Michael Kwan
Michael Kwan Ching-kit is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer previously with the Philips label (the brand Polygram was not adopted until later in Hong Kong), and later with EMI. His back catalogue (1986–1988) continues to be published by Universal Music Group. He retired his music career in 1988 and now works as an architect in Seattle, United States, with his wife and son.[1][2][3]
Michael Kwan | |||||||||||
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Born | Hong Kong[1] | 27 March 1949||||||||||
Occupation | Architect, Developer and Singer | ||||||||||
Years active | 1968 – 1988[1] | ||||||||||
Spouse(s) | Margaret[1] | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 關正傑 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 关正杰 | ||||||||||
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Musical career | |||||||||||
Origin | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
Genres | Hong Kong English pop, Cantopop | ||||||||||
Instruments | Singing, guitar, piano, trumpet, clarinet | ||||||||||
Labels | Philips | ||||||||||
Associated acts | The Swinging Minstrels | ||||||||||
Biography
Kwan was born in 1949 in Hong Kong, he attended St. Paul's Co-educational College and graduated in 1969. He was admitted into the University of Hong Kong in the same year and later graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Architecture. Kwan practiced architecture full-time after graduation and founded his practice in 1983. His wife is also an architect.
Due to his amateur status as a singer, he was never eligible to be awarded lifetime achievement awards despite having sung 78 theme songs for Hong Kong television dramas, like Reincarnated (1978). Before the 1970s, he was an English folk song singer for The Swinging Minstrels. He also declined to accept the Golden Needle Award in 1993 due to him being out of the spotlight for so long. The award was not awarded at all that year. He did receive an equivalent of Meritorious Service Medal from the Queen in 1985 for services to Cantopop.
References
- 尋找關正傑 隱世歌神
- University of Hong Kong (2002). Growing with Hong Kong: the University and its graduates: the first 90 years. Hong Kong University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-962-209-613-4. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- 星蹤成謎:關正傑隱世多年 [Michael Kwan Hidden for Years]. Apple Daily. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2014.