Kit Chan

Kit Chan (Chinese: 陈洁仪; pinyin: Chén Jiéyí, born 15 September 1972, Singapore) is a Chinese singer and actress of Singaporean nationality.

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 wrote the theme song to 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, whom she met in 2000.^[16]

Discography

Stage

Filmography

Film

Television series

Web series

Awards

References

External links

• Kit Chan on Facebook
• KitChan.com
• Kit Cat Club (official fan club)
• Kit Chan at DMOZ