Musician Jeremy Lee (李振全) has won the ninth Hybrid Original Tournament despite having severe paralysis due to spinal cord injuries.
With the help of singer Liu Meng-chia (劉孟佳) and guitarist Chen Pao-sheng (陳寶升), Lee competed with about 150 teams in the “slashie’s group,” won a semi-final held at Kaohsiung’s Hanshin Arena last month and was crowned the champion with the song This Night, We Say Goodbye (這一夜我們說再見).
A native of Tainan, Lee, 38, started learning to play guitar and writing songs in junior-high school, which aroused his passion for music, and went on to win a national music competition with his band at university.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
Just before he signed a contract with a record company 10 years ago, he was involved in a serious traffic accident, which left him paralyzed from the neck down.
The accident did not end his music career, thanks to the invention of a mouth-operated computer trackpad, which allowed him to create music with his computer and continue his musical dream, Lee said.
Lee and his partners finished his first album, Move On, in 2019 and recently launched a mini-album, All the Way Youth (一路青年), after writing and recording all of the music in a small living room before releasing it online.
Lee released the first album under his own name, but was frequently asked whether he was the lead singer. All of the songs were performed by his friends, as he can barely sing more than three words due to the injury.
He later came up with the band name Jeremy ’n Friends, under which he cooperated with his friends and released the second mini-album. They performed at Tainan’s Wan Sha Performing Arts Center last month to promote All the Way Youth.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), after hearing Lee’s inspiring story, attended the concert and gave Lee’s mother flowers for Mother’s Day.
Lee said that winning the competition had inspired him to continue writing more songs.
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