Joe Chen

Joe Chen, one time leader of The Menace, died this week long before he should have done. The Menace were in the second wave of Hong Kong's late '60s pop bands and are remembered for Strawberry Sundae, a self-composed, catchy little piece of bubblegum. Joe went on to record several albums of his own and worked in the record industry for many years after he stopped singing. He was also a DJ and had a show on RTHK until he fell ill a few months ago.

I don't know whether the English press has picked this up, but there is a nice spread in this morning's Apple Daily. Joe was one of the first people we interviewed a couple of years ago for our book on Hong Kong English pop music and he was kind enough to give us a few of his own snapshots for publication. Below is Joe at Commercial Radio and a shot of The Menace outside City Hall.