Teresa Carpio

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Teresa Carpio
Born (1956-09-30) 30 September 1956 (age 68)
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Years active1975–present
Partner(s) Peter Mui
Andreas Panayi
Children3, including T.V. Carpio
Awards Golden Needle Awards
2007 Lifetime Achievement
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 杜麗莎
Simplified Chinese 杜丽莎
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Dù Lìshā
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping Dou6 Lai6 Saa1
Musical career
OriginHong Kong
GenresPop, Cantopop
Instrument(s)Vocals, piano

Teresa Carpio (born 30 September 1956) is a Hong Kong English- and Cantonese-language pop singer, [1] actress, [2] and singing teacher. Carpio was popular in Hong Kong during the 1970s and 1980s. She is the paternal cousin of actress and singer Rita Carpio, and also the mother of actress and singer T.V. Carpio. [3] She is most well known for her Cantonese-language hits, 假如 (If), 仍然記得嗰一次 (I Still Remember That Time), 眉頭不再猛皺 (Sukiyaki), 何必放棄 (Why Give Up) and 真愛 (True Love).

Contents

Family background

Carpio was born in St. Teresa's Hospital in Ma Tau Wai, [4] to a Filipino father and a Shanghainese mother. [5] Born into a musical family (her grandfather was a concert violinist and jazz guitarist, her father Fernando, a jazz drummer, and several uncles were also professional musicians), she began singing at age 6 when she entered and won Hong Kong's first Amateur Talent Quest. She is the eldest of five, all of whom have been active in the music business at some time. Her eldest daughter, TV Carpio, is a musician, actress, and Broadway singer.

Career

Carpio began her career as a child star, winning Hong Kong's first Amateur Talent Quest in 1963 at the age of 6. [6] At age 11, she turned down a scholarship at St Paul's Convent to work in her first job in Tahiti where her father was also working. [7] Following that, she worked in clubs until she went to Japan for a year where she met Shintaro Katsu who sponsored her during her time there. She released her first single in Japan in 1971, entitled Ainoko Mary (混血児マリー). [8] [9]

Returning to Hong Kong, she worked in many nightclubs, such as Danshaku, Gessekai and the Hyatt Hotel's Chin Chin Bar, until EMI came and offered her a recording deal.

For several years from 1975 onwards Carpio had her own TV variety show in Hong Kong, on which she performed both solo and with several of her siblings. She released many albums in Hong Kong from 1976 onwards; six of her albums under EMI went gold, in which she featured cover versions in English of western hits, including an album with George Lam. She made numerous television appearances in Hong Kong, in the late 1970s.

Carpio was the first and the youngest Hong Kong singer ever to appear on national TV in Japan. She has performed in many other countries as far apart as Singapore, Malaysia, French Polynesia, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Brunei, the United States and Canada.

With the growing popularity of Cantopop, Carpio started to record in Cantonese along with English. In 1983, Carpio headlined the Hong Kong Coliseum for the first time. The concert was unsuccessful at the box office. Reception towards the concert was generally mixed: although Carpio's voice and stage presence was praised, the lack of Cantonese songs and audience interaction was criticised. According to Carpio, the concert caused her a lot of debt, partially leading to the dissolution of her first marriage.

She broadened her career into acting with appearances in a number of films, [10] and auditioned for the lead role in Miss Saigon, though this eventually went to Lea Salonga. She was no stranger to live musical theatre, having taken the lead role in the 1979 San Jose production of the stage musical City of Broken Promises , based on the book by Austin Coates, a story set in Macau which won Best Original Musical.

Following her second marriage, Carpio moved to Canada and focused her attention on bringing up her family (she has three daughters, the eldest, T. V. Carpio, by her first marriage, also an actor, singer and songwriter).

Discography

Carpio has released twenty five albums to date, including six live recordings. Her first eponymous studio album was released in 1975 and then quickly followed up with five more solo albums from EMI as well as a duet album with George Lam. In 1981 she moved to WEA and released one Cantonese-language album. In 1983 she formed her own record company, TV Records, which released three more Cantonese albums, on which – together with her WEA album – are some of her most popular songs. Since then she has released several live CDs and DVDs as well as a few studio recordings.

English

YearTitleRecord Company
1975Teresa CarpioEMI
1976Songs For YouEMI
1976You've Got Me For CompanyEMI
1977Greatest Hits +2EMI
1977Teresa CarpioEMI
1979Teresa CarpioEMI
1986Tokyo DreamingWarner-Pioneer
1990If I Ever Needed LoveEMI
2006A Family Christmas AlbumTeresa Carpio International
2009HelloTeresa Carpio International

Cantonese

YearTitleRecord Company
1981杜麗莎WEA
1983The Magic of Teresa CarpioTV Records
1985何必放棄TV Records
1986杜麗莎 Teresa CarpioWarner Pioneer
1988杜麗莎 Teresa CarpioTV Records/Current Records
2004Best of TimesGo East
2010I Still RememberBMA Records

Duet

YearTitleRecord CompanyDuet Artist
1978Teresa Carpio & George LamEMIGeorge Lam
2012Time After TimeUniversalAlan Tam

Live

YearTitleRecord Company
2001麗花皇宮Warner
2003HKPO & Teresa Carpio: DIVAWSM
2004True LoveGo East
2005Always Lam in ConcertEEG
2007Lam and Teresa LiveEEG
2012Time After Time LiveUniversal

Filmography

She has appeared in 13 movies in total, starting in 1984 with a lead role in Happy Ghost , where she also sang the theme song. She is more well-known for her later movies, where she often was famous for small roles that became extremely popular, such as 2003's Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat where she sang part of "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies", accompanying herself on keyboards. [11]

Motion pictures

YearTitle
1984 Happy Ghost
1985Isle of Fantasy (開心樂園)
1987No Regret (靚妹正傳)
1988Three Wishes (黑心鬼)
1988Bet On Fire (火舞风云)
1988City War (義膽紅唇)
198818 Times (好女十八嫁)
1989It's A Mad Mad World 3 (富貴再三逼人)
1996Age Of Miracles (嫲嫲帆帆)
2003 My Lucky Star
2003 Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat
2006 Rob-B Hood
2012 All's Well, Ends Well 2012
2019 I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (你咪理,我愛你!)

Teaching

Carpio began teaching in 1991, when Sandy Lam came to her and asked her to teach her in preparation for her concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. [12] After that, many other singers followed, such as Sammi Cheng, Wong Cho Lam, Cecilia Cheung, Joey Yung, Gigi Leung, Alex To, Edmund Leung, Twins, and Jade Kwan.

She appeared on Hong Kong television as a judge and head vocal coach on season two of the singing competition The Voice .

Major concerts

DateConcertVenue# of PerformancesSolo/Joint/GuestSpecial Guests
1983The Magic of Teresa CarpioHK Coliseum1SoloNone
2001La Fa Palace (麗花皇宮)HK Polytechnic University68LeadN/A
2002HKPO & Teresa Carpio: DIVACultural Centre6Solo TV Carpio
2004True LoveHK Coliseum2Solo Jacky Cheung, Gigi Leung
2005Always LamHK Coliseum4Special GuestN/A
2007Lam & TeresaHK Coliseum4With George Lam Lowell Lo
2010I Am A SIngerHK Coliseum2Solo TV Carpio, Wong Cho Lam
2012Time After TimeHK Coliseum9With Alan Tam None

Singer 2017

Prior to her appearance on Singer 2017, on 20 August 2016, she appeared as a guest singer on the finals of Crossover Singer 2016 for the performance of runner-up Wong Cho Lam (who sung a version of "The Prayer".) [13]

As a result of her appearance, Carpio was selected as one of eight initial singers to compete in Hunan TV's Singer 2017 . During her tenure, she told to the media that her participation was fueled by the fact that she was competing against another Hong Kong singer, Sandy Lam (who went on to win). Despite topping the singer's voting predictions (two 1st, one 2nd and one 3rd), she was eliminated on week five (2nd Knockout round) after receiving the lowest combined votes, largely due to finishing last on her prior week. Her elimination was not without controversy, with many fans questioning the elimination. [14] [15]

After her return performance on the week after elimination, Carpio later returned to the stage to participate the "Breakout Round", and at second place by a difference of three votes (0.15%) behind the top singer Li Jian. She was one of the few singers to be reinstated to the competition. However, she was shortly eliminated again on the semi-finals a week later as one of the bottom two singers (the other was Julia Peng), receiving a lower count of votes.

Singer2017 The Ranking of Teresa Carpio
EpisodeBroadcast dateSong titleOriginal singerRankingPercentages of votesRemarks
1 (Qualifying Round 1)21 January 2017"Imagine" (English) John Lennon 316.05%1st Place in Singer Voting
2 (Knockout Round 1)28 January 2017"卡門"

"Carmen" (Mandarin)

Grace Chang 510.79%1st Place in Singer Voting
4th place in Overall Voting
3 (Challenge Round 1)4 February 2017"Vincent" (English) Don McLean 79.91%3rd Place in Singer Voting
4 ( Knockout Round 2)11 February 2017" 魯冰花/真的愛你"
("Lubing Flower/I Really Love You" (Mandarin/Cantonese))
Beyond 413.84%2nd Place in Singer Voting
7th place in Overall Voting (eliminated)
5 (Challenge Round 2)18 February 2017"爱是永恒"

"Love is Forever" (Cantonese)

Jacky CheungReturn performance (no ranking)
11 (Breakouts Round)1 April 2017"Someone Like You/Rumour Has It" (English) Adele 219.89%1st Place in Singer Voting
Breakout Success (ranked 2nd out of top seven singers)
12 (Semi-finals)8 April 2017"假如" (Cantonese)

"是否" (Mandarin)

Teresa Carpio
Julie Su
UnknownEliminated
Bottom Two Placements in ranking
13 (Final)15 April 2017"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" (English) Frankie Valli Return Performance (no ranking)
Partnered with Julia Peng

References

  1. Seto Kit Yan (28 April 2009). "George Lam is the real deal". The Star Online: Malaysia News. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  2. Ross Chen. "Teresa Carpio". Love HK Film.com. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  3. David Gordon (16 June 2011). "Teresa and TV Carpio discuss Broadway's Spider-man Turn Off The Dark". Theater Mania.
  4. See Saw (守下留情), Radio 2, Radio Television Hong Kong, 15 February 2016
  5. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "杜麗莎的故事 喜樂家庭-父母篇(一)". YouTube . 7 March 2019.
  6. "Teresa Carpio". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  7. "Stepping back into the lion's den". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  8. "Music Video: Vintage Japanese Movie Song: Mongrel Marie 混血児マリー". Dream of the Water Children: The Black Pacific. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  9. Teresa Carpio – My First Love 1971, 4 December 2014, archived from the original on 18 December 2021, retrieved 11 February 2017
  10. "Carpio's Starring Record IMDB Database". IMDb. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  11. herman lee (1 July 2009), 海闊天空- 六樓后座 by 杜麗莎, archived from the original on 18 December 2021, retrieved 26 February 2017
  12. "Play it again, Lam". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  13. 第四季最强大脑 (20 August 2016), 跨界歌王 第13期 20160820 王祖蓝, 杜丽莎 The Prayer, archived from the original on 17 February 2017, retrieved 16 February 2017
  14. "相较歌手,更是艺术家的她在《歌手》惨遭淘汰,被疑有黑幕?" . Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  15. 彭嘉彬 (12 February 2017). "【歌手】杜麗莎真情流露慘遭淘汰 網民鬧爆節目組". 香港01. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
Awards
Preceded by Golden Needle Award of RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award
2007
Succeeded by