Wang Fuling (1926–1989) was born in Shanghai into a family in the entertainment business and studied at Shanghai Guanghua University and the National Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He came to Hong Kong from Shanghai in 1952 and entered popular music, writing Mandarin songs for several record companies, including Jinxiao Duo Zhenzhong, Lian'er Tian Ru Tang and Wo de Yi Ke Xin recorded for Philips and Nanping Wanzhong released by EMI's Pathe label. In 1960 he joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) as a film composer and music arranger, working on pictures such as Love Without End (1961), Dream of the Red Chamber (1962), The Last Woman of Shang (1964), The Mermaid (1965), The Boat (1967), Susanna (1967), Golden Swallow (1968), Dead End (1969), The Singing Thief (1969) and Vengeance (1970). He won best music prizes at an Asian-Pacific film festival for Song of the Mountain and Blue and Black, and best music at the 6th Golden Horse Awards for the 1967 film. His film songs, among them Love Without End, Blue and Black and Asking the White Clouds, became widely sung, with Love Without End taking a special best theme song award at the 9th Asian Film Festival. After leaving Shaw Brothers in 1970 he scored Golden Harvest's The Big Boss (1971), and in 1979 joined EMI's Southeast Asian arm to produce Mandarin records, for which he wrote My Chinese Heart (1982) to lyrics by James Wong. He died in Hong Kong of a heart attack on 28 January 1989, and in 1998 the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH) gave him a posthumous music achievement award.
Wang carried the melodious idiom of Shanghai popular song into Shaw Brothers Mandarin cinema; film songs such as Love Without End, Blue and Black and Asking the White Clouds were widely sung in the 1960s, typifying how Mandarin pop and film reinforced each other. In his later years at EMI he produced Mandarin records, continuing that thread.
Achievements
- 1961 · Composed and arranged the music for Shaw Brothers' Love Without End, whose title song was sung by Gu Mei
- 1967 · Won best music at the 6th Golden Horse Awards for the 1967 film
- 1971 · Scored Golden Harvest's The Big Boss