Jay Chou

Jay Chou was born into an ordinary family in Taiwan. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was raised mainly by his mother, Yeh Hui-mei, an art teacher. She started him on piano lessons very early, and music became almost the way this introverted, quiet boy spoke to the world. He later enrolled in the music class at Tamkang High School, where his grades were unremarkable but his heart belonged entirely to the keys and the melodies.

His beginnings were far from glamorous. After graduating from high school, he took part in a TV singing show where host Jacky Wu noticed his talent for composition, which led him into a record company as a behind-the-scenes assistant, arranging and writing songs for others. The rejected works and the years of being overlooked honed a mature, distinctive songwriting voice and quietly set the stage for his own debut.

In 2000, his first album 'Jay' launched this young man with mumbled diction and odd melodies out of nowhere; the follow-up 'Fantasy,' with tracks like 'Nunchucks,' boldly stitched Chinese-style music together with R&B and hip-hop, establishing a trademark style no one could imitate. Albums such as 'Yeh Hui-mei,' 'Common Jasmine Orange' and 'November's Chopin' followed one after another, and songs like 'East Wind Breaks,' 'Nocturne' and 'Hair Like Snow' were sung on every street, quickly carrying him to the pinnacle of Mandopop.

He was not content to be only a singer. In 2007, his film 'Secret'—which he wrote, directed and starred in—was shot at his alma mater Tamkang High School and won critical praise; a few years later he reached the Hollywood screen, playing Kato in 'The Green Hornet,' carrying Mandarin pop's influence even farther. From songwriting and producing to directing and acting, he kept pushing his own boundaries outward.

After stardom he founded his own company and started a family; his album pace slowed, yet he remained firmly at the top of the Mandarin music world, every new release sparking conversation. It is hard to sum up Jay Chou with a single label: he is both the innovator who transformed the aesthetics of Mandopop and the creator who wrote Chinese-style music back into young people's ears. For many who grew up on his songs, he is almost the background music of an entire era.