28 December 2021

Yao Lee and 1940s-60s New Years Eve! – 28 December 2021

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Yao Lee, Hong Kong’s Patti Page is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Her most famous song opens this week’s Phantom Dancer. The first hour for the national show then continues with a mix of swing by Harry James, vocals by Giselle McKenzie, Rhythm and Blues from a 1951 radio aircheck, and live radio hard bop by Miles Davis and John Coltrane aired in 1958.

For the last hour broadcast, live to 2SER Sydney listeners, then available online, you’ll hear New Years Eve radio from the 1940s and 1960s.

(The short weather report that opens this week’s Phantom Dancer comes from a shortwave English language broadcast by Reichrundfunk Berlin in 1938).

LISTEN to this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 28 December) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

I’m Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer producer and presenter every week on 107.3 2SER radio Sydney since 1985.

News Years Eve 1930s-40s Cinema ads…

ROSE, ROSE I LOVE YOU

is the most famous song by singer Yao Lee. A 1940 Mandarin popular song composed by Chen Gexin and first recorded by Yao Lee. It became something of a Lili Marlene equivalent for Allied soldiers in the Asia-Pacific during World War 2.

The song was brought back to England by broadcaster Wilfrid Thomas in 1951 after doing commentary on the war in Malaya. When he played it on his BBC program he received a barrage of requests for a repeat and he played it again in several more programs.

An English-language version whose lyrics by Wilfred Thomas that have little in common with the original Mandarin was first recorded by Frankie Laine in 1951. David Bowie used the song in a film about him in Hong Kong.

1930 New Years Eve record, KHJ Los Angeles…

YAO LEE

Also known as Yao Li, Yiu Lei and Hue Lee, was one of the Seven Great Singing Stars of Shanghai in the 1940s.

She married Wong Po Lo (黃保羅) in 1947 and stopped performing to devote time to her family. Following the Communist seizure of power in China in 1949, popular music was considered ideologically suspect and Yao fled to Hong Kong in 1950 but continued her singing career with Pathé Records (EMI).

In addition to releasing hit records, beginning in 1955 with the film 桃花江 (Peach Blossom River), she was also a playback singer for movie actresses. Many of her featured songs became popular hits. She stepped down from her singing career in 1967 after the death of her brother, Yao Min. In 1969, she accepted the invitation to become the General Manager and Producer at EMI Music Hong Kong. Yao produced records for many artists during her time as a producer and retired from this position in 1977.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Yao Lee’s high, soft singing style was typical of Chinese popular music of the time (influenced by her superstar idol, Zhou Xuan). She performed numerous popular standards, such as Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity (恭喜恭喜), “I Can’t Have Your Love” (得不到你的愛情), and “By the Suzhou River” (蘇州河邊) with her brother Yao Min, arguably the best-known Chinese pop songwriter of the shidaiqu era.^[3] She is famous for her 1940 version of Rose, Rose, I Love You (玫瑰玫瑰我愛你), later recorded by Frankie Laine in the United States with English lyrics. Her version was also released in the U.S. and the United Kingdom credited to “Miss Hue Lee.” Yao was known as “the Silver Voice” (銀嗓子), alluding to fellow Shanghai singer Zhou Xuan, who was known as “the Golden Voice” (金嗓子).

With increasing Western influence in the region after World War II and her move to Hong Kong, Yao Lee’s singing style changed. She was introduced to more Western popular music and became an admirer of American singer Patti Page, whom she emulated by lowering her voice and incorporating some similar vocal mannerisms. As a result, Yao is sometimes called “Hong Kong’s Patti Page.” One of her biggest ’50s records was “The Spring Breeze Kisses My Face” (春風吻上我的臉).

Yao was extremely prolific with over 400 records attributed to her. Her 1959 song, “Rén Shēng Jìu Shì Xì”/”Life Is a Performance” (人生就是戲), is featured in the 2018 film, Crazy Rich Asians, in the scene when the matriarch grandmother, played by veteran Chinese American actor Lisa Lu, first appears.

Welcome in the New Year with this mix of 1920s-30s songs from six albums I’ve released …

28 DECEMBER PLAY LIST