“I love the stage and the love of friends who appreciate my music. I will never forget the voice of cheering I hear today. As I step on to the stage and immerse myself in the melodies, I offer my music as thanks for your love.”
(Translation of extracted lyrics from The Sound Of Applause, published in 1987. Composed by Chan Chun-hing ; lyrics by Cheng Kok-kong. )

The concert was a staple of pop culture in Hong Kong even before large venues such as the Hong Kong Coliseum were built. Lounges and bars continued to play host to gigs as the music scene flourished in the mid-1970s, while nightclubs vied to invite singers with a strong appeal in order to attract customers. Larger solo pop concerts were mostly held at venues such as City Hall, the Academic Community Hall and the Lee Theatre. Roman held his first solo pop concert at the Palace Theatre in 1976. The popularity of the theme song for the drama series The Romantic Swordsman, however, soon prompted him to expand his stage performances to other venues, and, riding on the wave of the public’s enthusiasm, he presented a concert at the Lee Theatre in 1978. With his songs increasingly finding an adoring audience among Chinese people around the world, he started touring Southeast Asia, Europe and the US. Following their completion in the 1980s, the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui quickly became the major performance venues for pop music and generated a boom in pop concerts in Hong Kong.

A born singer with a natural talent for public performance, Roman loved the stage with a passion. He was also an advocate of aesthetic beauty who strove to provide his audience with perfect audio and visual entertainment in his stage performances. Roman developed an acute sense for fashion and absorbed the essence of stagecraft during his years in Japan from 1974 to 1977, and when he returned to Hong Kong he brought with him the latest Japanese trends to create a unique image for himself. Initially criticised as peculiar and eccentric, he gradually earned first acceptance and then recognition as an innovator ahead of his time, eventually building an inimitable style and a distinct stage presence. He would meticulously craft a look and accompanying stage movements for each of his songs. For The Romantic Swordsman, he would wear a cape to show the tenderness of a chivalrous mind, while for Pussy Cat he would wear fluffy scarves to present a seductive act. Within The Laser always saw him wearing sunglasses and rapping out his avant-garde music under bright spotlights. In Bad Lover, he used an old-fashioned microphone to underline his character as a romantic, free-spirited man, while the heroism of Cotton Tree was accompanied by classically exalted gestures with a traditional Chinese paper fan. As Roman put heart and soul into his performance, the audience responded with delirious delight.

Engrossed by the craft of stage performance, Roman was dedicated to innovation and, enchanted by Broadway musicals, he was also inspired to create shows for Chinese artistes. Backing his judgment by investing his own money, he produced two Cantonese musicals – Legend Of The White Snake and Liuyi’s Letter – with the specially founded Roman Tam Production Company Limited in 1982 and 1984. Both shows were based on Chinese traditional folklore, with the stories retold through music and dance. The format not only opened up new fertile ground for Roman’s musical endeavours, it also pioneered the Cantonese musical. While the productions provided little financial return, they received plenty of acclaim and gave Roman huge encouragement as he developed his future artistic direction.