Wakin Chau was born in a rice store owned by his family in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong. Growing up as the fourth son in a family of seven, Wakin Chau picked up a guitar and learned to play when he was about 13 years old. In 1979, he set off to major in mathematics at National Taiwan University in Taipei, where he became enthusiastically involved in the popular campus tradition among students, singing and playing original folk songs in local coffee shops. During this period Wakin learned to sing in Mandarin, and this would be key to his future as a music-maker in Taiwan.With his hopes high for a successful career as a recording artist, Wakin sought out contacts in the music industry, but he met discouragement at every turn. That finally led him to set his sights on a seemingly more practical alternative: becoming a record producer. So he gave up his dream of being a performer and joined Rock Records as an assistant producer, writing wonderful songs for other artists.

But finally, opportunity knocked at Rock. Wakin was encouraged by Chyi Yu to sing some jingles for commercial advertising spots. One of these tunes was for a car commercial, and it happened to catch the attention of Wakin's boss. Almost as an afterthought he remarked, "Is that your voice? Why don't you release an album?"

So Wakin recorded and released his first Mandarin album under the Rock Records label in 1987. In an interesting twist of fate, Wakin had struggled to become a singer, had settled on being a record producer, and while working as a producer he became a singer! A dream come true by detour.And it was a detour of particular good fortune. While working diligently at Rock as a producer, Wakin met an American girl named Constance Woods, whose father was in Taiwan as a Fulbright scholar. Having plenty in common — including birthdays only one day apart — Wakin and Constance began to date, got engaged and then on 16 November 1986, they were married in Taipei. (Four months later there was another ceremony with family and friends in the United States of America on 14 March 1987). They now have a son and a daughter.Emil Chau Wakin's career in music has soared ever since. From 1985, he has released more than 40 records in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, becoming an important name in the music of Taiwan and appealing to music lovers around the globe. His platinum albums such as You Make Me Happy and Sad, The Flowery Heart, Music Brings Us Together, and Emil & Friends have brought him numerous awards from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. And with his burgeoning international popularity, Wakin packs concert halls wherever he goes. His concert productions have remained relatively simple by Asian standards: usually no mirrors, no smoke or explosions, no colored lights — just Wakin, his guitar, and his backup musicians.Alongside his singing career, Wakin has appeared in a number of films and has hosted TV and radio shows in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Besides being a successful restaurant owner, he is also very active in international charitable causes, such as kidney disease charities in Singapore, the December 2000 all-star concert in Las Vegas, the January 2002 "Take a Deep Breath" concert in Taipei to raise money for local health-care organizations, and Beijing's 4th Grand Charity Drive for Children in 2005.