Anders Nelsson

Anders Nelsson

Background information
Birth name	Anders Gustav Nelsson
Born	Berkeley, California, USA
Occupation(s)	Entertainer/Consultant
Instruments	Electric bass & Rhythm guitar
Labels	Orbit Records, Diamond Music HK, EMI Records, UK Records HK,Mutual Chord Records (China)
Associated acts	The Vampires, The Kontinentals, Anders Nelson & The Inspiration, The Anders Nelson Group, Ming, Infinity

Biography

In 1963 Nelsson's school band The Kontinentals, signed their first recording contract and shortly afterwards released I Think Of Her and I Still Love You, both chart-topping hits in Hong Kong.

The Kontinentals

Since that time, Anders has played and recorded with several bands, including MING, which had many hits in the 1970s, including Reasons Why and U ’n’ I.

In 1976 he switched to composing and producing and has written many jingles and film soundtracks, including the main theme for the award-winning Cantonese movie Mr. Vampire.

From 1976 to 1979 he worked for EMI (HK) Ltd as Artist & Repertoire Manager and in 1979 started his own group of Companies, The Melody Bank which became a successful production and publishing house, and The Entertainment Company, which managed several successful Hong Kong artists, including Rowena Cortes and Louie Castro.

10 years later he sold The Melody Bank to BMG Pacific Limited and joined this newly emerging ‘major’ in the music industry as Managing Director.

In this role he set up BMG’s music publishing operations in the Asian Region as well as running the record company in Hong Kong.

After completing his three-year contract Nelsson was headhunted by the well-known Hong Kong Swaine family (patriarch of this family, Sir John Swaine QC was at the time chairman of both the Royal HK Jockey Club and the Legislative Council.) A new company called The Media Bank was set up under the Chairmanship of elder son John Swaine Junior, with Nelsson as MD. Through Nelsson’s music industry contacts the company acquired representation of several indie labels and publishing catalogues. Nelsson left the company shortly after the Handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 to pursue China-related opportunities as a consultant.

Over the decades Nelsson has also presented concerts by and booked major international artists such as Kenny G, Elton John, Bob Dylan, INXS, Bananarama and Michael Bolton. He still books artists for corporate events and charity events.

His acting career started with a small role in Bruce Lee’s Way of The Dragon in the early 1970s and he has appeared in countless Hong Kong-made TV dramas since then, for all the Hong Kong channels, CTV, RTHK, HK-TVB and RTV/ATV.

Among his roles have been Divine Retribution (ATV), Wiselee (TVB) and feature film Journey To The West with Nicholas Tse, released in late 2005. During late 2005 and early 2006 he taped several drama serials for HK-TVB including Stanley Story, which went on air on May 15, 2006 and Land of Wealth, which was screened in October 2006. He has also appeared as a guest in Jade Solid Gold and is currently seen as an expert promoting HK-TVB’s HD-TV channels. He finds that having his face appear on TV on a regular basis opens many doors, especially in China, and keeps this aspect of his career as a business tool as well as hobby.

He is currently a well-respected entertainment industry and PR consultant doing work for prestigious Asian companies, including some of the major record companies, Hong Kong’s popular restaurant and bar district Knutsford Terrace, and his native country of Sweden, through his group of companies, which include a music production company, a music publishing company and a PR company.

He still enjoys singing and in mid-2005 started a new concept band…..the concept being that it can range in size from just Nelsson and a pianist up to as many musicians as a client can afford or accommodate on a stage! In view of this flexibility, he named the band INFINITY and the group has performed at many high-profile events including the 2005 Macau Grand Prix, the final New Year’s Eve party at the legendary, now-closed, Hyatt Regency Hotel, the Canadian Community Ball (2004, 2005, 2006), the Jailhouse Rock party at the historical Victoria Prison to raise funds for the Community Chest and many private parties and events.

In September 2006 a Guangzhou, China-based record company released an album of Chinese favorites sung in English by Nelsson.

He is also recording a CD of some of his favorite songs for release in 2010 which will be the 60th anniversary of Nelsson’s arrival in Hong Kong as a child in 1950 with his parents.

Nelsson is considered somewhat of an expert in music-related copyright matters and in a more serious side to his career has been engaged by the Hong Kong government as an expert witness from time to time. He has in the past served several terms as a director on the boards of both the Music Publishers Association (M.P.A.) and The Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (C.A.S.H.)