Anders Nelsson

Anders Nelsson
Background information
Birth name	Anders Gustav Nelsson
Born	Berkeley, California, United States
Occupation(s)	Entertainer/Consultant
Instruments	Electric bass & Rhythm guitar
Labels	Orbit Records, Diamond Music HK, EMI Records, UK Records HK,Mutual Chord Records (China)
Associated acts	The Vampires, The Kontinentals, Anders Nelson & The Inspiration, The Anders Nelson Group, Ming, Infinity

Anders Nelsson is an actor and musician who historically is an important part of 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 tiwst 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.

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.

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