Kevin Yi

Early career

After completing his military service in 1989, Yi Chia-yang joined the marketing department of Rock Records in Taiwan.^[1][2] His early work there included Chief Zhao's song "A Tiny Bird" (我是一隻小小鳥).^[3][4] Later, Yi worked as an A&R representative before joining BMG Music as Marketing and Promotion Director.^[5][6]

Songwriting

In 2000, Yi wrote the lyrics for the Chinese version of "A Love Before Time," the theme song for the wuxia martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.^[7][8][9] Performed by Coco Lee and featuring Yo-Yo Ma on cello, the English version of the song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001.^[10][11]

As marketing director at Warner Music, Yi contributed to the debuts of artists Stefanie Sun and Yida Huang. Yi has written lyrics for tracks such as Leehom Wang's "Forever's First Day" (永遠的第一天), A-Mei's "Remember" (記得),^[12][3] Stefanie Sun's "Kite" (風箏), "Love Dictionary" (愛情字典), "Someone Like Me" (同類), "Encounter" (遇見),^[13] F.I.R.'s "Crescent Bay" (月牙灣),^[14][15] and Khalil Fong's "Retrospective" (復刻回憶). In 2013, the song Yi wrote for JJ Lin, "Practice Love" (修煉愛情), was awarded Hito Pop Music Best 10 Singles and Singapore Hit Awards Best 10 Singles.^[16][17]

As of 2020, Yi's work included Eason Chan's "Soar" (披風), JJ Lin's "53 Dawns" (黑夜問白天), A-Mei and Sandy Lam's "Double Shadow" (雙影), and Mayday vocalist Ashin's cover of Joi Chua's song "The Hidden Memories" (隱形的紀念).^[18]