Kelvin Tan (musician) explained
Kelvin Tan (born 22 August 1964) is a Singaporean musician, writer, and lecturer. He has released two novels, All Broken Up and Dancing (1992), and the Nethe(r);R (2001) and over 102 musical albums. He teaches part-time at LASALLE College of the Arts and is guitarist for The Oddfellows, for whom he wrote and sang the hit "She's So Innocent".
Tan is also a member of the bands Stigmata, Prana vs r-H, and Path Integral. In 1997, he co-founded Aporia Society, a multi-disciplinary arts society.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Early life
He was educated at Anglo-Chinese School. As a 14-year-old, he was introduced to the music of Charlie Parker, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell, and the literature of JD Salinger, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth. He failed his O-Levels in 1981.[5] Tan later attended Jurong Junior College and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Literature in 1990.
Career
In 1982, Tan was awarded a merit certificate for "Swan Leda" in the Shell National Short-Story Competition. In 1986, his play Tramps Like Us was awarded third prize in the Shell Short Play Competition.[6] He joined The Oddfellows as lead guitarist in 1991.
His novel All Broken Up and Dancing (1992) was originally a short story published in The Straits Times in 1985.[7] In 1986, he contributed the song "Seen the End" to BigO magazine's Nothing on the Radio cassette. The song was a response to the Hotel New World disaster of the same year.[8]
Bibliography
Plays
- Tramps Like Us (1986)
- Goodbye Jennifer (1987–88)
- Flights Through Darkness (1994–95)
- Life is an Angel (1998)
- Vermeiden//a(Void) (1998)
Selected discography
- The Bluest Silence (1998)
- Alone, descending Sisyphus (1999)
- Songs In Search Of An Other (2000)
- Disembowelling Brecht (2001)
- Being; In The Light Of Convergence (2001)
- Mortal Songs For Believers (2002)
- Understanding The Lion (2002)
- Remnants From The Cities Of Reasons (2002)
- Meta(axis): In Reverse (2002)
- Truths And Consequences (2003)
- Myths From The Wilderness (2003)
- Dreams Of The Enigma Revealed (2003)
- The Wilderness Quartets (2004)
- When Our Spirits Awaken (2005)
- Weltanschauung Septet (2006)
- She Who Communes With The Stars (2007)
- ...and her eyes said yes... (2010)
- From where i stand, it's all changing (2010)
- The Passion (2010)
- Below the Abyss (2011)
- Bound by Affection (2011)
- Lost Songs, Now Redeemed (2011)
- Ah Boy, Me and TNT! (2011)
- Together, Naturally (2011)
- Solitude, In Spite Of (2011)
- Tributaries (2011)
- Talkin' True, Lightnin' Blues (2011)
- The Heart (2011)
- The Taipei Shuttle and How To Use It (2011)
- Love Has To Be So Hard (2011)
- Re: Visions (2011)
- Evocations for Solace (2011)
- Homages (2011)
- The Souls of Old Harbours (2011)
- Dignity (2011)
- If you never know where you were, then you were never lost. (2012)
- Eurology for Paul Motian (2012)
- Odes for Asphodel's Smiles (2012)
- Perceptualities (2012)
- Slightly towards the Dawn (2012)
- Surfacing In (2012)
- Searching for the meaning of Incandenscence (2012)
- More lightning blues for you (2012)
- Modern Madrigals for Hope (2012)
- My Brother, My Soul (2012)
- Alive, in time (2012)
- Magpie till I die! (2012)
- Old melodies, made new, for my beatrice (2012)
- The Yearning (2012)
- Unhinged for Falling Stars (2012)
- The light that falls (2012)
- Transmigration of Citizen N (2013)
- Fighting the Fire (2013)
- Jacqtourismo! (2013)
- Morning Set! (2013)
- Flying low; Covered in Hope (2013)
- Lucidity (2013)
- Turning inwards, Raging fire (2013)
- Random Ubiquities (2013)
- Unravelling the Hunger (2013)
- We, the Sound, and the Zeitgeist (2013)
Notes and References
- News: Songs for the departed. September 19, 2013. Kai Chai. Yeow. C8. The Straits Times.
- Web site: KELVIN TAN- The Bluest Silence Digipack CD. Rock in the Fine City. 29 September 2014. sojourner.
- Web site: Baybeats 08 Band Profile: The Oddfellows. library @ esplanade. 29 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045614/http://www.nlb.gov.sg/blogs/libraryesplanade/music/baybeats-observation-deck-band-profile-the-oddfellows/. 4 March 2016. dead.
- Web site: Tan. Kelvin. Dialectic Realm. Dialectic Realm. 30 September 2014.
- News: Chua. Rebecca. For Art and. 30 September 2014. The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. 6 September 1986.
- News: Winning play from DPP. 30 September 2014. The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. 16 August 1986.
- News: Tan. Kelvin. Lola...warm. 30 September 2014. The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. 5 October 1985.
- News: Sounds like Nothing on the Radio. 30 September 2014. The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. 4 July 1986.
