Profile: Violet Manyee Lam (林敏怡)

For my first real post, I'm going to start off with something about a super-talented musician from the 80's, also one of my favourite composers of Cantopop. Ever since listening to HK pop, I always like to browse through the lyrics to find out who wrote the songs. Because to me, having a good melody and touching lyrics contribute up to 90% of a song's success.

This ultra-genius woman composer is called Violet Lam (林敏怡, pronounced Lam Man Yee), her name is often linked to many great hits that are all so well written that you don't mind listening over & over again. Her brother Andrew Manchung Lam (林敏驄) is a great lyricist and songwriter also. Here's her profile and a picture taken recently.



Name: Violet Manyee Lam (林敏怡)
Current changed name: Lam Seen Yee (林倩而)
Born: 10th September 1950
Education: B Psychology and Sociology (HKU); Santa Cecilia Conservatory (majoring in piano performance); Musikhochshule Freiburg (majoring in composition)

Manyee collaborated with almost every HK singer from the 80's to early 90's, totalling to nearly 150 songs and film scores. With the decline of Cantopop nowadays, she's switched to making "serious music", claiming that HK pop music is "beyond her reach". Here's what compositions from her I like most!


"幻影" ("Illusion"), Music/Arrangement by: Manyee Lam, Lyrics by: Andrew Lam, Year: 1984
Theme Song from "陰陽錯", Artist: Alan Tam

幻影 - 譚詠麟

"只想擁有你" ("I Only Want You"), Music/Arrangement by: Manyee Lam, Lyrics by: Andrew Lam, Year: 1985
Theme Song from "女人心", Artist: Sally Yeh

只想擁有你 I Only Want You - 葉倩文 Sally Yeh

"花店" ("Flower Shop"), Music/Arrangement by: Manyee Lam, Lyrics by: Andrew Lam, Year: 1985
Artist: Priscilla Chan

flowers shop - P. Chan

"海誓山盟" ("Everlasting Passion"), Music/Arrangement by: Manyee Lam, Lyrics by: Calvin Poon, Year: 1986
Theme Song from Japanese series "海誓山盟", Artist: George Lam



"誠懇" ("Sincerity"), Music by: Manyee Lam, Lyrics by: Andrew Lam, Arrangement by: Fujita Daito, Year: 1987
Artist: Kenny Bee (This MV also features Manyee Lam and brother Andrew Lam).



There are of course many many other songs that I love, eg. "相愛" by Jacky Cheung, "迷惑" by Sally Yeh, "藍調怨曲" by Vivian Chow, "信" by Judy Ong, "你的夢我的夢" and "親吻" by Priscilla Chan, "天涯小子" by Hacken Lee, "迷惘的愛" by Cally Kwong, "誰可相依" by Julie Su, "當世界無玫瑰" by Shirley Kwan, "城市足印" by Paula Tsui, "空凳" and "啤酒罐" by Danny Summer, "情是永願著迷" and "吻別" by Alan Tam...the list goes on and on.