Taiwanese singer and Internet sensation Lin Yu-chun (林育群) wowed US audiences on Wednesday with his impeccable rendition of I Will Always Love You on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The talk show host used the word “unbelievable” several times as she expressed her admiration for Lin’s rendition of the song that was written by Dolly Parton and made famous by Whitney Houston.
At the end of his performance, during which he also sang Amazing Grace, the studio audience gave Lin a standing ovation.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Wearing his trademark shirt, vest and bow tie, Lin also performed a short dance piece at the start of his appearance on the show.
The 24-year-old told DeGeneres that he was inspired by the success story of Susan Boyle, a Scottish singer who came to international attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent in April last year and sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.
Lin vaulted to fame after a video showing him singing I Will Always Love You was posted on YouTube on April 6. The clip, from his performance on talent show One Million Stars (超級星光大道), immediately went viral, propelling him to worldwide stardom.
Lin, who weighs 110kg and is nicknamed “little fatty,” admitted on the talk show that he had been bullied during his childhood because of his weight.
Prompted to offer some advice to other children who may be facing the same problem, Lin said: “There is a reason for everyone’s existence. Be confident. The best way to get back at them [the bullies] is to be more successful than they are.”
DeGeneres endorsed Lin’s advice, putting her arm around his shoulders and saying: “That’s the best revenge.”
TMZ, a popular celebrity news Web site, posted an article on Wednesday introducing Lin as “the Taiwanese male Whitney Houston.”
Lin was also interviewed for Wednesday’s edition of the Lopez Tonight talk show.
On the show, he sang Saving All My Love For You, another of Houston’s hits, and he performed Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart in a duet with Canadian actor William Shatner.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’