Mike Tsang Pei-tak (; born 7 November 1993), better known simply as Mike, is a Hong Kong singer, who burst onto the music scene when his debut single "I Am Not Good Enough" () topped three of Hong Kong's five broadcaster music charts in 2021, a feat very few newcomers have accomplished. Debuting under the Universal Music Hong Kong label, Tsang went on to win several new artist awards, and in 2024, Outstanding Singer Awards in both the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards and Metro Radio Hits Music Awards ceremonies.
He was able to break into the highly competitive non-Cantonese-speaking Chinese mainland market when only in his second year, and in 2023, held his first concert tour spanning nine Chinese cities from Shanghai and Chengdu to the Greater Bay Area. In 2024, Tsang was further introduced to Southeast Asian and Taiwanese audiences when he sang for Wong Kar-wai's Blossoms Shanghai and TVB's Happily Ever After?, with both drama songs topping streaming charts for the first time in mainland China and Taiwan / Singapore / Malaysia respectively.
Tsang joined Emperor Entertainment Group in late 2025 and went on to take part in the highly prestigious Opening Ceremony of the 15th National Games of China. No stranger to national performances, Tsang often represented Hong Kong in stage collaborations with singers from the Mainland, Taiwan and Macau. By 2026, he was regularly singing in Cantopop on Chinese national television, whether in CMG galas or top notch music shows such as Singer and Infinity and Beyond.
Early life Born in Shanwei City, Guangdong, China, Tsang is the youngest of three. The family moved to Hong Kong when he was around 6 and settled down in the Lower Ngau Tau Kok public housing estate, a government housing project for low-income families. With the passing of his father when Tsang was only 10 years old, his mother was forced to take on various jobs while bringing up three young children on her own. Times were hard and Tsang has often expressed admiration for his mother's tenacity and strength, as she allowed her children to pursue their dreams despite limited means.Multiple sources
Tsang's growing love for music began in secondary school, when he was invited into the school choir by his music teacher. He is a self-taught pianist and guitarist, and as a student, was constantly working odd jobs to pay for his singing lessons. Upon graduation from the Hong Kong Design Institute’s Digital Music and Media programme, Tsang worked as a sound engineer as well as a part-time singing instructor, alongside singing gigs at events, restaurants, weddings and shopping malls.
Since high school, Tsang has been a regular winner in the amateur singing competition circuit, with accolades including Open Group Champion in the HKSAR 20th anniversary Galaxy Rising Star Singing Contest in 2017, as well as in the 2017 Hong Kong i-SiNG championship, whereupon he represented Hong Kong in the i-SiNG World Singing Competition in Yangon, ultimately placing fourth in the finals.
Music career 2019–2021: Initial success Tsang came into the public eye in the 2019 ViuTV reality competition show King Maker II. Despite finishing eighth, his singing and personality caught the attention of renowned music producer and composer Eric Kwok, who introduced him to sign up with Universal Music Hong Kong in 2020.
On 8 January 2021, Tsang released his debut single "I Am Not Good Enough" (我不如 aka Wo Bu Ru), which shot to No.1 in three of Hong Kong's five broadcaster charts (Commercial Radio's Ultimate Song Chart; TVB's Jade Solid Gold Song Chart and ViuTV's Chill Club Music chart), while placing second in the fourth (RTHK Chinese Gold Song chart). One year later, when Billboard launched the Hits of the World charts for Hong Kong Songs in February 2022, "I Am Not Good Enough" (Wo Bu Ru) was still charting at No.17.Multiple sources
In December 2021, Tsang was awarded Best Male Newcomer (Bronze) in Commercial Radio's Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation 2021, and subsequently in July 2022 (delayed due to pandemic), Best Male Newcomer (Gold) in the Hong Kong Gold Songs Award Presentation Ceremony 2021/2022 jointly organised by TVB and RTHK, with "I Am Not Good Enough" earning him his first Top 10 Gold Song Award.Multiple sources
2022: Introduction to Chinese audiences 2022 was a breakout year for Tsang. He was selected to participate in a major mainland China reality singing competition Infinity and Beyond (Cantopop Season) which was jointly produced by Hong Kong's TVB and China's Mango TV/Hunan Television. He created such an impression that Mango TV invited him to join their signature reality show Call Me by Fire (season 2) back-to-back, thereby introducing him to non-Cantonese speaking Chinese audiences nationwide. This success led to several new opportunities, including his first solo album; first solo concert and invitations to perform in China's prestigious CCTV gala shows.
Infinity and Beyond
Tsang's surprise win in Episode 1 of Infinity and Beyond (where his cover of Samantha Lam's 1984 hit "First Love" (初戀) was voted top performance among all 16 participants who included veterans George Lam, Sally Yeh, Hacken Lee, Li Jian, Miriam Yeung and Coco Lee), coupled with his lively personality; iconic afro hairstyle, and most notably his singing prowess, made him into one of the most exciting breakout stars of the series.Multiple sources As a result, Tsang's popularity skyrocketed in China, especially in the Cantonese-speaking regions in the south. His Weibo follower count shot up from 3,500 fans before start of show in April 2022 to break 1 million in July. "First Love" recorded 1.4 million views on the official YouTube channels within 2 weeks of posting, making it one of Mango TV's most popular stage performances of the year.Multiple sources
Infinity and Beyond was aired over mainstream TV in both Hong Kong and mainland China, and by the end of 13 episodes, recorded an accumulated viewership count of 160 million people, not including online release. As of June 2024, online viewership at the Mango TV platform has exceeded 210 million on average for each episode of the season.
Call Me by Fire 2
On the contrary, Call Me by Fire (season 2) would prove to be a greater challenge. Invited to join on the back of his previous success, Tsang had by far the least experience among all participants in the show's history. When filming began in June 2022, he had only debuted less than 18 months before. Compared to the other seasoned musicians and performers including veteran superstars like Alex To, Richie Ren, Vanness Wu, Alec Su etc., Tsang was almost an unknown to non-Cantonese speaking audiences at the start of show.Multiple sources In a contest where audience popularity voting was the determining factor, he was able to impress sufficiently with his few performances, and avoided elimination to reach the finals.Multiple sources Although he could not make the final selection, Tsang called this a highly rewarding experience, both in terms of personal growth and friendships with fellow contestants who were top tier performers and musical minds in their own right.
Call Me by Fire (season 2), broadcast online via the Mango TV platform, had an audience reach nationwide, with Episode 1 alone recording 171 million views on the first day of upload (more than 10% of the entire nation's population). As of June 2024, online viewership at the Mango TV platform has exceeded 310 million on average for each episode of the season.
First Solo Album, Solo Concert and CCTV Galas
In April 2022, Tsang's fifth Cantonese single "I'd Thought" () was released just ahead of the Infinity and Beyond broadcast, and eventually took the top spot in the RTHK Chinese Gold Song chart in Hong Kong, as well as Music FM Radio Guangdong's Cantopop weekly chart (粵語歌曲排行榜)* and the Chinese Music Awards Weekly Ranking (華語金曲榜)* in mainland China.Multiple sources One week later, "Run On!" (奔跑吧！)* was re-released in Mandarin and reached No.1 on the nationwide Music Pioneer chart (音樂先鋒榜) in China.
Tsang published his first studio album MIKE on 18 May 2022. Accumulated sales topped the Hong Kong Record Merchants Association Best Selling Album chart for 3 consecutive weeks, making him the third best selling local artist of the year, sharing the spot jointly with G.E.M and the late Leslie Cheung.Multiple sources
On 19 and 27 August 2022 respectively, Tsang held his first ever solo concerts Mike 2022 MULTIFACETED (曾比特2022點亮多面精彩音樂會)* at live houses in Guangzhou and Foshan, both nights fully sold out.
On 10 September 2022, Tsang was invited to perform in 2 separate events on China Central Television (CCTV) to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, namely, the annual CMG Mid-Autumn Festival Gala (the Mid-Autumn equivalent to the Spring Festival Gala), and the China Movie Channel (CCTV-6) Mid-Autumn Online Gala show (「明月知我」閩江之心中秋電影雲歌會)*. Both events were televised nationwide. This was a huge honour for the young singer who had only started out in the Mainland less than five months before.
Return to Hong Kong
Tsang returned to Hong Kong in November 2022 and promptly released his new single, the slow swing "Hello Again" (重見)* on 2 December. This song became his second Hong Kong triple chart-topper after "I Am Not Good Enough" (我不如),Multiple sources at the same time reaching the No.1 spot in the Music FM Radio Guangdong's Cantopop weekly chart and the Chinese Music Awards Weekly Ranking in Mainland China, as well as the Sing Tao A1 Pop Chart in Canada.Multiple sources When asked about his plans going forward, Tsang had indicated at that time that he hoped to focus equally on both Cantonese and Mandarin songs to cater to his fans from different areas.
Despite a 9-month absence from the Hong Kong music scene in 2022, many TVB viewers who watched the Hong Kong broadcast of Infinity and Beyond came to know Tsang favourably for the first time. Viewership count for the TVB broadcast averaged 1.18 million per episode and Tsang was able to expand his listener base as a result. At year-end, he won the Buzz New Male Singer Award in the 2022 Yahoo! Asia Multiverse Buzz Awards, as well as Best Breakthrough Singer in the Metro Radio Hits Music Awards 2022, while "I'd Thought" (我以為)* bagged the Top 10 Hit Songs of the Year award.
2023–2025: National performances and Overseas markets In spite of his breakout in the Chinese market in 2022, the next three years were relatively quiet for Tsang as a solo recording artist, with only one original song published each year. Other than a few compilation projects spearheaded by his record label,Multiple sources this period was characterized by live performances rather than music output. Universal Music Hong Kong (UMHK) had undergone significant changes between 2023 and 2024: from new senior management to a shift in market focus as well as corporate layoffs,Multiple sources and Tsang revealed in later interviews that the ensuing personnel changes had stalled almost all music production during that time.Multiple sources He also confirmed having completed recording of his second album in early 2025, but up until the end of his contract with UMG mid-year, said album was not published.Multiple sources
Even so, the few songs released fared well in Hong Kong and mainland China, culminating in a number of year-end song and artist awards. In particular, the drama theme songs for Wong Kar Wai's Blossoms Shanghai and TVB's Happily Ever After? introduced Tsang's name to wider Chinese audiences, following the international broadcast of both TV series. By 2025, the Mandopop single "Wellbeing', his sole release for the year, was charting simultaneously on Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Canada's Chinese broadcasting stations.