Canto-pop veteran Prudence Liew on sex, jamming and her Coliseum comeback shows

With a new album (her first in five years), a Hong Kong Coliseum show in October (the first in nine years) and a second grandchild on the way, Canto-pop singer Prudence Liew Mei-kwan has every reason to be upbeat. “I’m not kidding you, I can’t wait to get on stage to perform,” says the 52-year-old who is in a buoyant mood despite having sprained her ankle earlier in the day, wearing heels to meet the press.

Liew is in the middle of a publicity blitz to promote Reincarnated Love, a covers album of (barring the hidden track) 10 English songs from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s including Jim Croce’s I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song, The Bells’ Stay Awhile and Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It’s the result, she says, of a recording project, that started two years ago, and went awry.

“I was just doing it the traditional way,” Liew says, explaining that all the songs were arranged for her, but “there was something not right about the whole thing ... I didn’t know if I liked them.” She adds that despite the “awesome” music arrangements, it was like doing karaoke versions: “I don’t want to do karaoke,” says Liew. “Doing it the traditional way, everything was calculated, I couldn’t move around much creatively. So I just trashed everything.”

The project was set aside and it was not until last October she realised what was missing – spontaneity. The singer recalls, as a little girl, she would “make music” without using any instrument but, instead, clap her hands or slam the door or “pick up whatever from the classroom” and jam – and that was the kind of freedom that she missed.

So she quickly put the word out and “I said whoever is available, come along, let’s start jamming”.

Among the session musicians who jumped on board were Ted Lo (keyboard) and Eugene Pao (guitar), drummer Jonathan Sim and bassist Max McKellar. She also roped in singer Gin Lee for a duet, doing a swing version of Mary MacGregor’s Torn Between Two Lovers.

Out of some 50 songs they jammed during those sessions, 10 made the final cut. “The essence of making good music is that everyone feels it, the soul in that music,” says Liew.