John Klass
John Klass (born February 16, 1970 in Singapore) is a Triple-platinum award-winning singer/producer/songwriter/radio presenter.
Biography
John Klass has been in the entertainment scene since 1991.
His distinct & resonant voice can be heard on TV station trailers to commercials on both TV & radio, and as a Master-of-Ceremony Klass has hosted TV shows, concerts to dinner shows.
As singer-songwriter, John first got public attention as lead singer with the group KICK! (Winner for Best Local Group! & Best local song “Jane” in the Music Awards 1994). The group performed in front of capacity crowds of 40,000 to 60,000 people in Kuala Lumpur & Malacca respectively.
As a soloist, wrote & produced the soundtrack of The Teenage Textbook Movie. He scored a string of No.1 songs on the airplay charts across Singapore including an update of the ABBA classic "Honey Honey", a duet with a popular local TV actress Jamie Yeo.
In 1995, John starred in Singapore’s first English Drama Series Masters Of The Sea, a soap opera developed by American producer and developer of prime-time soap operas, such as Falcon Crest and Dallas, Joanne Brough. This was the first English-language drama on Asian television.
In 1997, he represented Singapore to sing in the ASEAN Song Festival.
In 2000, John picked up an award for Best Local Song (Falling In Love) at the Radio Music Awards.
In 2002, John released a single recorded in London by producer Richard Niles, whose credit lines include Sir Paul McCartney, Westlife and Mariah Carey. The song "Believing In Fergie’s Fighters" and is a tribute to the undying spirit of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
John received a personal 'Thank-You' letter from Sir Alex Ferguson for producing, writing and recording the tribute song.
In 2003, John was commissioned by Red Cross Society to write/produce a national tribute song to the doctors and nurses who put their own lives on the line to save the lives of the sufferers of the deadly SARS virus. The tribute song “Thru Your Eyes” went triple platinum in Singapore and was featured on the BBC World Service and ITV news.
The monies collected from the CD sales went on to contribute to the needs of the families who lost the loved ones to SARS.
John has starred in many Television programmes & hosted the Kids entertainment pop TV show OK! He also wrote all the original songs for 2 seasons of KIDS POP Show OK! which was such a hit that he then went on to write, sing & produce over 200 kids songs for the popular kids TV show “In Our House”
In 2006, John set up KLASS INTERNATIONAL with his wife Valerie. which gave birth to the brand iPOP (i Prepare Opportunities to Present you). iPOP's key mission is to nurture, manage & export Asian talent/content into the international market through iPOP's Digital Media Centre www.ipoplive.com & other various initiatives with Klass International's partners.
In 2012, John's band, The Professionals, was invited to perform at the prestigious, number one, music conference and market in Cannes, South of France where the band received raved reviews for their engaging and charismatic performance.
His songwriting skills was further endorsed by Disney Asia whereby he was commissioned to write and produce for 'Mickey Safety House'.
Fremantle Asia also commissioned John Klass to write the theme song 'Sing To Win'.
In May 2013, John Klass was invited to helm the evening drive time belt on Kiss 92FM [1] after a 15-year break from being a radio personality. His show shot to being the number 1 evening drive time show within 3 months and has continued to be the number 1 drive time radio show in Singapore.[2] In addition, he also helms the evening-nighttime belt during Weekends on Kiss 92.
Due to his fast-growing popularity on Kiss 92, John was invited by International Radio Festival to represent Singapore in Zurich in 2014. He broadcast his live radio show for a week in the picturesque and friendly city, Zurich.
In 2014, John released a new upbeat and fun single, The Point, that garnered more than 150,000 views on Youtube.
In September 2017, he left Kiss 92 to join Mediacorp. He is now a radio celebrity on the number 1 English radio station, Class 95.
As John Klass is a well-known name and brand, he was invited to collaborate with Piccadilly Tailors to launch a stylish fashion line specialising in bespoke suits called JOHN KLASS SUITS. This popular brand is now located on the 2nd floor of Far East Plaza.
In Nov 2017, John Klass had his first sold-out, solo concert at Esplanade Recital Studio singing all the familiar hits that received incredibly fantastic reviews. His band, Kick!, made a guest appearance. Many celebrities were seen at his concert; Chris Ho, Andrea De Cruz, Pierre Png, Jacintha Abishneganaden, Melody Chen, Randall Tan and others. Entertainment and media bigwigs were among the audience too. His mesmerising concert drew world wide audiences from Canada, USA, Brazil, Indonesia, UK, Philippines, India, among others via Facebook Live.
In Jan 2018, John Klass was honoured to be invited by Base Entertainment Asia to be their guest performer at the official '007 in concert' direct from London. This was to celebrate and commemorate 50 years of James Bond movies. John Klass was backed by an explosive 28-piece orchestra and band from London and Singapore. This concert took place at The MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands.
Discography
- Freedom in Me (KICK!)
- Jane (KICK!)
- Chains of Pain (KICK!)
- Its now or Never (KICK!)
- Falling in Love
- When things seem so wrong
- Honey Honey
- Believing in Fergie's Fighters
- Shame Shame Shame
- Funk it Up
- Heaven Knows
- Sins
- Under the Moon
- Citizens
- The Point
Instrumentation
- Vocals
- Keyboards
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
References
- ↑ http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/music/2013/06/05/kiss-92-dj-john-klass-nervous-go-air
- ↑ John Klass [@johnklass] (27 December 2013). "#ThankYou for listening & making my comeback to radio after 15 years memorable! We're the #Number1 Evening Drive Time show in SG #kiss92" (Tweet) – via Twitter.