Biography
Kit Chan (simplified Chinese: 陈洁仪; traditional Chinese: 陳潔儀; pinyin: Chén Jiéyí) (born September 15, 1972) was the pioneer generation of Singaporean singers to successfully break into the international market, marked in particular by her breakthrough into the competitive and highly critical Taiwanese market with her hit Mandarin album Heartache (心痛) in 1994. She had released an EP “Don’t Spoil the Peace” the previous year. She is also the ambassador to the Christian relief organization, “World Vision”. Fluent in Cantonese besides Mandarin, she is the first Singaporean singer to break into the Hong Kong Cantopop market and the Taiwanese Mandopop markets. She is a revered star in Singapore, with a quiet but solid fan base.
Unarguably one of the most established local singers, Kit Chan is often dubbed as Singapore’s “national treasure” for good reasons. Since her debut in 1993, she has proven herself in many diversified areas - singing, theatre, television drama, poetry, song writing, community work, etc.
In 1994, a time when Singaporean singers were still relatively unknown and not as highly regarded in the Mandarin music scene, Kit hit the Taiwanese market with the album “Heartache”. Through hard work, determination and perseverance, she went on to cement her position in Taiwan as a steady and smooth singer; and this has put her among the ranks of pioneers who paved the way for other local recording artistes’ debut in Taiwan.
In 1997, Kit got her big break in Hong Kong when she starred opposite well-known Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung in his musical Snow.Wolf.Lake. This musical ran for 41 nights in Hong Kong and also played in Singapore for seven nights. In addition, Kit also played the late songbird Teresa Teng in yet another musical “The Legend” in 1998, and acted in TVB drama series “Healing Hands II” (妙手仁心 2) - the sequel to the hugely popular “Healing Hands” starring established actors such as Bowie Lam (林保怡) and Ng Kai Wah (吴启华) in 2000. All these have helped Kit gain a steady foothold in Hong Kong as well as show her versatility as a performer.
Following this, Kit ventured into her second drama, the ATV-Channel U drama “Cash is King” (胜券在握) where she plays a sprightly and quirky television research writer who falls in love with a much older man. The stellar regional cast included Qin Han 秦汉 (Taiwan), Michelle Yin 米雪, Marco Lo 盧慶輝, Wallis Pang 彭子晴 (Hong Kong), Darren Lim 林明伦, Bryan Wong 王淥江 and Ix Shen 沈清剡.
More recently, Kit has been more active than ever on the musical scene, having played leading roles in productions including the Dutch-Hong Kong collaboration “East Meets West”, the well-received Mandarin musical“What’s Love About?!” and of course, the critically-acclaimed “The Forbidden City - Portrait of an Empress” where she brings Empress Dowager Cixi to life on the stage.
In 2004, she announced an indefinite break from the Chinese pop scene, to pursue her own interests.
In 2006, Kit returns to release her book “Cathy & Jodie: The Princess and the Flea” and also to reprise her role in the 3rd run of Forbidden City: The Portrait of an Empress.
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