Sam Hui was born in Guangzhou on 6 September 1948 to a family from Panyu, Guangdong, and moved to Hong Kong in 1950. In 1966 he formed the Lotus, a band singing Western pop, as its lead singer; he hosted a pop-music programme for TVB in 1967 and graduated in psychology from the University of Hong Kong in the early 1970s. In 1971 he co-hosted the comedy show The Hui Brothers Show with his elder brother Michael, and the pair quickly became household names; on 14 April 1972, on that programme, he first performed in public a Cantonese song, then shown as Such Is the Way, which he composed to lyrics by Michael and which was later retitled and included on the 1974 album Games Gamblers Play. Signed by Golden Harvest in 1972, he took leading roles in Back Alley Princess (1973) and Chinatown Capers (1974). In 1974, when Michael moved to Golden Harvest and wrote, directed and starred in Games Gamblers Play, Sam co-starred and wrote, composed and sang its title song and the number Double Star Love Song; the title song was a hit before the film opened, and the film broke the Hong Kong box-office record with more than HK$6 million. There followed a run of Hui Brothers comedies, including The Last Message (1975), The Private Eyes (1976), The Contract (1978) and Security Unlimited (1981), most of them the year's top-grossing film; The Private Eyes alone took about HK$8.5 million, again a record, and his songs again became the biggest hits. He joined Cinema City in 1981 and starred in Aces Go Places (1982), another box-office record, along with its sequels in 1983 and 1984. He fell ill while shooting The Legend of Wisely (1987) in Nepal and cut back on work, later appearing in Swordsman (1990) and The New Private Eyes (1990); after All's Well, Ends Well Too in 1993 he stepped back from films, returning to star in Winner Takes All (2000). In 1985 he received the Golden Needle Award at the 8th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, the first Hong Kong singer so honoured, and he is known as the 'God of Song'.
Sam Hui brought Cantonese pop, long dismissed as lowbrow, into the mainstream with lyrics drawn from everyday working life, earning him the title 'God of Song'. His theme songs for the Hui Brothers comedies such as Games Gamblers Play and The Private Eyes both powered record-breaking box office and gave Hong Kong its own popular musical voice.
Achievements
- 1974 · Composed, wrote and sang the title song of Games Gamblers Play, which broke the Hong Kong box-office record with over HK$6 million.
- 1976 · Starred in and sang the title song of The Private Eyes, the year's highest-grossing Hong Kong film.
- 1985 · Received the Golden Needle Award at the 8th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, the first Hong Kong singer so honoured.