Kit Chan
Template:Infobox Chinese-language singer and actor
Kit Chan (simplified Chinese: 陈洁仪; traditional Chinese: 陳潔儀; pinyin: Chén Jiéyí, born 15 September 1972, Singapore) is a Singaporean singer and actress.
Early life
Chan is the third daughter in a family of four sisters.
Chan studied in Fairfield Methodist School (Primary), Raffles Girls' School, Raffles Junior College and Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts.[1] During Chan's six-year hiatus from the music scene from 2004 to 2010, she returned to LaSalle as a mature student. She wrote a thesis on the psychology of performance and graduated with first-class honors.[2]
Entertainment Career (1993-Present)
Since her debut in 1993, Chan has worked in singing, theatre, television drama, poetry, song-writing, entrepreneurship and creative direction. In 1994, Chan released the album "心痛" (Heartache) into the Taiwanese market. She subsequently released more albums regionally including “喜欢你” (Liking You), “炫耀” (Dazzling), and “担心” (Worried), performing in parts of Asia, the United States, Korea, and New Zealand, as well as collaborating with symphonies and orchestras in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Chan was the first solo artiste to perform the National Day Parade theme song “Home” (家) in 1998. It later become the tradition for pop artistes doing so each year. Chan took a hiatus in 2004 from her performing career to further her studies and joined international PR consultancy Hill & Knowlton as a campaign specialist in 2007. She worked on the Ministry of Defence's 2009 Total Defence campaign, 'What Will You Defend?'.[2] She left the company after 19 months.[3][4]
Chan has also worked linguistically and theatrically, with her Cantopop, and English albums. She has held lead roles in the Hong Kong musical Snow.Wolf.Lake with Jacky Cheung – both the Cantonese version in 1997 and the Mandarin production in 2005 – followed by The Legend (where she played the late Teresa Teng), and "Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress" (where she played the young Empress Dowager Cixi)– first performed in 2002 as part of the Esplanade's opening programme, and again in 2003. Chan has also played the lead in the Dutch-Hong Kong production of "East Meets West", and the Taiwanese musical "What's Love Got to Do with It?".
In September 2006, she reprised her role again in "Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress", as part of a plan to make this musical internationally recognised, in the hope of going on a world tour. Chan later fronted the first Singapore Day in New York City in 2007. After her corporate sojourn, Chan performed the commissioned theme song “One World” at the APEC 2009 Gala Night and returned the theatre as leading lady (Li Qing) in the Mandarin musical – “雨季” (December Rains) at Esplanade Theatre in 2010. In the same year, she sang “Home” for the third time at the National Day Parade. Chan was also a member of the cast of the television drama Healing Hands II, the sequel to TVB's medical drama Healing Hands in 2000. She was the female lead in SPH MediaWorks Channel U's drama serial Cash is King. Chan also acted in the 2010 film "Lover's Discourse".
In 2011, Chan released her first studio album since 2004《重譯 陳潔儀》(Re-interpreting Kit Chan) and staged two solo concerts in collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) at Esplanade Concert Hall, as the anchor performance of the Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts 2011. In the same year, she held her three-night solo concert "The Music Room" at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theater. Also in 2011, Chan worked with Nexus, Ministry of Defence as Creative Director for the Total Defence "Home – Keeping It Together" Campaign 2011. She was also executive producer for the remake of the "Home" MV, which featured 39 local artistes spanning different genres, eras and races, including Max Surin, Dick Lee, Taufik Batisah, JJ Lin, and Stefanie Sun.[5] She wrote the theme song "倔强" for the MediaCorp Channel 8 anniversary drama Devotion, which won Best Drama Theme Song award at the 2012 Star Awards. Concerts themed 《傾城》were also held in Hong Kong.[6]
In 2014, Chan performed in her first leading film role in Jason Lai's Miss J Contemplates Her Choice as the titular Miss J, who offers advice to callers on a radio talk show. The film premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in December.[7] In 2014, Chan reportedly underwent a surgical procedure that left her barely able to speak, however she completed her 'Spellbound' concert eventually in 2015 at Star Theatre.[8][9][10] She also participated China reality singing contest I Am A Singer where Chinese critic Deng Ke remarked that Kit Chan can’t sing.[11] She announced her retirement from performing at the National Day Parades in 2015 after making her last NDP performance.[12]
She launched her latest album in July 2016 with original songs titled "The Edge of Paradise 天堂邊緣"
Chan has published a collection of her English poems (Cork out of my Head) in 2000 in Taiwan, I Write a Page in 2000 in Singapore, and a fiction book (together with friend Siew Fern Yong) called Cathy and Jodie: The Princess and the Flea.[13]
Community involvement
In 1998, Chan was appointed as the first National Youth Ambassador for Singapore's National Youth Council. She served for two years.[1] From 2001-2005, she served as a council member with the National Youth Council.[13] In 2002 the Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia Centre awarded her an Award for Excellence in Youth Work.[1]
In 2007, Chan was appointed to the board of the National Heritage Board over a two-year period, reaching out to the Singapore audience and linking with the creative industries.[14]
She is also the ambassador to the Christian relief organization "World Vision".
In 2015, she sang the theme song for Channel 8 Blockbuster The Dream Makers II.
Business ventures
Chan has invested in two boutiques in Singapore, Flowers in the Attic and Roses in the Loft.[1]
In 2010, Chan set up her own record label, named after her singing group Banshee Empire from when she was in secondary school.[15]
Personal life
On 8 December 2012, Chan married her long-time boyfriend, known only as Han and was a finance director, whom she first met in 2000.[16] The couple had since divorced in 2017.[17]
Discography
| Date of release | Title |
|---|---|
| September 1993 |
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| November 1994 |
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| June 1995 |
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| June 1996 |
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| December 1996 |
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| December 1997 |
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| May 1998 |
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| May 1998 |
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| August 1998 |
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| August 1999 |
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| January 2000 |
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| April 2000 |
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| June 2000 |
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| March 2001 |
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| January 2002 |
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| September 2002 |
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| 28 September 2003 |
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| July 2004 |
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| August 2008 |
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| April 2009 |
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| April 2009 |
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| 25 January 2011 |
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| 15 October 2011 |
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| 25 January 2016 |
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| 5 July 2016 |
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| 5 October 2018 |
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Stage
| Year | Performance type | Title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 |
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| 1998 |
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| 2001 |
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| 2002 |
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| 2002 |
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| 2003 |
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| 2003 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2006 |
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| 2009 |
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| 2010 |
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| 2011 |
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| 2011 |
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| 2012 |
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| 2015 |
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| 2017 |
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Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Eating Air | Mysterious Girl | |
| 2010 | Lover's Discourse | Mrs. Lai | |
| 2014 | Miss J Contemplates Her Choice | Miss J | Premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival |
Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Healing Hands II | Dorothy Yuen | |
| 2004 | Cash Is King | Huang Jin Hao |
Web series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Patisserie Fighting | See Yu Tin | Mediacorp Toggle Web-series |
Awards
| Years | Awards |
|---|---|
| 1994 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1999 |
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| 1999 |
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| 2000 |
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| 2000 |
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| 2000 |
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Star Awards
| Year | Award | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Best Theme Song | Myths & Legends of Singapore | Nominated |
| 2000 | Best Theme Song | My Home Affairs | Won |
| 2012 | Best Theme Song | Devotion | Won |
| 2016 | Best Theme Song | The Dream Makers II | Won |
References
- ^ a b c d "Kit Chan : first Youth Ambassador". Archived from the original on 7 March 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Kit Chan".
- ^ "Kit Chan: From showbiz to office and back again".
- ^ "Kit is back in showbiz". Archived from the original on 24 August 2010.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Singapore classic "Home" gets remade for Total Defence Day".
- ^ "The Final Roar at Singapore's National Stadium".
- ^ "Miss J Contemplates Her Choice". SGIFF. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Kit Chan Spellbound Concert 2015". VizPro. MediaCorp VizPro International Pte Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Toh, Christopher. "Concert review: Kit Chan's Spellbound". Today. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ Han, Wei Chou. "Kit Chan enthralls at Spellbound concert in Singapore". ChannelNews Asia. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ Quek, Eugene. "The shocking reason behind Kit Chan's exit from I Am A Singer!". her world plus. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ Hio, Lester. "Kit Chan says this year may be her last NDP performance". Straits Times. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ a b "CREATIVE YOUTH XCHANGE @ HELLO KITTY WINNERS UNVEILED" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD CHARTS FRESH DIRECTIONS WITH THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "FINDING HER VOICE". Jetstar Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Soh, Elizabeth. "Local songbird Kit Chan ties the knot". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Newly-single Kit Chan opens up about her divorce - Toggle". Toggle. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "KIT CHAN". Retrieved 4 December 2015.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- Use dmy dates from February 2012
- 1972 births
- Living people
- Raffles Junior College alumni
- Singaporean people of Cantonese descent
- Singaporean composers
- Singaporean female singers
- Singaporean Mandopop singers
- TVB actors
- Singaporean expatriates in Hong Kong
- Cantopop singers
- Raffles Girls' Secondary School alumni
- 20th-century Singaporean singers
- 21st-century Singaporean singers