Will Pan
Wilber Pan, also known as Will Pan, is a Taiwanese-American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, and entrepreneur. He started his career as a host of Channel V programs. In 2011, Pan was awarded Best Actor for Endless Love at the 46th Golden Bell Awards, Taiwan's equivalent to the Emmy Awards.
In recent years, Pan ventured into the business world. Pan's business interests extends into streetwear fashion and developing of mobile games. In 2009, he launched the streetwear boutique N.P.C which he collaborated with Chinese host Nic Li, in Shanghai. N.P.C also has its stores in Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and at online shopping website Taobao. In 2010, Pan established his streetwear brand "Undisputed" and modelled for the brand's promotional ads. He is also the cofounder and chief creative officer of software company Camigo Media, which develops popular mobile games such as "Fish Off", "Pig Rockets" and "MeWantBamboo 2", that has achieved over 20 million downloads to date.
In April 2013, Pan was ranked 76th on 2013 Forbes China Celebrity 100 list, and 44th on the income list which was based on his estimated earnings of $31.9 million yuan in 2012.
Early life
Pan was born in West Virginia, United States but moved to Taiwan at the age of seven. He attended Dominican International School and Taipei American School and graduated in 1999. He was offered an athletic scholarship in basketball by an NCAA college, but chose to continue his education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in the United States. However, he left before graduating to pursue a showbiz career.In 1999, Pan took part in singing contest "BCC Star" while interning at the Broadcasting Corporation of China. He performed the song "Can't Wait" by Steve Seungjun Yoo and Yuki Hsu in the finals and later went on to participate in NMG/BMG Los Angeles Singing Competition. The song which he performed, Alex To's "You Are Spoiled" won him the "Best Image Award". His performance at the singing competition caught the attention of Andy Lau's manager and he was invited to audition for Channel V's program host in Hong Kong.
Career
2001–2002
In 2001, Pan signed to BMG and made his debut hosting V Style Society alongside Jason Tang. In the same year, he acted in Taiwanese drama Great Teacher and contributed four songs in the original soundtrack.In 2002, Will released his debut Mandarin solo album, Gecko Stroll, which sold over 130,000 copies in Taiwan. The album contains the track "By My Side" composed by Jay Chou and "I'm Not Afraid" composed by Chinese singer Anson Hu. He collaborated with Evonne Hsu on the track "Special Guest".
He was featured in Alec Su's 2002 song "Playing for Real".
2003–2004
His second album Pass Me The Mic was released in the following year on 19 September. The album includes his collaboration with Jason Tang on the track "Curry Chili". To promote his album, Pan starred in a five-part "music love story" which aired on SETTV variety show "Showbiz".In October 2003, he held his first mini concert "Will's Show" at Nangang 101. A VCD, "Will Show Music Video Karaoke" which contains the concert highlights, was released in Jan 2004. In the compilation album "U Love" released by Universal Music Taiwan, he worked with Universal Music artists Energy and Evonne Hsu on the single "Universal Love".
He was awarded "Best Male Artist in sales records" at 2003 "G-Music Chart Awards" for Gecko Stroll.
He appeared as guest star in 2003 dramas Love Train and "Wu He Tian".
In June 2004, he released a pictorial and conversational English book "Never Teach Me Grammar". He cowrote the contents when he was hospitalized for knee injuries.
He was featured in American singer-songwriter Christina Milian's song Dip It Low, which is recorded in It's About Time .
On 7 August 2004, Will staged his first overseas ticketed concert "Cool Play Concert" at Singapore Indoor Stadium with Taiwanese artist Chang Shan-wei.
On 3 September 2004, he released his third album Wu Ha which features a duet, "Adoration to Happiness", with Angela Zhang. The album contains the track 「我讓你走了」 composed by Taiwanese singer Tank.
2005–2006
In July 2005, Pan released his fourth studio album The Expert, featuring Chinese singer Zhang Xianzi in the hit song 「不得不愛」. He convened a team,"Pan@sonic," to assist him in album productions. The self-penned lead single 「誰是 MVP」 is mainly about an ambition to be the MVP in career and areas of interest. It also talks about Pan's emotional setbacks when he sustained serious ligament injury. The album also contains the song 「跟我走吧」 composed by singer-songwriter JJ Lin.On 13 August 2005, Pan held a celebration show in Taipei, performing tracks mainly from The Expert.
In December 2005, he released a remix album Will Pan's Freestyle Remix 2005 which contains the remix versions of his previously released hits and a bonus VCD of 「決戰鬥室」 special version MV and 「一指神功」 MV.
On 23 June 2006, Pan released his fifth studio album Around the World which includes 2 duets. He collaborated with Taiwanese seasoned singer Su Rui on the track 「我想更慬你」 which is about contradictions between a mother and son. The other duet, 「戴上我的愛」, features Chinese singer May Wang. The MV of the title track 「反轉地球」 featured his "Pan@sonic" team members, Taiwanese well-known choreographer Rambo and songwriter Jeremy Ji. The album also contains the track "Pan@sonic", composed by the team. "Pan@sonic" subsequently dissolved shortly after Jeremy Ji left to pursue a singing career.
Shortly after the release of Around the World, one of the tracks 「著迷」 was accused of plagiarism by netizens. The MV concept of the song was also accused of being highly similar to South Korean singer Rain's song I Do. The credited composer Kuan Weitang later admitted to plagiarizing the 1998 song "Each Time" by East 17. He eventually made an apology, agreeing to drop his name from the credits and bear all legal consequences. It was reported that Pan expressed shock and disappointment over the plagiarism incident.
On 30 September 2006, Pan embarked on his first official headlining tour "Will Pan Around The World Concert Tour" which kicked off in Shanghai, China. Faye from Taiwanese band F.I.R. and singer Shin were special guests for the first stop. The concert tour went on for 16 months, from Sept 2006 to January 2008.
2007–2008
In September 2007, Pan released his sixth studio album Play It Cool. The album includes a collaboration with Mandopop singer and SHIN band former vocalist, Shin on the rock song "Shut Up". He worked with singer Tarcy Su, Taiwanese actress Angus Chang and Chinese actress Betty Sun in the MVs of 「路太彎」, 「說你愛我」 and 「愛不離」 respectively.On 20 October 2007, he resumed his "Around The World Concert Tour" at Hefei in China, in line with the release of Play It Cool. Jay Chou was the special guest and they performed 「聽媽媽的話」 from Jay's album Still Fantasy. The concert tour was later held in other cities of China, before ending on 1 January 2008 in Guangzhou. He released a concert DVD "Will Pan 2006–2007 Around The World Concert Tour" on 20 July 2007 which contains live and behind-the scenes footages of the tour.
In March 2008, Will collaborated with Jacky Cheung and S.H.E on the track 「紅遍全球」 . The song is recorded by brand ambassadors of Coca-Cola, as one of the torch relay songs at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
On 18 July 2008, Pan released his first compilation album, Will's Future. It contains three new tracks, two medley remixes and 29 previously released songs. One of the new tracks, 「夏日瘋」, is the opening theme song of Taiwanese drama Miss No Good, which starred Will and Rainie Yang. The album also includes Will's first attempt in a Cantonese song which is the other version of ballad track 「轉機」. A second edition of Will's Future, released three months later, contains four instrumental tracks of Miss No Good and its insert song 「同一個遺憾」 which Pan collaborated with Jeremy Ji.
2009–2011
On 22 May 2009, Pan released his seventh studio album, 007. It features a duet, "Be with You" with American R&B singer Akon. The MV of the track 「雙人舞」, with production costs of NT$7 million, features South Korean actress Lee Da-hae. Pan also worked with Taiwanese actress Chen Kuangyi and Annie Chen in the music videos of 「無重力」 and 「寂屋出租」.Pan held his second headlining tour, I'm Will Concert Tour, between September and December 2009. The futuristic-themed tour began in Shanghai, China and final stop held in Taipei, Taiwan.
In 2010, Pan guest starred in Pandamen directed by Jay Chou, and acted in Endless Love with Sandrine Pinna.
In January 2011, Pan released his eighth studio album, 808, which features the opening theme song 「我們都怕痛」 of Endless Love. He composed five tracks on the album including 「觸動」 which he collaborated with Nichkhun of Korean boy band 2PM on the music video.
On 18 June 2011, Pan was the opening act of the 22nd Golden Melody Awards, held at Taipei Arena.
After starring in Endless Love, Pan was offered a number of acting opportunities, including the leading actor role of popular Taiwanese drama Love You. However, he declined the offers and cited that he will only consider roles which he is confident of performing up to his expectations. The role of Love You later went to actor Joseph Chang, who was also nominated in the same category as Pan in the 46th Golden Bell Awards.
On 21 October 2011, Pan was awarded Best Actor at the 46th Golden Bell Awards, Taiwan for Endless Love.
2012
In May, Pan was awarded three awards including "HITO Top 10 Songs" for the song "U U U" at Taiwan HITO Radio Music Awards. In the same month, he was named the ambassador of 2012 Asia Metro Street Dance Competition.Between 28 and 29 August, Pan partnered with Google+ and YouTube, and held a 24-hour Google+ Hangouts On-Air, in line with the promotion of his new album. He is the first Taiwanese American celebrity to broadcast publicly snippets of his life on a livestream Google+ Hangouts On-Air within a 24-hour timespan.
On 31 August, he released his ninth studio album The Story of Billy. It features the opening theme song 「華麗進行曲」 and the insert songs 「忘記擁抱」 and 「專屬於你」 , of Taiwanese drama Dong Men Si Shao. The MV of the title track 「24個比利」 was directed by Hong Wonki and shot entirely in Korea with an all-Korean cast. He collaborated with Jeremy Ji in the MV of 「華麗進行曲」 , and with Ann Hsu in the MV of 「忘記擁抱」. He also worked with model-singer Dou Hua Mei in the MV of 「專屬於你」. The Story of Billy was the number-one album for 2 weeks on Taiwan's G-Music Weekly Top 20 Mandarin and Combo Charts and number one for 1 week on Five Music Chart.
On 26 September, he was one of the performers for the opening ceremony of the 21st Golden Rooster Film Festival held in Shaoxing, China.
On 9 October, Pan released the second edition of The Story of Billy. It contains the remix version of 「The Story of Billy」 and a bonus DVD with six music videos. On 13 October, he held a celebration concert at Neo19 in Taipei, which was broadcast simultaneously on his YouTube Channel. He performed all the songs from The Story of Billy, including a piano rendition of 「24個比利」. Singer-actress Cyndi Wang made a guest appearance during the song 「華麗進行曲」.
At the 47th Golden Bell Awards held on 26 October, Pan and Taiwanese actress Tien Hsin presented the awards for the Best Actress and Best Director in a Television Series.
Pan's third concert tour, "Unleashed" Concert Tour, kicked off on 10 November 2012 at Shanghai Grand Stage in China. For the first time ever, Pan took on the role of concert producer and is also involved in areas of stage, lighting and costume design, songs lineup and music arrangement.
The tour's first stop in Shanghai opened to a full house, and was attended by Pan's family members. He performed near to 30 songs of which more than two-thirds were his compositions. The concert was marked by 3D laser displays and an opening of Pan performing on a 3-story high ball-shaped time machine. His N.P.C copartner Nic Li was the concert guest and they sang a remix version of "Adoration to Happiness", Party Rock Anthem and phenomenal song Gangnam Style. He ended the concert with an acoustic rendition of 「24個比利」. The tour is slated to continue to various cities including Shenzhen and Taipei.
On 27 December, Pan and Nic Li officiated the opening of their third NPC store in Hangzhou. The event was graced by their celebrity friends including host Chen Chien-chou, Jason Tang and Hong Kong lyricist Wyman Wong.
At the 20th Chinese Music Chart Awards held at Taipei Arena on 29 December, Pan was awarded "All Round Artist of the Year" and "Most Popular Male Singer of the Year". He performed 「24個比利」 that was awarded "Golden Melodies of the Year".