SINGAPORE: The year was 1990 and the explosion of indie music in Singapore sucked in one 18-year-old, who made up her mind that music was going to be more than her hobby. 

She was determined to make a living as a performer. 

But the plan wasn’t quite viable in Singapore. After releasing her debut album in 1993, she made only S$6,000 in her first year as a recording artiste – just about enough to feed herself, she said.

So she moved to Taiwan under the advice of her then-label, Ocean Butterflies, who wanted to introduce her music to the region. 

They released her second album to the competitive Mandarin pop (Mandopop) market in 1994 – it became a hit and the artiste, a household name.

Today, Kit Chan is arguably best known for the song Home, at least in Singapore. First presented to the Sing Singapore festival committee in 1997, she performed the classic at the National Day Parade the following year.

The song has taken on a life of its own, enduring through generations.

Chan, now 52, remains one of Singapore’s esteemed pioneer generation singers who made their mark abroad, paving the way for younger Singaporean artistes.

Others have since found international acclaim – from Mandopop stars Stefanie Sun (Sun Yanzi) and JJ Lin to Sezairi Sezali, who became the first Singapore artiste to have a song, It’s You, hit 100 million streams on Spotify.