Alan Tam will appear for his The Songs That Touches concert on Dec 10 at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium. Zou Hong / China Daily

Alan Tam performs in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. An Dong / for China Daily

The 62-year-old singer, actor and businessman Alan Tam says he still feels like a 25-year-old. Chen Nan reports.

Veteran singer-actor Alan Tam, 62, jogs every day, even after a two-hour concert or shooting a TV show. This regime obviously helps him sing long medleys while running around the Hong Kong Coliseum and saying hello to more than 10,000 fans, without getting out of breath. "I don't think about retirement. As long as I can reach the notes, I will keep going. I am forever 25," says Tam, who has been a performer for 40 years.

Wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of cool sunglasses, Tam showed up in Beijing recently to announce a gig in the capital on Dec 10 at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium, in which he will croon his classic love ballads, such as Half Dazed, Half Awoken, Love Trap and Flower in Water.

The concert, titled The Songs That Touches, will be the second in Beijing, after his first in 1993.

The three concerts for 18,000 fans each night put Tam among the first group of Hong Kong singers to enter the mainland music market during the 1990s.

The concerts followed an appearance on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 1990, singing Flower in Water, in Mandarin, which was an instant hit.

"I had a good time with the fans. They followed me to the hotel after the concert," Tam recalls. "Now I return to Beijing after 18 years and want to thank them."

He promises that he will sing for more than three hours and dance like a 25-year-old, once again, for his upcoming concert.

Tam made his name in the 1970s singing romantic Cantopop ballads and was still going strong in the 1980s, with hits, such as Love in Autumn and Embrace, which were Tam's first major commercial successes and won him numerous music awards in Hong Kong.

He credits his early success to the help of his band, The Wynners, which he formed with friends and disbanded in 1978. They performed mostly in English and their fashionable looks and original songs, made them one of the most popular teen idol groups in Hong Kong at the time.

Tam recalls when the band first appeared on TVB variety shows: "We were so immature and made lots of mistakes," he laughs. "I remember every 'first time' with them, the first album in 1974 and the first sold-out concert."

The members, Kenny Bee, Bennett Pang, Danny Yip and Anthony Chan, often attend Tam's concerts as special guests. "Singing with them is so good," he says.

Tam has more than 1,000 songs under his name and has held more than 500 concerts around the world. He calls the Hong Kong Coliseum his second home.

Though he is known for his signature ballads, he has experimented with different musical styles. For his 2009 album, Mr. Tam, he worked with the pioneering Hong Kong rock band, Mr, injecting electronic and rock music into his songs. For his upcoming Beijing concert, he will also try out some Peking Opera.

"I'm just trying to make music that makes sense to me and I trust other people will be interested."

Tam is also a respected actor and took the Best Actor Award at the Golden Horse Award for his role in If I Were For Real, in 1980. He also runs his own music company.

His nickname, "Principal Tam", originated in the 1980s, when he held concerts every summer and fans attended, just like at school.

"People have given me various titles and names, because I am a singer, actor, businessman and a principal. I just like to keep myself busy," he says. "Maybe because my father was a professional soccer player, I was born with endless energy."

Tam is often asked to give advice to the new generation of celebrities and Tam usually responds that, as a singer, he would continue to sing even if he only had one fan.

"It's too easy to get music today and there is less respect for the music. You hear a new song, or a new singer, but soon you forget about them because new songs and singers keep arriving. If you want to stand out and last, you have to persist."