Joseph KooJoseph Koo

From 1950, under the elder sister's influence, took an interest in music, learned piano at the side and became a pianist, and also once led a band in a nightclub. In 1961 first entered the composition contest for the Shaw Brothers film "不了情", writing the debut work "夢", with lyrics by 陶秦 and 顧媚 dubbing for 林黛. From the same year to 1963, funded by 邵逸夫 and 方逸華, studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, the United States, and in 1962 received a scholarship at that school to take a Big Band music course. After graduation served as a film composer at Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, and scored 李小龍's films "唐山大兄", "精武門", "猛龍過江" and "死亡遊戲". Later joined TVB as music director, writing television drama theme songs and insert songs for the station, and concurrently served as music conductor, pianist and music director of "歡樂今宵".

Joseph Koo wrote theme songs for many television dramas in the 1970s and 1980s, including "啼笑因緣", "狂潮", "陸小鳳", "家變", "倚天屠龍記", "親情", "獅子山下", "上海灘" and "倆忘煙水裡". The song "啼笑因緣" was composed by Joseph Koo, with lyrics by 葉紹德, sung by Sandra Lang, and the drama had 25 episodes. Sandra Lang recalled that Joseph Koo suddenly asked Sandra Lang to sing that drama's theme song; before that, fans' impression was that Sandra Lang was only good at English songs.

Wikipedia records that among the lyricists Joseph Koo collaborated with, the longest collaboration was with James Wong Jim, the two together called "煇黄"; representative works include "獅子山下", "狂潮", "上海灘", "用愛將心偷", "忘盡心中情", "倆忘煙水裏", "萬水千山縱橫" and "世間始終你好". The two's first collaboration was "愛你變成害你" sung by 潘迪華; the song came from the musical "白孃孃", and James Wong Jim's lyric-writing career began from then. Other long-term collaborators include 葉紹德 ("啼笑因緣", "芸娘"), Jimmy Lo Kwok-tsim ("小李飛刀", "陸小鳳", "鮮花滿月樓" and others), 鄭國江 ("小時候", "小太陽", "難為正邪定分界" and others), 鄧偉雄 ("春雨彎刀", "京華春夢", "萬水千山總是情", "鐵血丹心" and others) and 林振強 ("夜夜痴纏", "摘星", "地球大合唱"). Among the many works, Joseph Koo has said the favourite is "忘盡心中情", a James Wong Jim lyric and 葉振棠's signature song.

Joseph Koo, known for composing and arranging — Wikipedia records only three lyric works: the Mandarin period song "帶走了我的心" set to "日昇之屋" and sung by 姚蘇蓉, plus "歡樂今宵晚安曲" and the children's song "數字歌". The year after James Wong Jim's death, Joseph Koo composed "霑叔：給黃霑博士的歌" as a memorial; the song had lyrics by 鄭國江, 潘源良 and 林夕, arrangement by Mark Lui, sung by The Wynners.

In 1965 received Best Musical Film Music at the Golden Horse Awards for "萬花迎春", also Best Music at the Golden Horse Awards for "何日君再來", Best Film Song at the Asian Film Festival for "賣花歌" from "花團錦簇", and with James Wong Jim and 戴樂民 received Best Music at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "秦俑". In 1981 received the highest honour award at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards concert, the predecessor of the Gold Needle Award; 張文新 disclosed that in the first five editions (1978 to 1982) of RTHK's Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, Joseph Koo already had twenty winning works. In 1997 received the CASH Music Achievement Award, and in 2011 the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1982 was granted the MBE by the British monarch, in 1998 the Bronze Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR government, and in 2015 the Gold Bauhinia Star. Also received honorary doctorates from several institutions: honorary doctorate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2011), honorary Doctor of Humanities of The Education University of Hong Kong (2014) and honorary Doctor of Social Science of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2014). An Education University citation excerpt said the more than 1,200 works "never included a single repetition"; a Chinese University citation excerpt said Joseph Koo "carried on the spirit of Hong Kong people through melody and notes". Oriental Daily News called Joseph Koo the one known as "the godfather of Hong Kong's music scene", while a Hong Kong government press release called Joseph Koo "a master composer, arranger and conductor of Hong Kong".

After moving to Canada in the 1990s still kept contact with the Hong Kong industry. During semi-retirement concentrated on painting, and in 2006 jointly held the painting exhibition "萬水千山總是情" with the elder sister and younger brother 顧嘉鏘 at Hong Kong City Hall. On May 8 of the same year, at the 115th anniversary of Macau Pui Ching Middle School, the top floor of the commemorative building was named "顧嘉煇體育館" and an unveiling was held. In 2009, invited by CASH, served as a judge of that year's CASH pop-song composition contest.

In 2015, at age 84, decided to retire formally, and from May 8 to 19 held twelve shows of "顧嘉煇榮休盛典演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Then on February 26–27, 2016 again held "顧嘉煇金紫荊慈善演唱會" at the Coliseum, inviting 許冠文 as emcee; participating singers included Sandra Lang, Liza Wang, 杜麗莎, 區瑞強, Teresa Cheung Tak-lan, 陳潔靈, Frances Yip, Adam Cheng, Susanna Kwan, 羅嘉良, William So and C AllStar. At the end of 2018 returned to Vancouver, Canada to retire, and no longer appeared in public.

Died in Vancouver, Canada on January 3, 2023; Wikipedia records the age as 92; the news was first reported by the local Cantonese station Fairchild Television. 顧媚 said that before the younger brother died he spent a week in hospital, "there was some coronavirus (infection), plus several days of not eating, and left very peacefully"; son 顧志和 said it was complications after testing negative following COVID-19 infection, the condition worsening until death. VOA, citing Canadian media, did not report a cause of death. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism 楊潤雄 and TVB chairman 許濤 issued statements of condolence respectively.