Kelvin Tan (guitarist)

Last updated
Kelvin Tan
Born (1964-08-22) 22 August 1964 (age 60)
EducationBachelor of Arts (Honours) in Literature
Alma mater Anglo-Chinese School
Jurong Junior College
National University of Singapore
Occupation(s)musician, writer, lecturer

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".

Contents

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

Novels

Plays

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. R. Nathan</span> 6th President of Singapore (1924–2016)

Sellapan Ramanathan, often known as S. R. Nathan, was a Singaporean politician and civil servant who served as the sixth president of Singapore between 1999 and 2011. He was the longest-serving president in Singapore's history and the only one to serve two full terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North East MRT line</span> Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore

The North East Line (NEL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, the 20-kilometre (12 mi) line is the MRT's shortest. It runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the northeast, serving 16 stations via Chinatown, Little India, Serangoon and Hougang. Coloured purple on official maps, it is Singapore's third MRT line and the world's first fully-automated underground driverless heavy rail line.

Singapore has a diverse music culture that ranges from rock and pop to folk and classical. Its various communities have their own distinct musical traditions: the Chinese form the largest ethnic group in Singapore, with Malays, Indians as well as a lesser number of other peoples of different ethnicities including Eurasians. The different people with their traditional forms of music, the various modern musical styles, and the fusion of different forms account for the musical diversity in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little India MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Little India MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North East (NEL) and Downtown (DTL) lines. The station is located at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Race Course Road, and serves the ethnic neighbourhood of Little India. Several landmarks surrounding the station include KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Tekka Market, and the Land Transport Authority headquarters.

The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans. It is written chiefly in the country's four official languages: English, Malay, Standard Mandarin and Tamil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serangoon MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Serangoon MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North East (NEL) and Circle (CCL) lines. Situated in Serangoon, Singapore along Upper Serangoon Road and Serangoon Central, the station is integrated with the Nex shopping complex and the Serangoon Bus Interchange. The station is near the Serangoon Neighbourhood Police Centre and Braddell Heights Community Hub and serves various residential estates in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodleigh MRT station</span> Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

Woodleigh MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North East line (NEL), in Bidadari, Singapore. The station is underneath Upper Serangoon Road, near the junction with Upper Aljunied Road. Areas served include the Bidadari Estate, Stamford American International School and Woodleigh Residences.

Kelvin Tan Wei Lian is a Singaporean former Mandopop singer who earned a living as a busker before he won the first edition of Project SuperStar in 2005. He has released three albums, All I Want Is... (2006), i-Weilian (2007) and Moving Notes...Kelvin Tan (2009). He also had a solo concert at the Singapore Expo, lead a choir at the opening ceremony at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, and singing Singapore's 2009 National Day Parade's theme song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Lee</span> Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright, film director (born 1956)

Richard Lee Peng Boon is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Lee was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award, for music in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Tan Yeok Nee</span> Singaporean mansion building

The House of Tan Yeok Nee is a mansion building located at the junction of Penang Road and Clemenceau Avenue in the Museum Planning Area in Singapore. After an extensive restoration completed in 2000, it was held by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. As of 2019, the building serves as the Singapore campus for Amity Global Institute.

Jacintha Abisheganaden, known professionally as Jacintha, is a Singaporean singer, actress, and theater practitioner who studied at the National University of Singapore and received a degree in arts, majoring in English literature. She is a founding member of the performance company TheatreWorks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media Development Authority</span> Statutory board in Singapore

The Media Development Authority was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI).

Kelvin Tong Weng Kian is a Singaporean film director, screenwriter and producer. He was a former film critic for The Straits Times.

Adrian Tan Gim Hai was a Singaporean lawyer and author. Known for writing the Teenage Textbook series of books in the 1980s, he was the 27th president of the Law Society of Singapore and a partner at TSMP Law Corporation.

Gwee Li Sui is an acclaimed bestselling writer in Singapore. He works in poetry, comics, non-fiction, criticism, and translation. He is the author of Spiaking Singlish, possibly the first book on Singlish written entirely in Singlish, complete with colloquial spelling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tan Tai Yong</span> Singaporean politician

Tan Tai Yong is a Singaporean academic who is the current President of Singapore University of Social Sciences. He served as the President of Yale-NUS College from 2017 to 2022. He is also Chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of South Asian Studies, an autonomous university-level research institute in NUS. He was a former Nominated Member of Parliament and served from 2014 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tan Boon Teik</span>

Tan Boon Teik was a Singaporean judge who served as the second attorney-general of Singapore between 1969 and 1992. At the age of 39, Tan was the youngest person to be appointed as attorney-general, and was the longest-serving attorney-general after the Independence of Singapore, after 25 years in office.

Zircon Lounge was a Singaporean band formed in the early 1980s that achieved popularity with the release of their influential debut album, Regal Vigor (1983). The pioneering new wave band broke up in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lim Kay Tong</span> Singaporean actor (born 1954)

Lim Kay Tong is a Singaporean film, television and stage actor. Notably, he starred opposite Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise (1986), Pierce Brosnan in Noble House (1988), and Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace (1999), and was the lead actor in Growing Up (1996–2001) and Perth (2004). Lim has been called "Singapore's finest actor", "Singapore's best-known actor", and Singapore's answer to thespians Ian McKellen and Alec Guinness.

To Singapore, With Love is a 2013 Singaporean documentary film written and directed by Tan Pin Pin. The film featured interviews with nine Singaporean political dissidents, former activists, and student leaders who fled Singapore from the 1960s to 1980s, living in exile.

References

  1. Yeow, Kai Chai (September 19, 2013). "Songs for the departed". The Straits Times . p. C8.
  2. sojourner. "KELVIN TAN- The Bluest Silence Digipack CD". Rock in the Fine City. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  3. "Baybeats 08 Band Profile: The Oddfellows". library @ esplanade. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  4. Tan, Kelvin. "Dialectic Realm". Dialectic Realm. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  5. Chua, Rebecca (6 September 1986). "For Art and". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  6. "Winning play from DPP". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. 16 August 1986. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  7. Tan, Kelvin (5 October 1985). "Lola...warm". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  8. "Sounds like Nothing on the Radio". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. 4 July 1986. Retrieved 30 September 2014.