Jimmy Lin Sr.

Some people probably could just appear once in your life and you'd remember him for a lifetime. Just take, Jimmy Lin Chong for instance. This Taiwanese singer is not to be confused with his younger counterpart, Jimmy Lin Chih-Ying who became an overnight superstar at the age of 17 with the release of his debut album, Not Every Love Song has Fond Memories (不是每個戀曲都有美好回憶). Jimmy Lin Chong was more a man of the 60s, having started his career in Taiwan in 1955. In 1962, he had gone to study in Japan. There, he was signed up by a Japanese film company Toho and became a big hit. In 1968, he became popular in Hong Kong too and he appeared in Shaws movies. I remember first seeing Jimmy Lin Chong in the 1969 Run Run Shaw produced movie, The Singing Thief' (inset) which he appeared with Lo Lieh, Lily Ho and Essie Lin Chia. When I saw him next, it was in a recent Hokkien variety show in TV. This time round, I was surprised to hear him speaking Hokkien. That probably would leave another impression...

Which Jimmy Lin would you identify with? Jimmy Lin Chih Yin or Jimmy Lin Chong?


Comments

Patrick said…
He's from Fujian Province, in China, thus he can speak Hokkien.