Kelvin Tan Wei Lian
Encyclopedia
Kelvin Tan Wei Lian is a visually impaired Singaporean singer. He is better known as Weilian to his fans.
, Tan worked as a street busker
for a living before he took part in a singing competition in which he was crowned the overall Champion. During his busking days, he performed with his guitar at various locations in Singapore such as the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple
at Waterloo Street and areas around Mass Rapid Transit
(MRT) stations, drawing crowds of people who were attracted by his soulful voice.
He is the first visually disabled person in Singapore to be signed on for a product
endorsement. This has created a milestone for the advertising
industry in Singapore, which frequently engages celebrities
and models
for product endorsement
s.
Tan is also actively involved in various charity and social events. As one of the ambassador
s for the 2005 Singapore Disability Awareness Public Education Campaign, he actively promotes awareness of the abilities and employability of people with disabilities. As a motivational speaker for Young Leaders Foundation, he inspires the young to follow their dreams. In recognition of his achievement, he was awarded The Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) of Singapore Award 2006 (Merit Winner) for the Personal Improvement and/or Accomplishment category.
, a Mandarin singing competition hosted by Singapore's MediaCorp TV Channel U
, after garnering 64% of the 533,000 telephone
votes. As the Grand Champion of Project Superstar
, Tan secured a recording contract
with "Play Music", a subsidiary
of Warner Music.
His debut album
entitled All I want is...Kelvin was released on 11 January 2006 with impressive sales record - hitting platinum status in Singapore within a period of just 5 days. It ranked second, only next to Jay Chou's Still Fantasy, in annual sales on the Top Ten Mandarin Album Sales Chart, compiled by Zaobao. The song '触摸' won 'Best Theme Song' at the 2006 Star Awards held by MediaCorp, Singapore.
Tan is proficient in both piano
and the guitar
, and sings in a variety of languages and dialect
s. In his debut concert on 22 April 2006 at the Max Pavilion in Singapore, he sang in Mandarin
, English
, Thai
, Cantonese and Hokkien
.
in Singapore who had won in a bowling competition, organized by the visually handicapped associations in Singapore and in Perth, Western Australia
between 1996 and 1999.
A Mandarin idol drama, titled Dream Chasers featuring Tan and fellow PSS alumni, was aired on Channel U in 2006. Tan's participation in this drama marked a milestone in Singapore's Television industry - For the first time, a visually handicapped artiste was involved as a lead role in a television drama. He has subsequently made guest appearances in other local dramas (Love Degree 0 C, The Shining Star) and variety shows.
Despite limitations to the number of roles that he can perform as an actor, he has managed to become the first visually handicapped artiste to win the acclaimed "Most Popular Newcomer" and "Top 10 Male Artiste" in Singapore's Star Awards 2006.
His transformation from busker to stardom inspired a short feature named 'Life Story', depicting how he has overcome his disability and become the first blind person in Singapore to attain fame in the regional music scene.
Tan also appeared in a highly acclaimed local movie 881
directed by the awards-winning Director Roystan Tan, released in the cinemas on 9 August 2007. He acted as a street busker (his previous profession) and sang a Hokkien song in the movie. The movie is about the unique 'getai' culture in Singapore.
In his third album, song composing skills was attempted, hence showcased more of his individual personality.
Tan always shows his natural talent in musical instruments such as the Guitar and Piano, both of which are self-taught since young due to his passion in music.
In first half of 2008, he embarked on his China 'i. Wei Lian' album promotions from radio airwaves to television shows in numerous cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan. On top of these, Tan never forgot to contribute to sociey, like performing at events to raise awareness for the local blind community. In the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, Tan participated in the One Love fund-raising dinner in Chengdu and visited the disaster site to help victims rebuild their homes and lives. When Olympic fever hit in the second half of the year, Tan was also very honoured to be able to deliver a song performance with a Qingdao female counterpart, "Tong Zai Lan Se Xing Qiu Shang" at the opening ceremony of the sailing segment of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games held at Qingdao.
From heartland areas in Singapore, he continued to perform in shopping malls and pubs in Malaysia. On 12 September 2009, at Malaysia's Bukit Jalil Stadium, he participated in 'T-Music Festival' (organised by Tiger Beer), whereby joined a strong cast of performers and performed his album songs. Upon his Malaysia promotional trip, he was invited to be 'Speaker for The Voice Academy' where he performed songs and encourage those disabled members. He was chosen to sing the theme song, for 2009 Mediacorp Chinese blockbuster show, titled 'Together'.
Tan also won the SONG OF THE YEAR AWARD at Singapore Entertainment Awards 2010 for his # 1 hit of the year "Break Up Letter".The song spent the most number of weeks on the Radio 1003 Chart among all the songs in 2009. Tan also won the BEST THEME SONG "Together" at Mediacorp's Star Awards 2010 Ceremony.
Tan's foray into Taiwan in 2010 is met with great success. He hit Top 5 in the Best Selling Albums Chart G Music for the first time. His previous entry was in 2007 for I.Weilian which hit #14.
Tan also attracted much attention with his appearance on "Million Stars" where he received FULL SCORE for his PK performance.
Early life
Born with Leber's congenital amaurosisLeber's congenital amaurosis
Leber's congenital amaurosis is a rare inherited eye disease that appears at birth or in the first few months of life, and affects around 1 in 80,000 of the population.It was first described by Theodor Leber in the 19th century...
, Tan worked as a street busker
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
for a living before he took part in a singing competition in which he was crowned the overall Champion. During his busking days, he performed with his guitar at various locations in Singapore such as the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple is a traditional Chinese temple situated at 178 Waterloo Street in Singapore. The temple is of significance to the Chinese in Singapore, and is believed to bring worshipers good luck after praying to the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy...
at Waterloo Street and areas around Mass Rapid Transit
Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
The Mass Rapid Transit or MRT is a rapid transit system that forms the backbone of the railway system in Singapore, spanning the entire city-state. The initial section of the MRT, between Yio Chu Kang Station and Toa Payoh Station, opened in 1987 establishing itself as the second-oldest metro...
(MRT) stations, drawing crowds of people who were attracted by his soulful voice.
He is the first visually disabled person in Singapore to be signed on for a product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
endorsement. This has created a milestone for the advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
industry in Singapore, which frequently engages celebrities
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
and models
Promotional model
A promotional model is a person hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential consumers. A promotional model can be female or male, and typically is intended to be attractive in physical appearance. They serve to provide information...
for product endorsement
Endorsement
Endorsement may refer to:*Testimonial in advertising, written or spoken statement endorsing a product*Political endorsement*a form added to an insurance policy, modifying the terms...
s.
Tan is also actively involved in various charity and social events. As one of the ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
s for the 2005 Singapore Disability Awareness Public Education Campaign, he actively promotes awareness of the abilities and employability of people with disabilities. As a motivational speaker for Young Leaders Foundation, he inspires the young to follow their dreams. In recognition of his achievement, he was awarded The Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) of Singapore Award 2006 (Merit Winner) for the Personal Improvement and/or Accomplishment category.
Start of singing career
On 1 September 2005 he shot to prominence when he won Project SuperStarProject SuperStar
Project SuperStar is a singing talent search competition organised by MediaCorp and broadcast every Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm on Channel U in Singapore. Project SuperStar was organised to uncover and develop young talent in Mandarin pop in Singapore. Closely modelled after the Pop Idol, 24...
, a Mandarin singing competition hosted by Singapore's MediaCorp TV Channel U
MediaCorp TV Channel U
MediaCorp Channel U or Channel U is the second Mandarin Chinese channel in Singapore and was started officially began on-air broadcasting, inaugurated opened television studio station's transmission first established since on 1 January 2005...
, after garnering 64% of the 533,000 telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
votes. As the Grand Champion of Project Superstar
Project SuperStar
Project SuperStar is a singing talent search competition organised by MediaCorp and broadcast every Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm on Channel U in Singapore. Project SuperStar was organised to uncover and develop young talent in Mandarin pop in Singapore. Closely modelled after the Pop Idol, 24...
, Tan secured a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with "Play Music", a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Warner Music.
His debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
entitled All I want is...Kelvin was released on 11 January 2006 with impressive sales record - hitting platinum status in Singapore within a period of just 5 days. It ranked second, only next to Jay Chou's Still Fantasy, in annual sales on the Top Ten Mandarin Album Sales Chart, compiled by Zaobao. The song '触摸' won 'Best Theme Song' at the 2006 Star Awards held by MediaCorp, Singapore.
Tan is proficient in both piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and sings in a variety of languages and dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. In his debut concert on 22 April 2006 at the Max Pavilion in Singapore, he sang in Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Thai
Thai language
Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
, Cantonese and Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
.
Other interests
Tan is also one of only two visually disabled competitive bowlersBowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
in Singapore who had won in a bowling competition, organized by the visually handicapped associations in Singapore and in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
between 1996 and 1999.
A Mandarin idol drama, titled Dream Chasers featuring Tan and fellow PSS alumni, was aired on Channel U in 2006. Tan's participation in this drama marked a milestone in Singapore's Television industry - For the first time, a visually handicapped artiste was involved as a lead role in a television drama. He has subsequently made guest appearances in other local dramas (Love Degree 0 C, The Shining Star) and variety shows.
Despite limitations to the number of roles that he can perform as an actor, he has managed to become the first visually handicapped artiste to win the acclaimed "Most Popular Newcomer" and "Top 10 Male Artiste" in Singapore's Star Awards 2006.
His transformation from busker to stardom inspired a short feature named 'Life Story', depicting how he has overcome his disability and become the first blind person in Singapore to attain fame in the regional music scene.
Tan also appeared in a highly acclaimed local movie 881
881 (film)
881 is a 2007 Singaporean musical-comedy-drama film written and directed by Royston Tan, based on the Singapore Getai scene. It is only the second Singaporean film that has been released in Japan....
directed by the awards-winning Director Roystan Tan, released in the cinemas on 9 August 2007. He acted as a street busker (his previous profession) and sang a Hokkien song in the movie. The movie is about the unique 'getai' culture in Singapore.
In his third album, song composing skills was attempted, hence showcased more of his individual personality.
Tan always shows his natural talent in musical instruments such as the Guitar and Piano, both of which are self-taught since young due to his passion in music.
Past portfolio
On 31 August 2007, Tan debuts in Taiwan with his second album 'i. Wei Lian'. He and fellow label artiste Joi Chua, did a new music attempt by singing a rap song "Fan Cuo" which was included in the Singapore edition release. Throughout his promotional activities like guest appearances on popular Taiwan variety shows “Happy Sunday” and “Kang Xi Lai Le”, industry veterans notably passed commendable remarks of Tan’s song delivery. He was invited as guest performing artiste to attend the 7th Global Chinese Music Awards held in Hong Kong on 7 October 2007 where he duetted with Hong Kong songbird Joey Yung and presented awards to the best newcomers in the regional music industry.In first half of 2008, he embarked on his China 'i. Wei Lian' album promotions from radio airwaves to television shows in numerous cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan. On top of these, Tan never forgot to contribute to sociey, like performing at events to raise awareness for the local blind community. In the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, Tan participated in the One Love fund-raising dinner in Chengdu and visited the disaster site to help victims rebuild their homes and lives. When Olympic fever hit in the second half of the year, Tan was also very honoured to be able to deliver a song performance with a Qingdao female counterpart, "Tong Zai Lan Se Xing Qiu Shang" at the opening ceremony of the sailing segment of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games held at Qingdao.
Latest
In Aug 2009, Tan’s third album 'Moving Notes...Kelvin Tan' was released. For the very first time, seven of his own compositions were included in this album, which reflected a level of maturity and progress made by him in music. It is also an achievement and breakthrough for him to showcase his new found talent of music composition. With a personalised album of such, he hopes he can reach out to even more people (alike to his album concept - mobile live performances). For the past few months, he has performed in different heartland areas and wowed crowds of different ages. His album also gained recognition by winning 'The Courts MV Award' for Yong Yuan De Peng You (Forever Friends) MV at the Singapore Hit Awards 2009 (hosted by Yes 933 radio station). He was also awarded 'The Most Inspirational Award' as he has overcome challenges, despite his disability and hence inspired many others.From heartland areas in Singapore, he continued to perform in shopping malls and pubs in Malaysia. On 12 September 2009, at Malaysia's Bukit Jalil Stadium, he participated in 'T-Music Festival' (organised by Tiger Beer), whereby joined a strong cast of performers and performed his album songs. Upon his Malaysia promotional trip, he was invited to be 'Speaker for The Voice Academy' where he performed songs and encourage those disabled members. He was chosen to sing the theme song, for 2009 Mediacorp Chinese blockbuster show, titled 'Together'.
Tan also won the SONG OF THE YEAR AWARD at Singapore Entertainment Awards 2010 for his # 1 hit of the year "Break Up Letter".The song spent the most number of weeks on the Radio 1003 Chart among all the songs in 2009. Tan also won the BEST THEME SONG "Together" at Mediacorp's Star Awards 2010 Ceremony.
Tan's foray into Taiwan in 2010 is met with great success. He hit Top 5 in the Best Selling Albums Chart G Music for the first time. His previous entry was in 2007 for I.Weilian which hit #14.
Tan also attracted much attention with his appearance on "Million Stars" where he received FULL SCORE for his PK performance.
Discography
To date and from his debut in 2005, Tan has released 1 single, 1 Superstar compilation album, 3 studio albums, 3 repackaged albums, 2 Karaoke VCD (adapted from debut album and 3rd album) and 1 concert DVD.Song listing on music charts
| Radio Station/Song Title | Y.E.S. 93.3FM (S'pore) Highest Ranking (Weeks on chart) |
883JiaFM 883JiaFM 883 Jia FM is a Chinese radio station of SAFRA Radio in Singapore. It features contemporary, popular music, latest traffic news, weather report, and news as well as entertainment news. News is reported hourly from morning 7 am to evening 6 pm. Latest traffic news are constantly reported to update... (S'pore) Highest Ranking (Number of times on Chart) |
Radio 1003 (S'pore) Highest Ranking (Weeks on Chart) |
FM988 (M'sia) Highest Ranking (Weeks on Chart) |
RTHK (Hong Kong) Highest Ranking (Weeks on Chart) |
GCMA (Combined) Highest Ranking (Weeks on Chart) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 我只是想要 (All I Want Is) |
||||||
| 爱。恨。难 (Love . Hate) |
||||||
| I Love You (我爱你) | ||||||
| 普通的人 (Ordinary Man) |
||||||
| 亲爱的,做个好梦 (Have a sweet dream, Darling) |
||||||
| 分手的情书 (Break Up Letter) |
||||||
| 永远的朋友 (Forever Friends) |
||||||
| 我们 (Together) |
||||||
External links
- WeilianKelvin - Kelvin Tan's Fan Site
- WeilianKelvin - Kelvin Tan's Blog
- WeilianKelvin - Kelvin Tan's Twitter
- WeilianKelvin - Kelvin Tan's 3rd Album Blog
- Kelvin Tan's Facebook Group
- Kelvin Tan's Official YouTube Channel
- Kelvin Tan's Chinese OMY.SG link
- Kelvin Tan's Profile in Warner Music Taiwan Site
- Kelvin Tan's Profile in Skyhigh Taiwan Site
- Kelvin Tan's China TOM.com weblink
- Kelvin Tan's Online Photo Gallery
- Disabled World
- http://www.dialogueinthedark.com.sg/DiD/concept/Pages/guides%27%20profile_%20Kelvin.aspx