Kenny Bee (born 23 February 1953) is a Hong Kong singer, musician and actor and one of the two lead vocalists of the band The Wynners. Raised in the Wan Chai and Causeway Bay districts, the son of a property businessman, he attended several primary and secondary schools including St. Paul's Co-educational College Primary School, Raimondi College and New Method College, and moved house nine times before the age of nine. After leaving school at fifteen he formed a band with friends, played in Wan Chai bars and later became a resident singer in Tsim Sha Tsui. In 1973 the group was renamed The Wynners, with members including Alan Tam, Bennett Pang, Anthony Chan and Danny Yip — collectively the 'Wynners Five Tigers' — and Bee shared lead vocals with Alan Tam. After the band's rise he hosted programmes for Rediffusion and TVB, moved to the big screen in the mid-1970s and later worked in Taiwan, starring in films such as Story of a Small Town, Ni de yangzi and The Dream of the Dress. In the 1980s he built a solo singing career with hits such as Yiu si yau yuen, Ching bin and Yeung yat chai sui fung; in 1984 his song Yat duan ching won a Hong Kong annual composition award and in 1988 Sincere won a Top Ten Chinese Gold Song, and after returning to Hong Kong he appeared in films such as Fist of Fury 1991. In 1985 he made his directorial debut with the comedy Sha qi er ren zu; in 1988 he received the Golden Needle Award, Hong Kong's highest music honour, with The Wynners, and in 2016 he received it again as a solo artist, the same year winning a CASH music achievement award from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong. In the mid-to-late 1990s his career slowed, and in 2002, owing to debt, he petitioned for bankruptcy, which lasted until 2006, after which he gradually returned to work. He has kept up his friendship with Alan Tam and the other Wynners, who have regrouped for further concerts; combining songwriting with performance, he has enjoyed a career spanning more than five decades.
From the band era of the late 1960s to his solo career, Kenny Bee was both a signature voice of The Wynners and a performer-director on screen; his career of more than half a century has witnessed the changing face of Hong Kong pop music and film, and its ups and downs mirror the fortunes of both industries.
Achievements
- 1973 · The regrouped band took the name The Wynners, with Bee as one of its two lead vocalists
- 1985 · Made his directorial debut with the comedy Sha qi er ren zu
- 1988 · Received the Golden Needle Award, Hong Kong's highest music honour, with The Wynners
- 2016 · Received the Golden Needle Award as a solo artist and a CASH music achievement award