Joseph Koo Kar-Fai (25 February 1931 – 3 January 2023) was a Hong Kong composer. He used the pen name Moran (莫然) for Mandarin songs early in his career. According to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Koo was one of the most respected composers in Hong Kong.

Early life

Koo was born in Canton, China and migrated with his family to Hong Kong in 1948. Koo had two siblings: an elder sister, Hong Kong singer and painter Koo Mei (顧媚) and a younger brother, Koo Kar-Tseung (顧嘉鏘). Koo began learning music at age 17 by taking piano lessons from a Filipino music teacher, who was already giving singing lessons to Koo's sister.

Career

Koo was sponsored by Sir Run Run Shaw to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the early 1960s. Upon graduation he returned to Hong Kong and worked for both the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest movie studios, scoring, among others, the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon in 1972. Koo joined TVB as their director of music in 1973, where from the late 1970s until immigrating to Canada in the 1990s, he collaborated with the lyricist Wong Jim on many memorable TV theme songs. Koo has composed over 1,200 songs in his career, many of which are. He only has 2 notable works as a lyricist, both very short in length and total number of words. One was a children's song about the ten numbers, the other was the ending 'Goodnight' jingle for Enjoy Yourself Tonight. These two little-known facts were revealed by James Wong in 1998 during a concert dedicated to both Koo and him. In 1961, he composed his first published song "Dream" (夢), which was sung by his sister Koo Mei. He later had another hit song "Suburban Road" 郊道. In 1974, he wrote the first Cantonese TV theme song The Fatal Irony (song) which was one of the first popular Cantopop songs. Koo was appointed Member of Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1982. In 1998, he received the Bronze Bauhinia Star from the Hong Kong Government. He also received other awards including Music Accomplishment Award (from Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Ltd.), Highest Honour Award (from RTHK Ten Best Chinese Music Program), Best Music Award and Best Lyric Award (from Asia Film Festival), Hong Kong Film Awards, Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards. Koo immigrated to Canada in the 1990s but continued his work in Hong Kong music. In 2007, he wrote the theme song for The Drive of Life, a drama produced by TVB to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover. In 2012 from 30 November to 3 December, he held a concert titled "Joseph Koo Concert 2012" at the Hong Kong Coliseum, which featured many singers including Adam Cheng, George Lam, Teresa Cheung, and Anthony Wong. In 2015, he announced his retirement as a conductor, and that he would significantly reduce his musical works and become an oil painter like his sister. Koo died in Richmond, Canada on 3 January 2023, at age 91. Joseph's son, Koo Chi Ho, revealed that he had suffered symptoms and complications of COVID-19 and decreased appetite and energy weeks before his death. He was otherwise fit and healthy beforehand.

Selected compositions

Sources