| Kenji Wu | |||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 18 October 1979 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Kaohsiung, Taiwan | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Singer, songwriter, actor, television host, director | ||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | National Taiwan University of Arts | ||||||||||||
| Years Active: | 2000–present | ||||||||||||
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Kenji Wu (; born 18 October 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, actor and director.[1]
Wu was born on 18 October 1979 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.[2] When he was six, he moved to Argentina, but came back to Taiwan to compete in MTV Taiwan's "New Artist Fight Game".[3]
He attended the National Taiwan University of Arts majoring in theater.
After competing in the "New Artist Fight Game" competition in 2000, he was subsequently signed to Virgin Music. Within half a year,[4] Wu released his debut album Tomorrow, Alone (一個人的Tomorrow).[5] Despite the involvement of top producers, the album received lukewarm response and weak sales. However, this gave him opportunities to act in Taiwanese drama such as Peach Girl and Moonlight Forest. During his time acting, he continued to perform songs he wrote and composed at pubs.
With an intense passion for music, Wu made a comeback to the music industry in November 2004 with a self-titled album, released by Seed Music. All ten songs in the album were written by him. Critics around Asia gave highly positive reviews. The hit song Wu Ke Qun cleverly incorporated the impersonations of well-known singers such as A-do, Leehom Wang, David Tao, Jay Chou, Fei Yu Ching, Emil Chau and Shin band. The song demonstrated Wu's determination to be a unique singer in his own right. In Hong Kong, it peaked at the 7th spot out of 20 in RTHK's Chinese chart for the week of 20–26 February 2005;[6] however, the song did poorly in Singapore, debuting at 19th position on YES 933's chart for the week of 9–15 January 2005,[7] and remained on the chart for only 2 weeks.
He returned in October 2005 with a new album titled The Kenji Show (大頑家 – 吳克群), also released by Seed Music. Working on a theme of having fun, the album comprises songs with his style of simple yet intriguing lyrics. Songs like "Da She Tou" (literally "Big Tongue") and "Bu Xie Ji Nian" rose to hit charts and were popular among students mostly. He has nominated for the best Chinese male singer in Taiwan at the 2006 and 2007 Golden Melody Awards, but the award went to Leehom Wang and Korean-born singer Nicky Lee, respectively.
In 2006, Wu released a new album entitled A General Order (將軍令) and again, all songs were written by Wu himself showing his creativity. This time he experimented with the Chinese music style, therefore the title song was written in that way. Other Chinese style songs including "Peaked You And Me" and "Champion" as well as the hit ballad "Cripple" are featured on this album. Wu will also be featured on a track on Hakka-Pac's album called Doing it Chikan Style. He also had a cameo appearance in Brown Sugar Macchiato.
In 2008, he release the album Poems For You (為你寫詩), in which he composed all the songs. This album was number one on the sales chart for 7 weeks. All of the five MVs that were released from this album were ranked in the top 10 in two of the largest KTV chains, thus breaking a record.
Aside from writing songs only for his own albums, he also composed and produced songs for other popular singers. He wrote "Ai Ku Gui" for Maggie Chiang, "Sha Gua" for Landy Wen, "Nan Ren Nu Ren" for Valen Hsu and A Mu Long, and "Da Ming Xing" for the superboys Yu Hao Ming and Wang Yue Xin.
In 2010, he released his eighth studio album Love Me, Hate Me (愛我 恨我) under Seed Music.[8] The track "沒關係" (No Relations) is listed at number 24 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2010.[9]
See main article: Kenji Wu discography.
| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Peach Girl | 蜜桃女孩 | Kazuya Tojigamori | ||
| Sunshine Jelly | 陽光果凍 | ||||
| 2002 | Moonlight Forest | 月光森林 | Chang Ching | ||
| 2003 | The Rose | 薔薇之戀 | Mao Ji's friend | Cameo | |
| 2005 | The Doctor | 大熊醫師家 | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2007 | Brown Sugar Macchiato | 黑糖瑪奇朵 | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2011 | Love Recipe | 料理情人夢 | Fu Yong-le | ||
| 2015 | Heart of Steel | 鋼鐵之心 | Jimmy | Cameo | |
| 2016 | Golden Darling | 原來1家人 | David | Cameo | |
| 2018 | Age of Rebellion | 翻牆的記憶 | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2019 | The Legends of Monkey King | 大潑猴 | Tianpeng |
| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Rain Coat | 雨衣 / 7–11之戀 | Chih | Also known as Love at 7–11 | |
| 2008 | The Fatality | 絕魂印 | Ho Shih-jung / Asanee | ||
| 2012 | Million People | 萬人•迷 | Kevin | Short film | |
| 2014 | The Old Cinderella | 脫軌時代 | Kang Shao | ||
| 2016 | 70 80 90 | 708090之深圳戀歌 | Liu Mingzhe | ||
| 2017 | Hanky Panky | 大釣哥 | Chang Shih-pang | ||
| 2018 | Crazy Little Thing | 為你寫詩 | Chen Shijie | Also as director[10] |
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Unbeatable Youth | 無敵青春克 | Host | |
| 2013 | Celebrity Battle | 全能星戰 | Participant | |
| 2022 | Call Me by Fire (season 2) | 披荊斬棘 | Participant |
| Year | Song title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "The Genius of Drama 戲劇天才" | Himself |
| 2008 | "Hold My Hand 牽牽牽手" | |
| "Love Hurts 愛太痛" | ||
| 2009 | "Closer Hearts 把心拉近" |
| Song title | Artist |
|---|---|
| "Legend 神話" | Valen Hsu |
| "Meet Another Person 遇見另外一個人" | |
| "In a Wink 轉眼" | Penny Tai |
| "On What Grounds 憑什麼" | Qu Ying |
| "What Time Is It There? 你那裡幾點" | Ginny Liu |
| "In Your Heart 留在誰心裡" | Maggie Chiang |
| "Missing You, Again 我又想起你" | |
| "Gentleness of Both Hands 雙手的溫柔" | |
| "Must Meet Again 要再見" | Cindy Chen |
| "Only If You Can Remember Me 只要你想起我" |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 17th Golden Melody Awards | The Kenji Show | |||
| 2007 | HITO Radio Music Awards[13] | Most Popular Singer-songwriter (popular vote) | |||
| Most Popular Male Artist | |||||
| Best Composer | "A General Order" | ||||
| A General Order | |||||
| 2015 | 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards | ||||
| 2016 | The 4th V Chart Awards | Best Singer-songwriter of the Year |