Romeo Diaz

He won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Film Score for A Terra-Cotta Warrior (1990).

• Name — Romeo Diaz • Other Names — Lo-dik Tai Lok-man • Born — 1948 or 1949 • Birthplace — Hong Kong • Occupation — Composer, record producer, music director

Diaz was born in 1948 or 1949 in Hong Kong and is of Filipino descent. He was initially known by the Chinese name Lo-dik. His father was a professional musician, and he has eight siblings who were all musically savvy. When Diaz was 17 or 18 years old, his father lost his job, causing Diaz and his brothers to start performing at nightclubs to financially support their family. They attended La Salle College but after school officials found out about their occupation, they had to drop out.

Diaz began his musical career in the 1960s as a member of the Hong Kong pop group Danny Diaz & The Checkmates with his two brothers, Danny Diaz and Rudy Diaz. The trio won The Battle of the Sounds, a music competition hosted by Levi's where musical groups competed in a football stadium for a $10,000 prize and funding to do worldwide travel. Diaz played the organ, piano, saxophone and flute. Teddy Robin received second place in the competition that year. The StarPhoenixs Ned Powers praised a 1974 performance the group had at The A-Four club in Saskatoon, writing, "A convincing piece amidst all of this is 'Joy', by Bach, a fine instrumental built mostly around Romeo's work on organ and flute." The South China Morning Post reviewed a performance the trio did in 1977 at the Harbour Room. The newspaper praised Diaz for being "superb on alto" and for his "show-stopping rendition" of the song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". Noting that Diaz did the group's musical arrangements, the South China Morning Post lauded him for creating "an excellent arrangement along the lines of something that Ray Conniff might have done". Between early 1969 and April 1973, the band performed at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. The South China Morning Posts Mansha Daswani said, "until 1972, the trio were regarded as among Hong Kong's premier entertainers". The trio moved from Hong Kong to Acapulco, Mexico, in 1973. In 1975, they moved from Acapulco to Canada. The trio in 1982 ended their band. Danny Diaz explained, "Individually, we each decided it was time. There's life beyond a band and life beyond brothers." In the 1980s, Romeo Diaz relocated back to Hong Kong, where Daswani said he "gained considerable success in the Canto-pop industry". In the 1970 he started to compose for many singers in Hong Kong and Asia. In 1983 he became the resident musical director for EMI records in Hong Kong. James Wong changed Diaz's Chinese name from Lo-dik to Tai Lok-man in 1987 as Wong felt the previous name was unsuitable for a musician.

Romeo Diaz is married to Christine Samson who was in the 1960s band D'Topnotes. He has two children, Adam and Krystal Diaz. He lives in Hong Kong.

• Adam Diaz is a composer, arranger, record producer, and guitarist of Hong Kong local bands. He was a guitarist in the Hong Kong band Dear Jane. • Krystal Diaz is a singer-songwriter who was a vocal coach on The Voice (Hong Kong season 3) of TVB's singing competition The Voice.

• Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1985 — Yes, Madam — Corey Yuen • 1986 — Righting Wrongs • Royal Warriors — David Chung • 1987 — A Chinese Ghost Story — Ching Siu-tung • 1988 — Fury — Wang Lung-wei • I Love Maria — David Chung • Bet on Fire — Joe Cheung • 1989 — Casino Raiders — Jimmy Heung Wong Jing • A Terra-Cotta Warrior — Ching Siu-tung • Just Heroes — John Woo Wu Ma • 1990 — Bullet in the Head — John Woo • The Swordsman — King Hu Ching Siu-tung Tsui Hark Raymond Lee • 1991 — A Chinese Ghost Story III — Ching Siu-tung • Once Upon a Time in China — Tsui Hark • 1993 — City Hunter — Wong Jing • Fong Sai-yuk — Corey Yuen • Jia ri qing wei le — Kevin Chu • 1994 — The Great Conqueror's Concubine — Stephen Shin

• Best Original Film Score for the film Fight and Love with a Terracotta Warrior at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards • Silver place of the Best Commercial Song Awards at the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards in 1991