Real name Li Tianying, popularly called Michael Lai passed away at the age of 73 on December 1 2019. Details regarding his cause of death is still unknown.
Clara Lam, Li Tianying assistant was the first to broadcast the news of his passing, she said that the popular Hong Kong composer passed away after a brief illness, she also added that she will respect his wish not to share any details about his illness as he had wanted to deal with it in a low-key manner, adding that she will reveal more information about the funeral soon on behalf of the family.
Michael passed away at the age of 73. Michael started his showbiz career as a child actor in Hong Kong classics like “The Great Devotion” before deciding to focus on his music, writing songs for productions like Jackie Chan’s “Police Story”, TVB’s “Game of Deceit”, and ATV’s “My Date with a Vampire”.
In the mid-1970s, Michael’s career started taking off as he wrote songs for high-budget productions like Police Story and several Rei TV series such as Love Story 1980 II.
Li Tianying was a good friend of Jackie Chan for 25 years. Michael also said in the radio interview that he became good friends with Jackie Chan after working with the actor in multiple movies.
He joked that they would “bullshit” in their offices together sometimes and inadvertently come up with something useful for their projects.
Other times, Jackie would bring in music synthesizers and ask Michael if they could use certain sounds for specific scenes.
If you’ve seen him on screen or in interviews, you’ll know that the talented Michael Lai is an extremely cordial and humble person.
Veteran actors who know Michael personally and Hong Kong TV fans who are familiar with his songs will surely miss him. Rest in peace, Michael Lai.