Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei was born on March 9, 1972. His father is Pan-Asian music industry bigwig Norman Cheng, the current chairperson and CEO of EMI, and formerly of the Asia Pacific division of Polygram and then Universal Music. Originally intending to work behind the scenes as a composer and record producer, Cheng did odd jobs at his father’s company—which included doing back-up vocals for the likes of Alan Tam and Priscilla Chan—during summers as a youth. Around 1995 he went with Jacky Cheung to Los Angeles and briefly took music lessons from famed vocal coach Joel Ewing. The lessons were apparently effective, as producers started taking notice of Cheng’s voice and he was signed to a recording contract soon thereafter. Cheng first shot to popularity in Taiwan before returning home and enjoying some success in Hong Kong. However, his singing career went into a lull from 2000-2003 due to the infamous “air rage incident” (more on this later) and has only recently rebounded.