVCD Version)
- 2005 - I Am The Present (????)
- From the Seoul Raiders Original Soundtrack
- 2009 - Shameless Love (???)
- Title Song from The Beauty of the Game
VCDs
- 2003 - Music is Live 03 Andy Hui X Denise Ho (??? X ??? 2???????03)
- 2005 - Good Morning! Manhattan (???! ???)
- 2005 - Butterfly Lovers - The Musical (?????? ???)
- 2007 - HOCC Live in Unity 2006 - We Stand As One ??? Live Karaoke
DVDs
- 2003 - Music is Live 03 Andy Hui X Denise Ho (??? X ??? 2???????03)
- 2005 - Butterfly Lovers - The Musical (?????? ???)
- 2007 - HOCC Live in Unity 2006 - We Stand As One ??? Live Karaoke
- 2007 - Small Matters
- 2008 - The Decameron (???)
- 2009 - "Happiness is Free" Live (?????? ???)
- 2009 - HOCC Supergoo Live 2009 Karaoke
- 2010 - HOCC Homecoming Live 2010
- 2012 - Awakening Documentary
- 2014 - Memento Live 2013 Concert
- 2015 - ???????? REIMAGINE LIVE DVD
- 2017 - "Dear Friend," HOCC 2016 LIVE DVD
Filmography
Film
- 1998 - Rumble Ages (????)
- 2000 - The Slayer of Demons (???) - Voice only: Sakuya (??: ????)
- 2003 - 1:99
- 2003 - Naked Ambition (??)
- 2003 - Anna in Kungfuland (?????)
- 2003 - Hidden Track (?????)
- 2006 - Superstition
- 2007 - The Simpsons Movie (???????) - Hong Kong Voice only: Bart Simpson
- 2008 - Kung Fu Panda (????) - Hong Kong Voice only: Tigress
- 2009 - Look for a Star (????)
- 2010 - 72 Tenants of Prosperity
- 2010 - Merry-Go-Round
- 2011 - Kung Fu Panda (????) - Hong Kong Voice only: Tigress
- 2011 - Life Without Principle (???)
- 2012 - I Love Hong Kong 2012 (2012??HK ????)
- 2013 - Young and Dangerous: Reloaded
TV series
- 1999 - Anti-Crime Squad (????) as ???
- 2004 - Shanghai Legend (????????)as ??
- 2010 - O.L. Supreme (?????) as Music Miu ???
Stage
- 2001 - This Summer This Moment (??????? - ???1/2???)
- 2003 - A Lover's Discourse (???? - ???????)
- 2003 - Camp David (??????? - ???)
- 2003 - Music is Live 03 Andy Hui X Denise Ho (??? X ??? 2???????03)
- 2004 - Good Morning! Manhattan (??????? - ???! ???)
- 2005 - Butterfly Lovers - The Musical (?????? ???)
- 2005 - Chivas 903 Wyman Wong A Man & A Pen Concert (???903???GIG ??? A Man & A Pen ???)
- 2006 - One Living Planet Music United Live 06 (????????06)
- 2006 - Moto 903 Music Playground - Anthony Wong X Denise Ho X Pixeltoy (Moto 903 ??????? ??? - ??? x ??? x Pixeltoy)
- 2006 - (????????)
- 2006 - HOCC Neway Clour Music Live 2006 (NCM!ive ?HOCC?????)
- 2006 - Music is Live Golden Ten (?????????)
- 2006 - Summer Sault charity variety show 06
- 2006 - HOCC Live in Unity 2006 (??????????)
- 2006 - World Children's Day Concert (????????2006???)
- 2006 - Our Golden Hits Concert (??????????)
- 2007 - HOCC Live in Unity 2007 (??????????)
- 2007 - Metro Media HOCC & special guests (??????????)
- 2007 - HOCC showcase 07 MUSIC MATTERS (25-26 Aug 7)
- 2009 - SUPERGOO 2009. SAVE THE WORLD, SAVE THE DATE. (???2009SUPERGOO??????RETURNS. SAVE THE WORLD, SAVE THE DATE.)
- 2009 - Man and Woman, War and Peace (???????????)
- 2010 - Riverside (Taipei 2010/7/21) ????????(??)
- 2010 - Music is Live Anthony Wong x Denise Ho x Jan Lamb (???x???x??? 903?????)
- 2011 to 2013 - Jia Baoyu/Awakening (???)
- 2013 - HOCC Coexistence Concerts 2013 (????????2013)
- 2013 - MEMENTO Live 2013
- 2014 - Shirley Kwan & HOCC Concert ???????H K??? (Reno, NV, USA)
- 2015 - ????? ??? REIMAGINE LIVE
- 2015 - ????? Live@Hidden Agenda
- 2015 - ????? Macpherson Woods 2015
- 2016 - Dear Friend, HOCC Live 2016
- 2017 - "Dear Self, Dear World" UK Tour 2017 -London, Glasgow and Manchester
Stage (as a guest)
- 2000 - Music is Live Eason & Friends (Eason & Friends?????)
- 2001 - Elva Hsiao Concert (???????????)
- 2002 - Metro Media Eason & Girlfriends Mini Concert (????Eason & Girlfriends???)
- 2004 - 903 Edison's Live (903????????????)
- 2004 - Sammi vs Sammi 2004 Concert (Sammi VS Sammi 2004 ???)
- 2005 - Wilfred Lau 903 Hit 4 on Fire 0813 Concert (??? ???903???????)
- 2005 - Reflection of Joey's Live 2005 (??????2005)
- 2007 - Show Mi Sammi Concert 2007 ??Show Mi ???2007???)
- 2007 - Lokamochi Mamiba (???????)
- 2008 - The 27th Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation Ceremony (????????????????)
- 2009 - Sammi Love Mi World Tour Hong Kong (Love Mi ?????????? ???)
- 2012 - Concert YY (??????)
- 2013 - Jam Hsiao Wish Love Live (?????? 20130831)
Commercials
- Ericsson R310sc (with Andy Lau): View
- Neutrogena: View (2002)
- Budweiser (2004)
- Pepsi
- Sony Walkman A Series (2006)
- Motorola Ming A1200 (2006)
- McDonald's Dip Dip McNuggets view (2009)
- Levi's Curve ID view (2010)
- Ultimate Ears (2010)
- Levi's Roadwear [1] (2010)
- Millie's Autumn/Winter Collection view (2012)
- Diesel's The Power of D view (2013)
- Listerine's Bold campaign view (2016)
See also
- Anita Mui
- Cantopop
- LGBT culture in Hong Kong
References
External links
- Denise Ho's Official Blog
- Denise Ho's Former Official Blog
- Denise Ho's Official Twitter
- Denise Ho on IMDb
- Goomusic official website
- SUPERGOO LIVE VIDEO CHANNEL
Source of article : Wikipedia
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