Biography
Denise Ho Wan-Si (Traditional Chinese: 何韻詩; Simplified Chinese: 何韵诗; pinyin: Hé Yùnshī), also known as HOCC, CC and Goo, born May 10, 1977. Amiable and charming, Denise Ho emanates a truly special presence. Winner of the 15th Annual New Singer Contest in 1996, Denise’s distinctive vocal skills first caught the attention of pop music legend Anita Mui. Shortly after, Anita took Denise under her wing as her only female protege. Denise dazzles her peers with her composing and singing talents. Her considerable abilities as a singer and composer have also been widely recognised with many significant awards.
In 2005, Denise played the leading role in the rock musical “Butterfly Lovers”. She was the producer as well. The show as well as Denise’s performance gained much admiration and appreciation. Her position in the industry has also been established.
Denise is active in movies, appearing in hits like “Naked Ambition” and “Hidden Track”. She is active in charity activities also. She has been the “Youth Ambassador” of ORBIS since
Biography
1996-2001
Denise Ho (better known as HOCC; read as 'Ho See See'), was born in Hong Kong and received her education in DGJS, Hong Kong, then Montreal, Quebec, Canada when she's immigrated with her family at the age of 10. Her music career was launched in 1996, after she won the 15th New Talent Singing Awards. Her victory not only earned her a recording contract with Capital Artists Limited (華星唱片) but also a chance to became the only female apprentice of her childhood idol, Anita Mui. Her debut EP, first., came 5 years after her victory. During her 5 year wait, she went on tour with Anita Mui as a background singer and hosted various TV shows produced by TVB.
2002
After Capital Artists closed, HOCC joined EMI in 2002. Although she was only with the company for a brief 2 years period, but it is during this time that her music talents flourished. She teamed up with Ying C Foo (英師傅) for her first EMI label release, hocc² (EP). The song "Angel Blues" (天使藍), composed by HOCC herself, not only reached the top spots on music charts, but according to HOCC, it is also her "growing up" song . The song "Rosemary" (露絲瑪莉), penned by Wyman Wong, created considerable controversies at the time, as it touched on the topic of lesbianism."Rosemary" (露絲瑪莉) marked the beginning of HOCC's series of songs containing gay themes.
2002 proved to be a successful year for HOCC. Having released her first full length album, free{love}, its two lead singles "Angel Blues" (天使藍) and "Goodbye Rosemary" (再見…露絲瑪莉) won multiply music awards in Hong Kong. "Goodbye Rosemary" (再見…露絲瑪莉) is the second part of "Rosemary" (露絲瑪莉), it is one of the most memorable songs in HOCC's career. Besides those music awards, the most valuable award won by HOCC that year was the "Female Singer Bronze Award" in the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards 2002 (叱吒樂壇流行榜頒獎典禮).
2003-2004
In 2003 HOCC did a spectacular "Music is Live" concert with Andy Hui, who is also an apprentice of Anita Mui. Their performance won praise from the critics, and HOCC proved to the audience her magnificent abilities to perform live as a musician. Later that year, HOCC released her second full-length album Dress Me Up!. She was the producer in this album, indicating that HOCC has finally gained full control over her music. In September 2003, HOCC’s long time mentor, Anita Mui announced she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Shortly after the announcement, Anita lost her battle against cervical cancer and passed away on December 30, 2003.
Between 2003 and 2004, HOCC took on the role of hosting TVB's weekly live music show, Jade Solid Gold. In 2004, she appeared in Sammi Cheng's 2004 "Sammi vs. Sammi" concert as a cross-dressing admirer of Sammi. HOCC's critically acclaimed performance in the short musical segment not only brought attention to the role she played, but also further established herself as a tremendous live performer.
2004-2005
In September, 2004, HOCC signed a contract with East Asia Music (東亞娛樂), a subsidiary of Amusic. The album Glamorous (艷光四射), which pays tribute to the superstars of the 80's, was released in January 2005. It also marked a start of the close collaboration between Denise and her band, Green Mountain Orchestra (青山大樂隊). She had become the Orbis Student Ambassador 2005, and went for a visit to HAINAN in July.September, 2005, Denise performed in the musical Butterfly Lovers (梁祝下世傳奇). She was the leading actress, also acting as producer and musical director of the musical. Her album of the same name gave her three Number 1 singles - "Becoming a Butterfly" (化蝶), "Lawrence & Lewis" (勞斯．萊斯) and "Coffee in a Soda Bottle" (汽水樽裡的咖啡), which are all based on the story of the Butterfly Lovers but also considered advocating homosexuality - garnering her the "Female Singer Silver Award" at Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards 2005 (叱吒樂壇流行榜頒獎典禮).
2006-present
She held her first Hong Kong Coliseum concert "Live in Unity 2006" on 26th-28th October, 2006. The concert turned out as a great success and earned a lot of compliments from the public. Thus, bringing a part 2 of the concert, "Live in Unity 2007", held on 19-20th January, 2007. Her single, We Stand As One, also known as the theme and slogan for her "Live in Unity" concerts, was released on January 11, 2007 as a collectible item for her fans to celebrate the success of the concert. Recordings of the concert were later released, in February, 2007 on CD, VCD and DVD respectively. She will also be performing in Toronto, Canada and Atlantic City, USA as the next two stops of her world tour Live in Unity concerts.
After ten years of hard work and effort in the showbiz, her dedication to music has gained her great public recognition and garnering her the "Female Singer Gold Award" at the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Annual Awards 2006 (叱吒樂壇流行榜頒獎典禮). Denise is also notable for singing the Chinese version of Ayumi Hamasaki's song "Secret", known as "Wounded City Secret" (傷城秘密), for the 2006 movie, Confession of Pain. In 2006, she continued to be the Orbis Student Ambassdor 2006 and visited Vietnam. And for this year, she will establish her own fund.
Her friends from the Hong Kong showbiz include Eason Chan, Wilfred Lau, Nicholas Tse, Edmond Leung, Endy Chow, Andy Hui, Sammi Cheng, Candy Lo, Gigi Leung, Joey Yung, Bobo Chan, Theresa Fu, Fiona Sit, at17.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
