Wang Leehom, a music major from the Class of ’98, received the honorary degree Doctor of Music from the College on June 5th. On June 4th, Leehom appeared at the 62 Center in a conversation with his former teachers Andy Jaffe and W. Anthony Sheppard. Congratulations Leehom!Wang is a Chinese-American singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, and film director, known as the “king of Chinese pop.” His work blends pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, classical, and traditional Chinese music ranging from aboriginal folk music to Beijing opera. He is the best-selling Mandarin-language musician of his generation and has released 15 solo studio albums. He has won four of Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards and 15 Chinese Music Awards. In addition to his musical career, he has acted in several movies, including Ang Lee’s thriller Lust, Caution (2007); Little Big Soldier (2010), an action comedy co-starring Jackie Chan; and Love in Disguise (2010), a romantic comedy that Wang also wrote, directed, and scored. His most recent film is Michael Mann’s cyber thriller Blackhat (2015), in which he stars alongside Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, and Viola Davis. Wang was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y., and he double-majored in music and Asian studies at Williams. By the time he graduated, he had already released four albums. His fifth, Revolution, released in August 1998, became his breakthrough album, winning him Golden Melody Awards for best producer and best male singer.
