[2013.10.10] REMEMBERING ANITA MUI AT 50

Eddie Lau, Anita Mui, Denise Ho

Ah Mui, May Lo, Jacky Cheung and Ben Lam in Singapore

Ben Lam lived with Ah Mui for three years

Vincent Zhou will always remember Ah Mui

courtesy of on.cc

Today would have been Anita Mui Yim Fong's 50th birthday. Although the late heaven queen has passed away for 10 years, her family and fans missed her nonetheless. Mother and Brother Mui today will take their respect to Ah Mui today at the Po Lin Monastery. Fans will gather tonight at the Tsim Sha Tsui Avenue of Stars to send their well wishes to their idol. At night a local band will perform Ah Mui's hits and a drama troupe will perform skits for their idol. In addition, Ah Mui's international fan club in the afternoon will its respect at the Shang Sin Chun Tong in Kowloon Tong and at night will host the 2013 banquet where two Ah Mui concert costumes will be on display.

On December 30 2003, superstar of a generation Mui Yim Fong succumbed to cancer at the age of 40. Today would have been Sister Mui's birthday. Friend and official costume designer Eddie Lau Pui Kei lightly wept as he started to recall the numerous birthdays that he and Sister Mui spent together. Yet every years he seemed to be absent at Sister Mui's birthday. "Because she was outrageously late, 3 or 4 hours late were very usual. Truly at any minute dinner would turn into a late night meal."

Yet at the year of her passing in 2003, An Mui invited all of her friends to her home to celebrate her final birthday. That night Tony Leung Ka Fai, Cherie Chung Chor Hung, Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi, disciple Denise Ho Wan Si and Ah Mui's god mother attended. Eddie said, "That year due to her poor health, everyone asked her not to drink." Eddie sighed and continued, "When she cut the cake her final word was cherish those around you. I never expected that she would say that. The so called life and death parting was felt from no more than one person's unknowing words. The storm was on the way and everyone suffered. Later her tears just kept coming."

Mui Yim Fong's disciples Denise Ho wan Si and the Grasshoppers' Calvin Choy Yat Chi, Remus Choy Yat Kit and Edmond So Chi Wai all remembered their late mentor. Ah Si said that over the ten years with her mentor, sometimes she would have a little sorrow in her memory. "Yet as I started to grow up, I have learned to face some things. She doesn't have to worry about us."

The Grasshoppers recalled when they performed overseas with their mentor, each time they would become little fans. Their mentor's position in their hearts could never be replaced.

Ah Mui's disciple Patrick Tam Yiu Man said that although Ah Mui has passed away for years, her undying stage spirit has been useful for a lifetime. She even taught her to face challenges bravely in his career. In the end he successfully won the "best performance award" on the Mainland program LET'S SHAKE IT, broke into the Mainland market and develop film and television work.

Anthony Lun Wai Lun who has known Mui Yim Fong for 20 years. Anthony said that Sister Mui was a heroine. "Aside from being close friends privately, she has helped me a lot in my career. She also made me her concert director. When I performed she came to be my guest and even refused to accept any money. HEART REMAINS COLD was a solo song that I have written for her from the start, but I believed that she very deliberately asked me to sing it with her because she knew that the duet would help my career a lot. In the end this song was my own Top Ten Gold Song."

Sister Mui aside from helping the younger generations and friends also cared a lot of strangers. Anthony recalled, "One year, I forgot whether it was on New Year's Eve or Christmas, she and the Grasshoppers bought over 200 cotton blankets and at midnight they personally went to the Star Ferry pier to tuck in the homeless. I guess she wanted to be Santa Claus. The funniest part was she said the homeless drove them away, saying that they didn't know them."

Ben Lam Kwok Bun was Ah Mui's old flame. During the interview he admitted, "I hesitated for two days, I was the most afraid that people would think I am promoting myself with the old relationship. I kept thinking over and over. It was ten years ago. I should express it in a way as a memory of Ah Mui." He said with endless lament. "We got to know each other between 1985 and 1986, moved in together in 1990, and broke up in 1993. Ah Mui was a very kind, very loyal girl. One night on the way home, a car cut us off and gave us the finger. I got out of the car to argue, two 6 foot tall drunk foreigners came out. When I looked back at Ah Mui, she already brought out a baseball bat from the car. The foreigners saw and immediately ducked back into their car. At the time I thought, 'Great! Really gutsy'. The woman that I knew truly was not afraid of death."

Ben admitted that Ah Mui had a trick that he had to submit to, "hunger strike". As long as Ben did not come home, she could go on a hunger strike for 2 days. Since the karaoke slap incident, the film industry got bloody in an unprecedented way. Ah Mui was innocently swept into a mob hit. Ben accompanied her everywhere. That half a year were their sweetest days. Ah Mui decided to leave the stage as they planned to spend their lives together. "Why did we break up? For awhile, we argued over something very minor. We were very hurt and very afraid of hurting the other. I moved back to my home and drank all day and night. one night at home alone with several dogs and the walls, I actually had tears in the corner of my eyes, as I would rather to have someone who would argue with me." Ben knew about Ah Mui's illness. When her sister Anna Mui Oi Fong passed away she wanted to make up, but at the time he already had a girlfriend.

"Today, I feel very guilty. If she was my girlfriend I would take her to the doctor. Yet the past is in the past. The month before she passed away, I couldn't contact her. Then a friend told me that Ah Mui was at the hospital. I rushed over to see her one last time. Unfortunately she has been in a coma for a long time and I could see her for the last time. I never would have guessed that this would be the ending!"