Dave Wong

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Dave Wong

Background information
Birth name	Wong Wen Ching
Also known as	Wang Chieh, Wong Kit, Dave Wang
Origin	Taiwan
Genre(s)	Chinese pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, actor, stuntman
Years active	1987 - present
Label(s)	EEG

Dave WONG, known in Mandarin as Wang Chieh (王傑 in traditional Chinese, 王杰 in simplified characters) and in Cantonese as Wong Kit), is a Chinese pop star who was famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

He was born in Taiwan as the son of a former Shaw Brothers actor, Wong Hap, and given the name 王文清. He grew up in Hong Kong and the United States.^[1] Wong shot to the top of the Tawainese music charts in 1987 with his debut album A Game, A Dream, which has sold over 500,000 copies^[2], and found great success in Hong Kong during 1989. Some of his music was used as the theme songs of popular Hong Kong TV series. He is one of the few Taiwanese artists to break into the Hong Kong market, with four years of chart-topping record sales. He was likewise successful in other markets such as Malaysia.

His music can be described as being melancholy and haunting in a blend of rock and ballads. Wong is an established songwriter but also covers songs by other artists, both Asian and western.^[3] However, he delivers all his songs with distinctive passion and energy.

To date he has recorded 22 studio albums in Mandarin and 11 in Cantonese. In addition, 19 compilations of his popular songs have been released.^[2]

After staying in the market for about four years, he took his leave. He filed for bankruptcy as his highly publicized second marriage to Taiwanese model, Muo Qi-Wen (older sister of TVB actor Edward Mok), was falling apart. He later divorced her. He then emigrated to Canada in 1994.

[edit] Recent moves

Wong later returned to the Hong Kong music industry, and signed a recording contract with EEG, the company which current Hong Kong pop artists such as Joey Yung and The Twins work under. In comparison with these young acts, Dave Wong is overlooked and poorly commercialized.

In 1999, he released his album Dave Wong Selection (王杰精选) 1989-1999 with the lead song "Hello". He faced criticism and dissatisfying sales for his new music and image. In 2000, he starred in Legend of the Flying Swordsman (which ended up being a flop at the box office). In the same year, he released the critically acclaimed album L'amour et le Reve. Since then, he has participated in a series of movies including Jackie Chan's New Police Story.