Kenny Bee
This article needs to be updated. (November 2012) |
Chung Chun-to (born 23 February 1953), also known by his stage name Kenny Bee, is a Hong Kong singer, musician and actor. He is best known as the singer of the group the Wynners, and as a solo artist who has been active in the Hong Kong entertainment industry for nearly three decades.
Kenny Bee | |||||||||||
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| Born | Chung Chun-to 23 February 1953 | ||||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1973–present | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Fan-jiang Su-zhen (m. 2014) | ||||||||||
| Children | 4 | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鍾鎮濤 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 钟镇涛 | ||||||||||
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| Musical career | |||||||||||
| Genres | Cantopop, Mandopop, Hong Kong English pop | ||||||||||
| Instrument(s) |
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Career
Bee made his break into the Hong Kong entertainment industry in 1973 as a member of the popular 1970s band, the Wynners (溫拿樂隊), sharing vocal duties with Alan Tam. Before joining the Wynners, he was a vocalist and saxophonist on the Hong Kong nightclub circuit, and briefly fronted a band called the Sergeant Majors.
Acting
As members of the Wynners went separate ways in 1978, Bee embarked on a solo career as an actor in Taiwan, playing lead roles in a number of romantic movies, amongst which were The Story of a Small Town, (directed by Li Hsing, 1979), Good Morning, Taipei (directed by Li Hsing, 1979), both of which won the Golden Horse Award, and The Green, Green Grass of Home (directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1983).
In the eighties Bee moved his base back to Hong Kong, and has since amassed a large number of movie credits, mainly in the genre of romantic comedies. Career highlights include "Let's Make Laugh" (directed by Alfred Cheung, 1983), "Shanghai Blues" (directed by Tsui Hark, 1984), "Fist of Fury 1991" (with Stephen Chow, 1991), "the Chinese Feast" (directed by Tsui Hark, 1995) and "Initial D" (directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, 2005). In addition, he was credited as the director for "100 Ways to Murder Your Wife" (starring himself, Chow Yun-fat and Anita Mui, 1986).
Musicianship
Alongside acting, Bee develops his career as a solo singer-songwriter and has released over fifty studio and compilation albums, in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, to date. The 1980s marked the peak of Bee's popularity with the Hong Kong audience so far, during which four of his studio albums went gold and two went platinum.[1] Notable hits from this period include "Let Everything Be Gone With the Wind" (讓一切隨風), "If We Were Meant To Be" (要是有緣) and "A Romance" (一段情).
Known for a distinct, husky voice, the singer penned most of his own hits and plays multiple instruments. In the early days he was often seen on stage with keyboards or a saxophone. In recent performances he usually accompanies himself with a guitar.
Bee released his latest Cantonese solo album, Escape (濤出新天), in December 2006, backed by his new band Black Tea.
Recently, Bee partnered with violin luthier Scott Cao to design their own line of classical guitars, "Bonstar." In 2008, Bee performed a series of solo concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum, as well as in Singapore and Macau. Aside from working solo, the Wynners continued their world tour.
Personal life
Bee has a blood brother and six half brothers and sisters, with his father a former real estate agent.[2] He married socialite-turned-actress Teresa Cheung in 1988, with whom he had a son, Nicholas Bee, and a daughter, Chloe Bee. The marriage ended in a high-profile divorce in 1999, feeding tabloids with stories on extramarital affairs, lavish spending habits and financial troubles for many months to come. Bee filed for personal bankruptcy in 2002, which expired on 17 October 2006.
He is currently living with his second wife Fan Jiang, with whom he has two daughters, Chung Yee (Blythe Belle) and Chung Kwok.
In December 2007, Bee released an autobiography, MacDonnell Road, named after a street in Hong Kong he grew up on.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Let's Rock | ||
| 1976 | Gonna Get You | ||
| 1977 | Rainbow in My Heart | ||
| Chelsia, My Love | |||
| 1978 | Making It | ||
| 1979 | The Story of a Small Town | ||
| Good Morning, Taipei | |||
| All's Well that Does Well | |||
| 1980 | Sai Fung Dik Ku Heung | ||
| The Spooky Bunch | |||
| Cute Girl | aka Lovable You | ||
| Don't Forget the Promise | |||
| Spring in Autumn | |||
| Burning Love | |||
| Love Comes from the Sea | |||
| 1981 | Errant Love | ||
| My Cape of Many Dreams | |||
| Another Spring | aka Once Again with Love | ||
| Bang Bang Yat Chun Sam | |||
| The Funniest Movie | |||
| Undated Wedding | |||
| Fung Kwong Sai Kai | |||
| The Land of the Brave | |||
| Special Treatment | |||
| Cheerful Wind | |||
| Lucky By Chance | |||
| 1982 | Crimson Street | ||
| Six is Company | |||
| The Green, Green Grass of Home | |||
| Ye Sing Dik Ching Chun | |||
| 1983 | Let's Make Laugh | ||
| 1984 | Prince Charming | ||
| And Now What's Your Name | |||
| The Funny General | |||
| Shanghai Blues | |||
| 1985 | The Flying Mr. B | ||
| 1986 | Strange Bedfellow | ||
| 100 Ways to Murder Your Wife | |||
| Millionaire's Express | Fook Loi | ||
| 1987 | To Err is Humane | ||
| Armour of God | Band member | ||
| Reincarnation | |||
| My Cousin, the Ghost | |||
| My Heart is that Eternal Rose | |||
| Project A Part II | |||
| The Happy Bigamist | |||
| 1988 | Mr. Possessed | ||
| One Husband Too Many | |||
| 18 Times | |||
| Spy Games | |||
| 1989 | Happy Together | ||
| A Fishy Story | |||
| Burning Sensation | |||
| City Squeeze | |||
| Bachelor's Swan Song | Chan Chi-Nam | ||
| Hearts No Flowers | |||
| Miracles | cameo | ||
| My Heart Is That Eternal Rose | |||
| 1990 | BB30 | ||
| 1991 | Sisters of the World Unite | ||
| Mainland Dundee | |||
| Top Bet | |||
| Today's Hero | |||
| Fist of Fury 1991 | Smart | ||
| 1992 | Fist of Fury 1991 II | ||
| Mary from Beijing | aka Awakening | ||
| Once a Black Sheep | |||
| Saviour of the Soul | Siu-Chuen | ||
| The Ape which Turned into a Man | |||
| 1993 | The Eagle Shooting Heroes | Wong Chung-Yeung | |
| The Tigers: the Legend of Canton | |||
| Rose, Rose I Love You | |||
| The Moon Warriors | Emperor Yen Ling | ||
| 1994 | Smoke Amongst the Floor[3] | Yuhang Jiang/Zeng | |
| 1995 | Ten Brothers | ||
| The Chinese Feast | Kit | ||
| 1996 | What a Wonderful Life | ||
| Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star | |||
| 1998 | Ninth Happiness | ||
| 2000 | Healing Hearts | ||
| 2002 | Happy Family | Mr Han | |
| Troublesome Night 16 | Sung Kong | ||
| 2004 | Super Model | ||
| Elixir of Love | |||
| Leave Me Alone | |||
| 2005 | Initial D | Yuichi Tachibana | |
| A Chinese Tall Story | |||
| 2006 | Shanghai Red | ||
| The Return of the Condor Heroes | Gongsun Zhi | ||
| 2007 | It's a Wonderful Life | ||
| 2010 | Just Another Pandora's Box | ||
| Shanghai Blue | |||
| 2011 | Mr. Zhai | ||
| A Land without Boundaries | |||
| East Meets West 2011 | |||
| 2012 | 100% Kiss | ||
| Together | |||
| 2013 | The Rooftop | ||
| Traversal 101 | |||
| Star of Bethlehem | |||
| 2018 | Air Strike | ||
| House of the Rising Sons | |||
| 2019 | Fagara | Ha Leung |
Discography
Cantonese albums
- 閃閃星辰 – 1980
- 不可以不想你 – 1981
- 說愛就愛 – 1983
- 要是有緣 – 1983
- 我行我素 – 1984.07
- 鍾鎮濤精選 (Collection) – 1984
- 痴心的一句 – 1985.01
- 鍾鎮濤(淚之旅) – 1985.09
- 鍾鎮濤(Trip Mix): 淚之旅/太多考驗 (12" Single Mix) – 1985
- 情變 – 1986.05
- 鍾鎮濤(Trip Mix II): 香腸、蚊帳、機關槍/原諒我 (12" Single Mix) – 1986
- 最佳鍾鎮濤 (New Song + Collection) – 1986
- 寂寞 – 1987.03
- 聽濤 – 1987.10
- 晴 – 1988.05
- 情有獨鍾 (New Songs + Collection) – 1988.10
- 人潮內... 我像獨行 – 1989.03
- 看星的日子 – 30 November 1989
- B歌 (Collection, distributed in Singapore) – 1989
- 鍾鎮濤 (3" CD, Collection) – 1990
- 不死鳥 – August 1990
- 仍是真心 – August 1992
- 全部為你 – January 1994
- 鍾鎮濤金曲精選 (2 Discs, Collection) – 1993.12
- 88極品音色系列: 鍾鎮濤 Kenny Bee (Collection) – 1997.07
- B計劃 (2 Discs, New Songs + Collection) – March 1998
- B歌集 (2 Discs, Collection) – 1998.07
- 鍾鎮濤dCS聲選輯 (Collection) – 2000.02
- 俠骨仁心原聲專輯 – 2001.04.20
- 真經典鍾鎮濤 (Collection) – 2001.07.27
- 還有你 (2 Discs, Collection) – 2002.08.22
- 濤出新天 – 2006.12.29
- 佛誕吉祥 – 2009[6]
Mandarin albums
- 我的伙伴 – 1979.05.09
- 早安台北 – 1979.08.20
- 白衣少女 – 1980
- 鍾鎮濤專輯 (Collection) – 1981
- 鍾鎮濤(阿B) (Mandarin/Cantonese) – 1982
- 表錯七日情(國) (Mandarin/Cantonese) – 1983
- 哦！寶貝‧為甚麼 – 1983
- 詩人與情人 – 1989.02
- 捨不得•這樣的日子 – 1989
- 捨不得 – 1990
- 飄 – 1990.09
- 活出自己 – 1991.06
- 我的世界只有你最懂 – 1992.06
- 祝你健康快樂 – 1993.09
- 情人的眼睛 (Collection) – 1994.02
- 簡簡單單的生活 – 1994
- 《煙鎖重樓》 – 1994.11.22
- 情歌對唱集(寂寞) (with Teresa Cheung, Mandarin/Cantonese) – 1995.05
- 痴心愛你 – 1995.06
- 男人 – 2004.02.16
English albums
- Why Worry – 1997
References
- ^ "Gold Disc Award" 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Hong Kong Group) Ltd. (IFPI Hong Kong). Retrieved 19 July 2007
- ^ 10-point Hall of Fame – Kenny Bee (part 1) (Mandarin) on YouTube
- ^ Chiung Yao#煙鎖重樓
- ^ "Kenny Bee". IMDb. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
- ^ "Kenny Bee". chinesemov.com. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
- ^ 佛誕吉祥 on YouTube
External links
- Official website
- Facebook page
- Kenny Bee at IMDb