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Ambrose Aw

Kelly Chan

Compared with other newcomers, Kelly Chan Wai-lum's road to stardom seems to have been much smoother. In the short span of a year, she has shot from being an unknown to a familiar face.

It was only last year when her face became synonymous with a credit card advertisement. The 24-year-old quickly followed that up with a starring role opposite teen idol Aaron Kwok Fu-shing in Whatever Will Be, Will Be.

And before anyone could say 'que sera sera', Chan's career as a singer was launched with the release of a debut album.

She ended 1995 by winning most of the awards in the newcomers category in different award presentations organised by local media.

Not surprisingly, when Chan looks back on the past year, she can declare she is happy with her start in the entertainment business.

What is there not to be happy about? 'There was a time I felt very upset because I could not get used to the new working environment. But now I think I have been paid back. I am very happy because I had gained a lot of support from the media and my fans,' Chan said.

'It's true that sometimes people are very critical of me, but I understand they do so for my good. They know I can do better and they are concerned about me.

'I will work even harder and try not to let them down,' she pledged.

Chan has just finished a new movie Lost And Found (see opposite page), a melodrama directed by Lee Chi-ngai, and starring Michael Wong Man-tak and Taiwanese singer Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Chan said filming for this went much better than her first film because she had learned the secret of making a movie.

'I learnt how to enjoy making a movie and I started to get into acting,' she said.

'Before that, I found it very stressful because it was the first time I had to work overnight. Everything was so new to me, I did not know how to adapt. But it is getting better now,' she said.

Chan and the crew also went to Scotland for five days of location shooting. The tight schedule meant they worked hard.

'As we spent most of the time shooting in the countryside, what we saw were only trees, mountains and sheep, so it was quite boring.' A science-fiction and horror movie fan, Chan was critical of her roles so far, saying the characters were not independent.

'My roles tended to be a little passive, the characters were too weak and relied too much on the male characters,' she said.

'I really want to try something more challenging and different.' But she is satisfied with her new Cantonese album, Wind Flower Snow, even though its release was delayed.

The album's producer, songwriter Mark Lui Chung-tak, took time to find good songs, and then she had to fulfil her film commitments in between taping, both contributing to the delay. 'But it's worth the wait because I like the songs very much,' Chan said.

Of the 10 tracks, her favourites include the title song Wind Flower Snow (track two), Nothing (track three) and Weakness (track eight).

'When I was recording Wind Flower Snow, I was very touched by the story and when I sang the song, I let the emotions show,' Chan said.

She praised producer Lui, saying the recording went smoothly thanks to him.

'Mark is a very talented producer. He understands my strong and weak points.' Because they communicated well, they did not have many problems, she said.

'During the recording, I found my vocal performance had improved.

'Possibly it was because I had gained more confidence in my voice and I was not afraid of the working environment anymore,' Chan said.

She spent time listening to different singers and bands to improve her musical sense, although she concentrated on female vocalists. The Cardigans, Sheryl Crow, Frente and Tori Amos are among her favourites.

'I like to listen to these singers and bands because they are very different in style and there's a lot of variation in their music,' she said.

'I think listening to their music can help to improve my singing techniques and vocal performance.' Meanwhile, Chan feels she has been typecast as a Faye Wong Ching-man lookalike, which bothers her.

'Personally I do not think we are that similar, but it seems the media are very much into making this kind of comparison,' she said.

'No matter how I dress or sing, they will say I dress or sing like [Faye]. I am really fed up with this but there is nothing I can do to stop it,' Chan said.

But this comparison 'is very unfair to me and I was quite unhappy at the beginning. Now I have decided to give up and let them write whatever they like. The only thing I can do right now is to wait until they lose interest'.

Chan's beauty and style have been praised by designer Calvin Klein. Recently Chan, together with teen idol Ekin Cheng, were named 'best dressed local artists' by Klein when he visited Hong Kong for a promotion.

The entertainer said she had to work for the cool image.

'My producer and the record company wanted me to dress in a cool way in order to tie in with the songs and the album's image. Since then people have begun to think Kelly Chan is like this in real life,' she said.

'In fact this is not true.

'And if you look at my new album, you will find I have changed my image to a more feminine one. I wear dresses more frequently . . . to fit in with the tone of the whole album.' Chan plans to be more active in planning her future career development.

'After I have finished the promotion of the movie and my album, I will go back to the studio again,' she said.

'I may release a 'new songs plus greatest hits' album by the end of the year.

'I hope I can release three albums and make two more movies next year, but that all depends on my schedule and this is subject to change.

'For the past few months, my schedule was quite badly organised. I wish to plan better next year.' Meanwhile, despite her achievements, Chan is still considered a newcomer in the entertainment business.

'I don't really care if the media still put me in this category, I do respect their rules of the game.

'But in some sense I feel it's a little unfair to the real newcomers because I have had more experience than them.' 



Tired of being typecast