Biography

Born and raised in Rochdale, Will Tang began writing songs and playing guitar and harmonica while still a student at Salford University. With studies over he decided to follow his Anglo-Chinese heritage back to the source (his ancestors can be traced back to China’s fabled Tang dynasty) and moved to Hong Kong; and it was here that he had his true musical awakening, becoming the territory’s first ever professional blues harmonica player and beginning his life’s journey as professional musician.

Quickly becoming an established part of the local music scene, Will released five albums, played on countless sessions and soundtracks for film legends such as Jackie Chan and Andy Lau, and performed on stages from Hong Kong to Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, mainland China and Thailand.

Despite all this success Will eventually grew restless with the conformity of much of Hong Kong’s music scene; “it’s very pop-orientated” he says “and can be a bit bland and stifling. Eventually I came to the conclusion I’d done everything that I could do in Hong Kong and decided to move back to the UK”. Thus began a geographical and spiritual journey which has culminated in ‘Red City Blues’, Will’s debut UK album which will be released in November this year; its title track reflecting his experience of being in between the twin ‘red’ cities of Hong Kong and Manchester.

“The album is a mix of the various influences I’ve had throughout my musical life” says Will “from blues masters such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson, through greats like Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones to artists I’ve been exposed to since returning to the UK; the White Stripes, David Grey, The Kooks, Ray LaMontagne and Jack Johnson to name just a few. I like a lot of different styles of music and hopefully they come though in the music on the album

Keen to make sure his first UK releases were handled properly Will decided to form his own record label Zen Music with the help of sponsorship from Zen Internet, an award winning ISP based in his home town of Rochdale. His debut UK single ‘Love Bites’ will be released through Zen on October 2nd with the album ‘Red City Blues’ following on November 6th.

Always keen to explore new musical directions Will enlisted the help of DJ, Producer and Twisted Nerve supremo Andy Votel (Elbow, Broadcaster, Badly Drawn Boy and Ian Brown) to remix the single of ‘Love Bites’ and the result is an exciting fusion of blues, funk, rock and hip hop that has already attracted great early reviews.