Hong Kong English pop () is a genre of music consisting of English-language songs that are made, performed and popularised in Hong Kong. It is known as simply English pop by Hong Kongers. The height of the English pop era in Hong Kong was from the 1950s to mid-1970s.
History
As English was the only official language from 1843 to 1974 in Hong Kong, it was spoken widely, especially in formal contexts, by Hongkongers in the 20th century. As a result, pop songs performed in English language were very popular among both ethnic Chinese and British Hong Kong citizens.
Pre-WWII
Many of the bandleaders and musicians were Filipinos. Lobing Samson, who led the house band at Ciro's in Shanghai, China for many years, later made his way to Hong Kong as did Fred Carpio, Vic Cristobal and many others.
1950s
In 1951, Frankie Laine recorded "Rose, Rose, I Love You" in Hong Kong, which is an English version of the popular Chinese song Mei gui mei gui wo ai ni composed by Chen Gexin (陳歌辛), and first recorded by Yao Lee in Shanghai 1940s. In 1959 Tsai Chin recorded an English version of Yao Min's "The Second Spring", which featured in the London stage musical The World of Suzie Wong.
1960s
Imported pop music in English language from the West such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Johnny Mathis enjoyed much popularity in the city. Inspired by Western pop, Hong Kong artists started to produce Hong Kong's own pop music in English in the 1960s. The Kontinentals, a schoolboy band originating at King George V School, is often credited with being the first Hong Kong band to record original compositions in the style of British pop of the early 1960s. Lead singer and bassist Anders Nelsson and lead guitarist Roy Davenport, composed I Still Love You and I Think of Her, respectively, and the songs were chart-topping hits on the indie Orbit Records label owned by British jazz singer Gery Scott.
Prior to this most English-language recordings in the British Colony had been covers and with a few exceptions this trend continued through the 1960s. Nelsson continued as a singer songwriter with subsequent bands on the Diamond Music label and hits included Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Missing You and How Do You Do. Nelsson resurfaced in the early 1970s with a band called Ming which recorded mostly his own compositions, including Reasons Why, Never Coming Home and U 'n I. After the band broke up in 1976, Nelsson joined the label as a producer, eventually working his way up to manager at A&R. He left three years later to start his own company which managed and produced artists such as Louie Castro and Rowena Cortes, recording both in English and Cantonese. Teddy Robin and his band Teddy Robin and the Playboys (biggest hits Lies and You Can't Grow Peaches on a Cherry Tree), Joe Junior with his band The Side-Effects (biggest hits Here's A Heart, Letter To Susan) and Irene Ryder were some of the successful artists. They mostly came to fame in the latter half of the 1960s. DJ 'Uncle' Ray Cordeiro of local government station RTHK's Radio 3 English-language service is credited with heavily promoting and nurturing Hong Kong's English-language pop scene, and the same station's Chinese channels also featured a programme called 'Listen to song, learn English', which also enhanced the popularity of the genre. Such programmes have been credited for the high standard of spoken English in the 1960s and 1970s in Hong Kong.
Other Hong Kong English Pop artists include Judi Jim (詹小屏), D'Topnotes- 3 of their members include lead singer and bass player Christine Samson, drummer Michael Samson, singer Vikki Samson (the children of bandleader Lobing Samson), Michael Remedios and The Mystics, Danny Diaz & The Checkmates. Based in hotels and ballrooms, Hong Kong nightclubs featured both Filipino and Chinese dance bands often fronted by local female singers. At the upper end of the market, Rebecca Pan, Mona Fong (方逸華) and Kiang Ling (江玲) became well known for their mixed Mandarin and English repertoires. Diamond Records also became an independent HK label established in 1960, issuing albums in Mandarin and English originals. Pathé Records (Hong Kong) followed suit with a series of albums on the Columbia and Pathé labels by Chang Loo (張露), Betty Chung (鍾玲玲), Billie Tam (蓓蕾), Judy Jim (詹小屏) and Irene Ryder. And in 1968, Paul Leung (梁寶耳) produced one of the more notable bilingual albums of the 1960s.