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HK Magazine

I was born here in 1976. I lived here until I was 14, then I went to high school and college in San Diego.
My dad was jamming in a band, playing in a bar at an old hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. He was doing lots of Beatles and Elvis Presley.
My mom’s side of the family is from San Diego. Her mom is from the Philippines, and her dad is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy from Texas.
Her dad was in the Air Force. He flew airplanes to Hong Kong, and helped build Kai Tak Airport. She came on trips to Hong Kong and met my dad while he was playing.
When she went back to San Diego for school, they became pen pals. Eventually they got together and got married.
Growing up, I always had my dad’s influence. I guess he gave me the bug.
I’m more of an independent artist, and not as commercial as my dad was. I describe my music as indie rock.
My dad likes my music, although it’s not 100 percent his style. He grew up on the Carpenters and Elvis—more mellow oldies. I listened to everything from Nirvana to Metallica.
Moving back to Hong Kong wasn’t planned. My wife and I were married for a year, then my dad came out of retirement. He asked me to help out.
When he came out of retirement, he broke records. Ten shows at the Coliseum turned into 60. His production company wanted to sign me in a management deal, so we moved here.
When I came back in 2004, there weren’t too many rock bands. There are more now on the scene.
Music labels here always want to package you. I have friends who signed away their lives to companies. In the end, they’re miserable.
The best singers have their own style along with their talent. That’s what helps you make it in the long run.
If you compare my dad’s songs to Jacky Cheung or Eason Chan, he doesn’t sing like that. But in his songs, the message and the meaning—that’s what makes the artist.
I can read an elementary level of Chinese. I write out my lyrics in Cantonese pinyin. Friends like Soler, or Janice and Jill Vidal— they can’t read Chinese either. So it made me feel a little better.
There are good things and bad things about growing up with a famous parent. I see fans react to him—and we travel together on tour. Seeing him influence a whole generation of Hong Kong people is pretty awesome.
The bad part is, there’s a comparison. People say, “You don’t do your dad’s style of music. Why don’t you sing like him?”
They think that because you’re Sam Hui’s son, you’re going to have the budget to do all kinds of things.
But we don’t have money to get the big producers. It’s all been DIY.
When my dad first went into the music industry, the scene was completely different to how it is now. He had opportunities that nobody has anymore. Nowadays, people download, so even the way you make money is different.
I relate so much to Sean Lennon. He put out his new album on his own label. That’s where I get my inspiration—especially the second-generation thing.
The worst thing the tabloids have ever written about me was when they said that Sam Hui came out of retirement to help me launch my career.
You could never tell my dad what to do. SARS had just passed; he wanted to be back in the scene and interact with his fans again.
A lot of people are in the arts because they love it. If you can do your art, and also survive and pay your bills, that’s the ultimate dream. But if you can’t, you have to learn how to balance it out.
Half my time now is spent doing design work for corporate companies—like logos, T-shirts and branding.
We have 3-year-old twin boys. They’re in K1 at a Chinese school. They’re starting to learn words like the numbers, the sky and the ocean. I’m trying to stay one step ahead of them, re-learning Chinese.
At my house, every Sunday, our family gets together and the kids jam with yeh yeh [grandfather].
Hong Kong is a part of my family’s history—that’s why I have my kids here. I don’t think I would leave for good.
 
Ryan Hui is an official Mo Bro for this year’s Movember campaign in aid of prostate and testicular cancer, which kicks off on October 17. Register at hk.movember.com.


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Ryan Hui

Magazines

You may not know it from his music but singer-songwriter Ryan Hui, also known as The Stay Up, is the son of Cantopop legend and the “God of Songs” Sam Hui. He tells Andrea Lo about carving out his own path in Hong Kong.
