| Kay Tse | |||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 1977 3, df=yes | ||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Tai Po, Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Years Active: | 2005–2016; 2018–present | ||||||||||
| Children: | 2 | ||||||||||
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Kay Tse On-kay (; born 13 March 1977) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer. She is a prominent figure in Hong Kong music and popular culture and was once frequently referred to in the media as a "grass-roots diva"[1] and "goddess".[2] She is known for songs which deal with social issues and the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong.
Tse's main claim to fame was her 2008 song, "Wedding Invitation Street" (Chinese: 囍帖街), which was widely successful and swept many prestigious year-end music awards. This was followed by a string of further hits including "Song of the Year" (Chinese: 年度之歌), Lone Village (Chinese: 獨家村), "Hillwood Road" (Chinese: 山林道) and viral hits such as "The Egg and the Lamb" (Chinese: 雞蛋與羔羊) and "Rashomon" (Chinese: 羅生門). She is considered to be one of the four leading female Cantopop singers of the 2000s–2010s, along with Miriam Yeung, Joey Yung, and Denise Ho.[3]
Kay Tse was born on 13 March 1977 in Tai Po, Hong Kong, the only child of a Hakka family.[4] She first learned to play the piano at the age of six, and has since obtained eighth-grade level.[5] Tse attended Valtorta College, a state-funded Catholic high-school in Tai Po and obtained 21 points in her Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.
Tse began her studies at the University of Hong Kong in 2002, majoring in American Studies, and graduated in 2005. During this time, she entered a university singing competition, performing the Stefanie Sun song, "Believe" (Chinese: 相信). One of the judges was music producer Adrian Chow (Chinese: 周博賢), who was so impressed that he would sign her onto his independent label, "Ban Ban Music". At the time, Tse was also working part-time as a piano teacher and taught English.
Tse's debut album, Kay One, was released on 5 May 2005. The album combines an eclectic mix of pop, rock and jazz styles. Kay One spawned five singles, including lead single "Beauties" (Chinese: 姿色份子), an up-tempo, pop-rock song which criticises the beauty imperative within an Asian context. Follow-up single "The One and Only" (Chinese: 我歌......故我在) is a slow ballad which showcases Tse's wide vocal range.
On 23 December 2005, the album received a special re-release edition titled Kay One Plus, with a new bonus track called "Follow Me" (Chinese: 跟我走). The song contains folk elements and deals with her music and her fans. It topped the TVB chart and became her first number one song. In addition, the album contains two non-Cantonese songs: The One and Only, an English cover of the second single; and "Plastic Rose" (Chinese: 塑膠玫瑰), the mandarin version of "Beauties".
In 2006, Tse started garnering more media attention, first losing her dental braces she had worn for many years. On 2 June, she released the EP, K sus2, which contained the first single "Gloomy Festival" (Chinese: 愁人節). The single received positive critical reception for raising concern about disadvantaged groups in society. It garnered a decent amount of airplay and became her first single to peak within the top 10 of all four major charts, reaching no. 1 on both the TVB and Commercial Radio charts, and winning her first year-end song award at the 2006 Ultimate Song Chart Awards.
On 12 October 2006, Tse joined major label Cinepoly Records, a decision made by Tse alongside her manager Sammy Haze and music producer Adrian Chow, on the condition that they be granted a level of artistic freedom.[6]
Shortly after signing with Cinepoly Records, Tse held a press conference on 26 November 2007 to announce that she had been three months pregnant, with plans to take a maternity leave after a farewell concert and a new album.
On 5 January 2007, Tse held her farewell concert, Kay Tse: The First Day Live, at KITEC, co-presented by Ban Ban Music and Commercial Radio Hong Kong. Labelmates Hins Cheung, Kelvin Kwan, and Wilfred Lau performed as guests. Onstage, Tse remarked that it had been exactly 2 years since she debuted her first single, "Beauties" and took the opportunity to premiere a new single, "The First Day".
The First Day was the first album Tse recorded for Cinepoly. Released on 18 January 2007, the album contained three new songs and nine newly rearranged versions of previous songs. Lead single "Problems upon Problems" (Chinese: 節外生枝) became Tse's most successful single at that point, reaching three of the four major singles charts. A second edition of the album was released in March, which included a bonus DVD of her farewell concert.
In late January, Tse married fellow Hong Kong songwriter and recording-artist Louis Cheung. The ceremony took place in Regal Airport Hotel near Hong Kong International Airport.[7] She gave birth to her son on 11 December 2007.
Following the birth of her son and almost a year's hiatus from music, Tse released a new songs and greatest hits compilation, 3/8, in December 2007. The compilation's three new songs, "3/8", "Zhong Wu Yan" (Chinese: 鍾無艷) and "The Retired Life of Wonder Woman" (Chinese: 神奇女俠的退休生活) were all released as singles, with the latter two reaching number 1 on various charts. Tse explained that the album title, 3/8, refers to the eight stages of life, and the three-eights that she has traveled. This refers especially to her musical life, summing up her musical journey in the past three years.
2008 was a watershed moment for Tse's music career. Her first single of the year, "17 Degrees" (17度) topped three of the four major singles charts, with second single "Wedding Invitation Street" becoming the most well-known song of 2008 (Chinese: 囍帖街). "Wedding Invitation Street" was released amidst controversy over the redevelopment of Wan Chai's Lee Tung Street, from which the songs takes its title. Although appearing to be a love song about letting go on the surface, many have read it as a potent critique on the city's urban renewal plans.[8] The song made a lasting impression on Hong Kong's collective consciousness, and marks Tse's rise to prominence as not only one of the leading female singers of Hong Kong music, but also as a socially conscious "grassroots diva".
Both "17 Degrees" and "Wedding Invitation Street" were released on the album Binary in July, to overwhelming critical and commercial success. The album was certified platinum, with sales exceeding thirty-thousand copies. Tse swept all the most prestigious year-end music awards in 2008, including the Media Grand Prize co-presented by Hong Kong's four major media outlets awarded to the performer garnering the most awards that year. In November, Tse was admitted to hospital for suffering Pneumothorax, which was reportedly the fourth time the condition had occurred. This had impacted her ability to sing with Tse being hospitalised for a week.[9]
Following-up on the previous year's success, Tse released two albums, Yelling and Slowness in 2009. The former was released on 19 March, which spawned two hit singles "Zhu Ying Tai" (Chinese: 祝英台) and "Song of the Year" (Chinese: 年度之歌), further establishing her popularity. She announced her first stadium concert, Kay Tse Yelling Live 2009 in support of the album, which was held at the Hong Kong Coliseum in May. The concert later toured to Macau and Guangzhou in December, becoming her first concerts held outside of Hong Kong. In fall 2009, HMV Hong Kong announced that Yelling was the 9th biggest selling album of the year, which sold in excess of 15,000 copies, rivalling long established female acts such as Joey Yung and Miriam Yeung.[10]
Slowness, released late in the year on 21 December, also spawned a hit lead single, "Living" (Chinese: 活著), which topped three of the four major singles charts. It was around this time however that controversy began between TVB and the Hong Kong Recording Industry Alliance, which meant that Tse, under Cinepoly, would no longer appear on TVB or have her singles chart. For that same reason, Tse did not receive any year-end awards from TVB that year, which would remain the case until she switched labels in 2012. To promote Slowness, Tse began a mini-university tour which spanned from January to March 2010.[11]
Promotion continued for Slowness for the first half of 2010, which saw three further singles that enjoyed moderate chart success. On 23 August 2010, Tse held a press conference to announce her contract renewal with Cinepoly, reportedly a seven-figure deal spanning 5 years.
In the period between 2009 and 2010, Tse had faced some major setbacks in the Hong Kong market, not least including the HKRIA controversy which had caused her an important platform to promote herself, leading to a decline in popularity. She became frequently attacked in the media, especially by the publications Oriental Sunday and New Monday, which were owned by Emperor Entertainment Group.[12] It is widely thought that this was a smear tactic by EEG who perceived Tse as a threat to their contracted artiste Joey Yung, an example being that in 2008, Tse had won six awards at the Commercial Radio's year-end award show to only two won by Yung.[13] She admitted to Black Paper Magazine in 2011 that she had suffered depression during this time, though had recovered.[14]
Having faced such setbacks, Tse set her sights in the latter part of 2010 on the Mandarin market. On 23 August, she released her first Mandarin single, "Weak" (Chinese: 脆弱) followed by her debut Mandarin album, Second Home (Chinese: 第二個家) on 5 November 2010. The second single, "Goodbye" (Chinese: 再見) was released to coincide with the album launch.
In May, Tse premiered the single "December 20th" (Chinese: 十二月二十). The single was described as "last moment on Earth [...] lyrically about the rich-poor and class divides in Hong Kong". The single garnered positive reception, with many calling the style more in line with her earlier releases. On 15 August, Tse debuted her follow-up single "Your Happiness" (Chinese: 你們的幸福), which became the title track of the album released on 13 October 2011.
In 2012, Tse performed as a principal cast member in Loving the Silent Tears, a Broadway-style musical production at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, USA. The musical is based on a poetry collection, Silent Tears by Supreme Master Ching Hai, a Vietnamese-born spiritual leader and entrepreneur. Tse performs the song "Talking to a Stone Buddha", singing in Mandarin and English.[15]
On 29 March 2013, Tse announced that she had signed to Gold Typhoon (Taiwan). She released the Mandarin single, "I Have A Dream" followed by the album, With Thanks – Kay in September. She briefly signed with Herman Ho's record company, Stars Shine International before it closed, releasing the Cantonese single, "The Best of Time" (Chinese: 最好的時刻).
On 30 June 2014, Kay's company released her new single Egg and Lamb. The composer and writer Adrian Chow, claimed that he was inspired by the film 12 Years a Slave. The song soon became popular as the official MV collected about one million clicks on YouTube within two weeks of its release. However, it was alleged that the new song touched on sensitive political issues between Hong Kong and Mainland China. The song and the official MV on Chinese mainstream online music players and video websites were soon deleted respectively on the second day since its release. Also, the name of the song was blocked when searching on websites.
On 29 September 2014, Kay released Kontinue, her first Cantonese album since 2011's Your Happiness.
In 2015, Kay began her 10th Anniversary World Tour on 10 October. In 2016, she stated she would be on hiatus for a year. The hiatus was brought forward due to her announcement of pregnancy. Also, due to the negative mood and outlook due to political and social event in Hong Kong, the World Tour was cut short.
Tse's second child, Karina, was born in March 2017.
In December 2017, Tse signed with Juno Mak's label, imagine.nation, effectively marking her comeback.
Tse's first single in 2018 was the Cantonese version of the theme song to the Bollywood film Secret Superstar, released in Hong Kong on 12 April 2018.[16] [17] She released a collaborative EP with Juno Mak, The Album Part One in December.
In January 2022, local media reported that ten Canto-pop singers and groups had been put on a blacklist of government-funded broadcaster RTHK, with radio DJs having been ordered not to play their songs. Tse was reportedly on the list.[18] In response to a letter by lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen requesting clarification, RTHK wrote: "RTHK has been supporting the development of Chinese pop music. Program hosts choose songs based on professionalism and suitability to the programs."[19]
Tse is married to fellow Hong Kong singer Louis Cheung, with whom she has two children.[21] [22]