Paula Tsui

Personal life

Tsui is the oldest of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. After graduating high school, she worked at her father's salon as a nail technician and hairstylist.

According to HK magazine, Paula Tsui was born in Hubei, but her family moved to Hong Kong when she was still a baby, therefore, all of her memory is about Hong Kong. Tsui recalls her childhood of being a mischievous girl. She thinks of herself as hard to control and was definitely not a good kid. For example, she only enjoyed music classes, because she thought singing was so natural to her. However, when her class teacher asked her to sing the school hymns, she rejected and ended up singing pop songs. She believes that her rebellious attitude came about because she never knew what she wanted to do, and that makes her memory of youth so unclear, she only remembers frequently changing jobs.

The thing that changed her life was a singing contest when Tsui entered one in 1965. Initially, she was reluctant to join the competition, but her friends kept persuading her, and said that they would not participate without Tsui. Then finally, Tsui won that contest came out the champion. At the same time, Tsui's parents did not approve of her becoming a singer, because they thought musically performing was a shameful career, and that is the reason why Tsui refused to let her family see her performances. However, Tsui promised her family that she would not change her mind and principles. Finally her family agreed with her choice to become a singer. Tsui felt so grateful to her parents reluctance and from it came a promise with her family to become a successful singer. Show business had a lot of temptations and this promise kept a firm focus on her singing.

Tsui is private about her personal life, especially in regards to her romantic life. It was not until the 1990s that was discovered that she had been secretly married to Hong Kong radio host and legislator Albert Cheng between 1975 and 1979. Tsui was then already a renowned singer, while Cheng was still relatively unknown at that time.

Tsui currently resides in Canada.

Career

After winning a contest in 1966, she soon began performing. She started at lounges and eventually at nightclubs as a supporting act placed between better known performers. During that time, Tsui performed over 400 songs, she did not set out to learn all the songs, but she eventually memorised them all. That's the reason why a lot of people think she has a personal high standard, but she do not think like that. She thought that doing her best was a basic requirement. Even though a lot of people told her that she was famous, she never considered herself popular because she thought it would put too much pressure on herself. A record label executive was in the audience during one of her nightclub performances and offered her a contract with a handsome price. After signing the contract, Tsui was not allowed to perform in nightclubs again.

Tsui is popularly renown with her jaw-dropping gowns on-stage. As a result, she is very conscientious about what she wears on stage and is very careful in selecting her clothes. If she does not approve of her outfit, she will not show it to anyone. She thinks that big dresses on stage is for effect, therefore, she does not care about the weight of the dresses. Tsui will practice walking in the dresses until she feels comfortable with the excess weight. Paradoxically, though she cares about the clothes, she also wants the audiences to focus on her music performance rather than the clothing she wears. Even though her stage clothes are all well-fitting, Tsui is not a picky eater, she loves food, and when she faces pressure, she likes eating chocolates and sweets to release stress.

In recent years, Tsui has lowered her television appearances and other public events. Many have assumed she has retired, but she maintains that she never will want to retire. In 2016, she had another concert, which completely ditched her elegant and extravagant gowns and costumes.

Concerts

According to Guinness World Records in 2003, Tsui's Amway Paula Tsui in Concert 1992 holds the record for the most number of "single event" concerts in a continuous period (43 concerts in 37 days) in Asia. She gave another series of concerts at the same venue, the Hong Kong Coliseum in summer 2005.

Tsui is noted for the voluminous gowns she wears for concert appearances. Also, for that reason, she has never worn in-ear monitors in her career. Partly because the technology was not as advanced as it is now, partly because it seemed odd to her elegant image.