Kenny Bee set to marry partner Fan Chiang

HONG KONG - Hong Kong singer-actor Kenny Bee has finally set plans to marry his partner of 17 years, Fan Chiang.

Bee, 61, told Apple Daily that he hoped to wed this year but could not settle on a date yet because of his hectic work schedule.

But the newspaper said the wedding would be held overseas in August, and that Bee has invited his friends, including his Wynners bandmates such as Alan Tam, and fellow stars such as Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Rosamund Kwan, Loi Fong and Alex To.

He told them that as there are no direct flights to the secret wedding destination, he would accommodate their schedules before settling on the date, Apple said.

Nearly 100 people are to attend the do, which is estimated to cost HK$1 million (S$162,000), Apple said.

It added that Bee, a former heart-throb with 1970s band The Wynners, proposed to Fan last year with a diamond ring. This will be the second marriage for Bee, following his 1999 divorce from socialite Teresa Cheung, with whom he has a son and a daughter, aged 23 and 19.

Taiwan-born Fan, 42, was his assistant when he and Cheung separated in 1997. She later bore him two daughters, now aged nine and four.

She is known for standing by him through his bankuptcy from 2002 to 2006, after he ran into debts of a reported HK$250 million with Cheung over loss-making property investments.

After leaving his lavish home, they moved to a smaller apartment, where Fan grew vegetables and made soya milk to economise, and borrowed money to keep creditors at bay.

Bee, whose fortunes have turned and who recently set up an entertainment company, once said that Fan stood up for him on one occasion when he wanted to order sashimi at a restaurant but was snubbed by a waiter who feared he could not pay.

This article was published on May 2 in The Straits Times.

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