Hong Kong singer and actor
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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 five decades as of 2023.
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), "Red Leaves Fell As I Feel Lonesome" (紅葉斜落我心寂寞時), which was the Cantonese cover of Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx, 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.
