Famed Hong Kong composer Joseph Koo, who is known for songs such as Below The Lion Rock and The Bund, has died at 92. According to Hong Kong media, he died in Vancouver, Canada, on Tuesday. Known as the Father of Cantopop, Koo composed more than 1,200 songs in a five-decade career, many of which became classics. Born in 1931 in Guangzhou, Koo moved to Hong Kong with his family after World War II. His interest in music came from his elder sister, singer-actress Carrie Koo Mei, who was famous during the 1950s and 1960s. Joseph Koo got his first big break in 1961 when he published the song Dream, which was performed by his sister and chosen as the theme song for the hit black-and-white movie Love Without End (1961). He left Hong Kong to study composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the same year, and upon graduation, worked for the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest movie studios as a film music composer and arranger. He joined television station TVB in 1967 and composed theme songs for many popular productions from the 1970s to the 1980s. Over the years, he has collaborated with many songwriters – among them lyricist James Wong Jim, his long-time songwriting partner who died at age 63 in 2004. Some of their more famous works included Below The Lion Rock, a 1979 theme song for the TV series of the same name which revolved around the lives of Hong Kong residents. First performed by late singer Roman Tam, it became a well-loved anthem in Hong Kong for celebrating the city’s never-say-die spirit. Another memorable song composed by Wong and Koo was The Bund, a theme song for the 1980 series of the same name starring Chow Yun Fat and Ray Lui. Koo’s compositions can also be heard in the movies, such as In The Sentimental Past, the theme song for the John Woo crime thriller A Better Tomorrow (1986). Koo, who was married with two children, went into semi-retirement in Canada in the 1990s and focused on painting. He retired fully in 2015 and moved to Canada for good three years later. For his contributions to music, Koo received a Member of Order of the British Empire in 1982. The Hong Kong government also awarded him a Bronze Bauhinia Star in 1998 and a Golden Bauhinia Star in 2015. These were on top of his numerous music accolades at ceremonies such as the Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. Straitstimes.com
