It was
December 22nd 1999, my first Christmas season in America, and I had
made the long trip from Berkely to New York City. It was there at
the Gershwin Theater located at 222 W. 51 & Broadway
Street that I watched my very first musical, Jerome Kern &
Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat (believe or not, I've still kept
that night's show bill.) I guess I was totally shocked by what I
saw and heard in those 2 hours because as I walked along in the
darkness back to my hotel on 42nd Street I realized my heart was
beating, murmuring, 'I want to be a musical performer, I wanna sing
those songs!' It has taken me 5 years of hard work to finally get
myself onto the stage and now I've decided to make an album to
celebrate this amazing miracles. The 12 songs we've selected are
most beautiful and I feel extremely fortunate to have the chance to
sing, perform and record them. I give my special thanks to Sawyer
Lee, my teacher and producer, for his long time encouragement and
trainging which have made both 'Me' and this recording so
outstanding; to Su Qian, my engineer, for his remarkable skill and
kindness; to all the musicians who did so much more than just play
the correct notes! And above all, I give my thanks to the writers
of these wonderful tunes that I believe are more than gorgeous
melodys and lyrics, they give us inspiration and power as well. I
think, for example, when Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black wrote
Unexpected Song they expressed so well how many of us feel about
life, love and our dreams 'I never thought I'd know, I just can't
believe my eyes...'. Sawyer has often said to me, 'You are a
natural born performer.' Well, I never expected it to happen, but
yeah, I do have some talents I wish to share. I never expected to
come across the Musical scence or that I could have a musical
career, it just came into my world all of a sudden. I ask myself,
might I expect more of my future? Or perhaps life and its secret is
revealed in an unexpected song.
by Shadow
