In 2009, Time magazine famously dubbed her “the tattooed fairy godmother of the Hong Kong scene” – but before that, Chris B was a passionate ten-year-old who knew that she not only wanted to be a musician, but “a performer.”
Born in Hong Kong, she was raised by a British father and a Chinese mother who loved music. The Platters, Shirley Bassey, the Beatles, and Elvis Presley were the soundtracks to her childhood.
True to her word, she started performing live as a teenager, becoming one of the vocalists and a keyboard player for the Adaptors – to this day, criminally unacknowledged progenitors of the Hong Kong scene.
Fronted by the impassioned Ray Perigoe – a tortured songwriter and guitarist who sadly succumbed to drug addiction at the age of 31 – the Adaptors gigged extensively and made music that was wild, dark, danceable and utterly unlike anything else being produced in Hong Kong at the time. Their track “Robbie Burns” on Diving for Pearls – a 1990 BMG compilation of Hong Kong bands – remains haunting, timeless and the album’s undisputed standout, the shredded rawness of Perigoe’s vocals set in counterpoint to Andrew McDowell’s floor-shaking bass and Chris’ glacial keyboard riffs.
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“I got really lucky at the beginning to have found such amazing musicians,” reflects Chris. “We played music every day – we were so in tune with each other, like a family.”
Hong Kong’s first all-girl rock band
But it was the band that came after the Adaptors that saw Chris make the switch from a reserved teenager, in Perigoe’s shadow, to frontwoman in her own right. Hailed by the South China Morning Post in 1996 as “four women…with a fresh take on the industry and their place within it,” the Sisters of Sharon were a grungy all-girl outfit heavily inspired by the likes of Nirvana and the Pixies, writing both Cantonese and English songs.
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Chris was a vocalist, guitar player, co-songwriter and “very much the head of business operations,” according to a prescient observation from the same Post article three decades ago. The Sisters of Sharon, composed of Chris, guitarist Kim Falkingham, bassist Jill Eason and – in true Spinal Tap style – an ever-changing drummer (“We went through 10 drummers in 10 years”), went on to release three albums, embarked on a tour in America and played nearly 500 gigs before disbanding in 2001. That year, their Cantonese song 會否 Will You?, a song that criticised Hong Kong’s money-driven culture, came up against pop star Faye Wong’s for “Best Alternative Song” nominations at Hong Kong’s 2001 Golden Sail Awards.
Since then, Chris has been in almost a dozen local bands like Smoking Monkeys, Flowers of Babylon, Thinking Out Loud, Guitars & Panties (“to prove that sex sells”), CHRANG!, and The Ferals (her current outfit), gigging often at the Fringe Club and the Wanch, some of Hong Kong’s longstanding live music venues.
She has also embarked on solo ventures and collaborations, and recently jointly released an electro-rock, industrial sounding single Risky Moves with India’s FuzzCulture.
The Underground
While Chris’ career as a musician is impressive, arguably her most significant contribution to Hong Kong’s music scene is through the Underground, an independent music promotion agency that she founded more than 20 years ago.
Earlier this month, the Underground was honoured as the “Best Event Organiser in Hong Kong” in HK Clubbing’s 2025 Nightlife Awards, and the Underground 21st Anniversary Festival, was awarded both “Best Event” and “Best Music Festival” in Hong Kong.
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This honours only add lustre to the Underground’s Winter Festival this weekend, a 22nd anniversary showcase of Hong Kong’s top indie acts, with 23 bands confirmed to play across two stages at the Fringe Club.
Chris’ involvement in events management came hand in hand with music. While her younger self was performing on stages in Hong Kong and across the Pacific in America with the Sisters of Sharon, she was also busy behind the scenes with calling venues to book those very shows.
The catalyst for Chris’ increasing involvement with events organisation was in the year 2000, when a friend asked her to book the acts for Earth Day Festival in Kowloon Park. Discovering a strong sense of enjoyment from meeting people across the music industry, combined with a personal understanding of what musicians needed, Chris flourished in the role, soon attracting more requests to organise events in the city such as the Lan Kwai Fong beer festival and even a Japanese wrestling festival.
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In 2004, Chris started the Underground in a weary post-Sars Hong Kong with the desire to do something fresh and give bands opportunities to perform. “I was having so much fun organising shows that I just carried on,” Chris tells Macao News, 22 years on.
“There’s nothing like seeing a band live. It’s the best thing in life. Well, maybe close second thing, because the best thing is performing in a band for an audience.”
Chris’ curation process for the annual Underground music festival has interesting parallels to how a DJ curates their setlist to match the ebbs and flows of the crowd, or how a musician carefully crafts the sonic journey of their album, and to how a music aficionado meticulously constructs a Spotify playlist for their sweetheart.
“I usually build around a few key bands from various genres. I see bands and I think they’d be good on stage with that other band, or I’d like to see them in that particular setting. I always make sure I’ve seen them live first.”
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Alongside festivals like Mellow Yellow Music Festival and Wild Boar Music Festival, the Underground also runs the free monthly Shazza Music Showcase (now at its 152nd edition) at the Wanch, known for giving new musicians a chance when others are unwilling to take that risk. The showcase has been a crucial stepping stone for many local artists like pop-rock band Nowhere Boys, who are now “definitely out of our price range,” jokes Chris. Notable Hong Kong bands like Rubber Band and Supper Moment have also graced stages at events that The Underground have put on.
Chris’ devotion to the scene also led to her establishing the Musicians Foundation during Covid, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping Hong Kong musicians through difficult times. Last year, the Musicians Foundation collaborated with student-led local organisations like Synesthesia and OneMind HK to form EchoArt, a Hong Kong based art initiative that uses art and music to raise awareness and facilitate conversations on mental health.
Looking back on her lifelong involvement with Hong Kong’s music scene, Chris observes a community defined by resilience and support, with bands supporting bands, artists attending each other’s shows, and a community that listens. The 1990s, she recalls, were a different landscape – dominated by industry gatekeepers – while the 2000s were characterised by an edgier, more emo slant.
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Today, she sees a generation of musicians that is more brave and unafraid to put itself out there through social media. Hong Kong’s high rent and limited space has also nurtured a quiet boom in intimate genres like bedroom pop, although hard rock bands like The Ferals, still thrive.
When asked about how she feels about her iconic moniker, “the tattooed fairy godmother of the Hong Kong scene,” Chris laughs and says, “No one’s ever asked me that. It’s kind of cool. I do feel a strong sense of responsibility for the scene by continuing to support original music and Hong Kong bands. And, well, I am tattooed,” she adds wryly.
So what’s next for one of Hong Kong’s most prolific musicians and promoters? Chris has set her sights on bringing the magic of the Underground to Macao and beyond, and of course, releasing more music with her band.
“The plan is actually quite simple: keep creating, keep connecting, and keep championing Hong Kong’s musicians.”
