Biography
Anders Nelsson is an actor and musician who emerged in the 1960s Hong Kong music scene. He was a member of the popular Hong Kong group The Kontinentals as well as the front man for Anders Nelson & The Inspiration. In later years he became an actor and in an early role he played a thug in the movie Way of the Dragon that starred Bruce Lee.
In the late 1950s, Nelsson was in a band called The Cagey 5 which was a twist around of the name of their school King George V. In a few years the band had become The Kontinentals. 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, released on the Orbit Records label. Both were chart-topping hits in Hong Kong. He was entertainment editor for the evening newspaper The Star in 1968.
In the 1970s, Nelson was the front man in a successful band called Ming which was signed to EMI records. It was formed in 1973 and lasted until 1976. Most of the recordings the band made were composed by Nelsson. Some of the band's releases that did very well in the 1970s included "Never Coming Home" and "Reasons Why". Due to a few things he'd seen with other bands that included drinking backstage and taking drugs, also not wanting to sing past 30, he decided on a change of direction and as a result, he broke up Ming.
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.
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.