Nan Yik-Pong, better known by his stage name Pong Nan (; born 15 May 1978), is a

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hon ...

musician, singer-songwriter and actor in Hong Kong of

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

ancestry.

Life and career

1978–2004: Early life and career beginnings

In 1989, amid mass migrations due to unclear

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...

situation to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

situation, at the age of 11, Nan and his family immigrated to Canada. Pong attended Centennial middle school followed by Georgetown District High School in Halton Hills. In 1993, Nan returned to Hong Kong and entered

La Salle College La Salle College (LSC; zh, t=喇沙書院, j=laa3 saa1 syu1 jyun2) is a boys' secondary school located in Kowloon City District, Hong Kong. It was established in 1932 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Catholic re ...

to continue his studies until Form Six. Then he studied international politics and culture at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in Washington, D.C., United States. He went to

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

in Japan for exchange in Year 3. After graduation in 2000, he returned to Hong Kong and worked as an office salesperson, while being a part-time musician for Harbour City and Fringe Club. During this time, he released some of his music online via MP3.com, and he composed ''Sound from Above 樓上來的聲音'' for

Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential artists in the Greater China region, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture. He ...

and ''Mad about You'' for Joey Yung. He was also the lyricist for Yung's ''Hill of Memories 舊日回憶的山丘''.

2004–07: Sony Era – ''The Unadorable Pong Nan 不要人見人愛'', ''Almost Happy 無非想快樂'' and ''The Sounds of Tide 潮騷'' and music director of Andy Lau

2008–09: Restart of career – East Asia Music and ''Nan/Blue 藍'', ''Yik 奕'' and ''Pong 邦''

Nan made his comeback a year after and joined East Asia Music in 2008. He released 3 consecutive EP albums namely ''Nan/Blue 藍'', ''Yik 奕'' and ''Pong 邦'' depicting his early childhood and adulthood before beginning his singer-songwriter career.

2010–11: Upheaval change in style – ''Every Night Is Saturday Night 晚晚禮拜六'' and ''A Wonderful Sight 好風光''

2012–13: ''Grace and Beauty 優與美''

2012 and 2013 were considered relatively successful period for Nan, as his digital single ''Cheers 為執著乾杯'', released in 2012 summer, received his first ever number-one in the music charts (

903 __NOTOC__ Year 903 ( CMIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Berengar I of Italy proceeds to issue concessions and privileges to the Lombard nobility and monasteries. He gra ...

and

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

). The song encouraged positive thinking and more importantly highlighted his challenges against all the criticisms through his musical career. The song was even used as one theme song in the September protests against

Moral and national education Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012. The subject was controversial for its stance on the Chinese Communist Party ...

after release. Besides, retro electro ''You Are So London, I Am So New York 你倫敦，我紐約'' and piano based ''Let's go to Alaska 一起去阿拉斯加'' also went top of the charts. In recognition of his outstanding results, Nan received the Cash Best Singer-songwriter Award at 36th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award Presentation Ceremony.

2014–present: Marking 10 years of singer career – Cinepoly and ''Caress 撫愛''

In May 2014, Nan took part in 903 id club concert with

Miriam Yeung Miriam Yeung Chin-wah (born 3 February 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. As of 2020, she has released more than 35 albums and has starred in more than 40 films. In 2012, Yeung won the Award for Best Actress at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awar ...

, Alfred Hui and Adason Lo. Afterwards, he joined Cinepoly to mark his 10th anniversary of career in June. Nan participated his company debut concert ''Universal Music Summer Hits Concert'' with fellow singers Eric Suen, Kary Ng, Kelvin Kwan in late June. At the same time, Nan released his debut song ''Love me then Kiss me 愛我就吻我''. It became a hit and reached top three in

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

and Metro charts. Subsequently, Nan held his personal debut concert ''Soliton Presents Pong Nan CARESS Live'' in August 2014 which he performed songs of his upcoming first Cinepoly album ''Caress 撫愛''. Kary Ng appeared as a guest singer. The album was released later in September. ''Caress 撫愛'' is Nan's first ever love album, which marked his change in personal thinking. He decided to embrace love, an aspect he was afraid to talk about before. His another song of the album, ''Lover 戀人'', topped

and Metro charts, his first record in his 10-year career. Besides, it was successfully acclaimed by critics as well as commercially popular with over 10,000 copies sold in 3 months. It was then certified as gold record by HKRIA. However, citing his neck injury, he decided to sideline and take rest until full recovery in late 2014. Nan returned to the scene in 2015 summer after 6 months of rest and would perform in Summer Pop Live in Hong Kong 2015 together with Ivana Wong, Adason Lo, Robynn and Kendy and Justin Lo

Achievements

Discography

* ''The Unadorable Pong Nan 不要人見人愛'' (2004) * ''Almost Happy 無非想快樂'' (2005) * ''The Sounds of Tide 潮騷'' (2006) * ''The Happy Prince Best Selections 快樂王子創作精選'' (2008) * ''Nan/Blue 藍'' (2008) * ''Yik 奕'' (2008) * ''Pong 邦'' (2009) * ''Every Night Is Saturday Night 晚晚禮拜六'' (2011) * ''A Wonderful Sight 好風光'' (2011) * ''Grace and Beauty 優與美'' (2013) * ''Caress 撫愛'' (2014)

Filmography

* '' Once a Gangster'' (2010) * '' SDU: Sex Duties Unit'' (2013)

References

External links

Pong Nan's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nan, Pong Hong Kong male film actors Cantopop singers Hong Kong singer-songwriters 1978 births Living people Georgetown University alumni Hong Kong male singers Hong Kong people of Hakka descent 20th-century Hong Kong male actors Hakka musicians Waseda University alumni