Wong Ka Keung
A Hong Kong male singer, musician, and songwriter, and Beyond's bassist, who began his solo music career at the end of 1999 and won Best Original Film Song at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004 for "長空."
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About the artist
Wong Ka Keung (English name Steve Wong Ka Keung) is a Hong Kong male singer, musician, and songwriter. Born in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, on November 13, 1964, with ancestral roots in Taishan, Guangdong, he grew up at So Uk Estate in Sham Shui Po. Wong Ka Keung is the bassist of the rock band Beyond and the younger brother of the band's lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Wong Ka Kui.
Wong Ka Keung attended Tsung Tsin Primary School, Good Counsel Catholic Primary School, and Hong Kong Sam Yuk Secondary School, where he studied in the arts stream. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant at Mark-1 Studio and followed 麥一鳴 into audio or concert music engineering work. Before joining Beyond, Wong Ka Keung also formed various bands, including Genocide in 1983 with former 浮世繪 member 梁翹柏. According to the Chinese Wikipedia, Wong Ka Keung joined Beyond after 李榮潮 left the band; a retrospective in the South China Morning Post, quoting the newspaper's entertainment editor, instead says that Wong Ka Kui, Wong Ka Keung, Yip Sai Wing, and Paul Wong formed Beyond in 1983.
In 1988, Beyond released the album "現代舞台," from which Wong Ka Keung began singing lead on some songs; he wrote the lyrics to "冷雨夜," which was composed by Wong Ka Kui. That same year, Wong Ka Keung wrote the lyrics to Alan Tam's "千金一刻." In 1989, he played 楊有智, also known as Dr. YY, in the television series "淘氣雙子星"; in 1990, he played 英 in the film "開心鬼救開心鬼"; and in 1991, he played 陳志強 in the film "Beyond日記之莫欺少年窮."
After Wong Ka Kui's death in 1993, the band released "二樓後座" in 1994, with Wong Ka Keung and lead guitarist Paul Wong jointly serving as Beyond's lead vocalists; he also released more work than he had during the band's four-member era. By the 1990s, Wong Ka Keung was already occasionally composing for other singers, working with artists including Leo Ku, Eason Chan, 李蕙敏, Jordan Chan, and Faye Wong. Examples include 李蕙敏's "其實……" in 1996, for which he wrote the music and lyrics, and Faye Wong's "敷衍" and Eason Chan's "愛沒有左右" in 1997, both of which he composed.
At the end of 1999, Beyond announced that its members would pursue individual careers, and Wong Ka Keung began his solo music career. In 2000, he played 張小強 in the film "敵對" and composed the score for "陰陽愛"; in the early 2000s, he established his own studio to score films. In 2002, Wong Ka Keung brought together several young musicians to form Picasso Horses, signed with Universal Music Hong Kong to release a solo album, and fostered the band. That year he released "Be Right Back," which won him Best-selling New Local Male Artist at the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Awards for 2002, presented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Hong Kong Group), and appeared in Commercial Radio Hong Kong's radio drama "落入凡間的天使5." He released "叱咤903組Band時間家強第一GIG(新曲+Live)" in 2003 and "畢家索的馬" in 2004.
In 2004, Wong Ka Keung won Best Original Film Song at the Hong Kong Film Awards for "長空," the theme song from "無間道Ⅱ"; Wong composed the music, and he and Yip Sai Wing wrote the lyrics. Beginning that year, Wong Ka Keung established the personal music publishing company Picasso Horses Ltd. and transferred his own musical works to it; he also played a bus driver in the film "墨斗先生." In 2005, he won Best Rock Artist at the 5th Chinese Music Awards, presented by Southern Metropolis Daily and Radio Guangdong. After Beyond disbanded that year, Wong Ka Keung gradually transferred the original publishing rights to his elder brother Wong Ka Kui's 1993 musical works from the defunct Beyond Publishing Ltd. to Picasso Horses Ltd.
Wong Ka Keung released the album "她他" in 2007 and that year won the Supreme Singer-songwriter Award at the RoadShow Music Awards 2007 and recorded the duet "獨角獸" with 陳秋霞. In 2008, he released "弦續—別了家駒十五載" and composed Anthony Wong Yiu-ming's "同一個世界." In July 2009, Wong Ka Keung and Paul Wong held three concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. On June 4 and 5, 2013, Wong Ka Keung held "黃家強It's Alright Live" at Star Hall in KITEC. As the concerts coincided with the 20th anniversary of Wong Ka Kui's death, Wong Ka Keung used them to pay tribute to his elder brother, specially selecting "誰伴我闖蕩" and singing a duet with Wong Ka Kui on the large screen. The Taiwan stop was held at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei on July 26. In 2014, Wong Ka Keung held the "時代序曲" concert, performing at ThinkPad Space in MasterCard Center, Beijing, on September 27 and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Guangzhou, on October 25.
Wong Ka Keung released the album "沉香" in 2015. Oriental Daily News reported that in an interview following its release, he said Beyond was gone and there was no possibility of a reunion, and reported him as also saying that all the greatest classics had been written by Wong Ka Kui, so it would be better to return that glory to him. In 2019, Wong Ka Keung played a medical examiner in the film "九龍不敗."
Wong Ka Keung also once managed the band Kolor; the two sides later ended their working relationship.
Overview
- Born
- November 13, 1964age 61
- Born in
- Hong Kong
- Career start
- Debut as group member · 1986
- Active
- 1986 – present40 years
- Gender
- Male
- Aliases
- 黄家强, 黃家強, Wong Ka-keung, Steve Wong
- Instruments
- Vocals, Bass
Catalogued works & releases
No catalogued works yet.