North 麻豆传媒映画teacher /rugby coach/musician Mark Fortin finds himself with newfound success this week after a song he co-wrote is No. 1 on the Hong Kong pop charts.
The Lynnmour resident wrote 鈥溾�� with Coquitlam native Charles Huntley for Hong Kong pop star Eason Chan and the result immediately shot to the top of iTunes in Hong Kong.
Fortin was surprised when Huntley called him from Hong Kong to share the news. Huntley told him that in Hong Kong songs don鈥檛 usually stay at the top for long since people usually 鈥渓isten to it once and they won鈥檛 listen to it again.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely never happened to me as a songwriter, I鈥檝e seen successes but not like that so it was great,鈥� Fortin says.
Huntley, who plays the saxophone, flute and piano, grew up in Coquitlam but moved to Hong Kong in 2004 after meeting his wife. He鈥檚 performed with many Chinese artists, including Chan, who he鈥檚 been working with on his L.O.V.E album, which is an introduction to the project Eason and The Duo Band.
鈥淔rom what I understand it鈥檚 a bit of a departure for Eason Chan, to sing in Cantonese is a departure and also the tone of the record is less pop and a little bit more heartfelt,鈥� says Fortin. 鈥淗e left his record company, for him to release this song and this record, Charlie said artistically, it was a big deal for him to do this.鈥�
A year ago, Huntley asked Fortin to write a song for Chan that had a 鈥淭he Beach Boys meets Beatles, meets Michael Buble鈥� sound. He wrote the original music and English lyrics and Huntley added the bridge and created a pop arrangement.
鈥淢y concept for the song was 鈥業t鈥檚 All about Love鈥�, which was kept for the title as well as the spirit of the album,鈥� Huntley told the North Shore News in an email. 鈥淭he Cantonese lyrics are about the experiences the band had as a family and are quite different from the original lyrics.鈥�
Aside from being a singer and songwriter, Fortin is also a shop teacher at Sutherland Secondary and coaches the senior rugby team. With the song鈥檚 popularity he hopes to take his music career further and plans to go to China this August to meet Chan, possibly to do more songwriting.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great because it inspires me to continue but it also gives me opportunity to write more, possibly for Eason and other people,鈥� he says over the phone while driving a van full of Sutherland Sabres.
A couple of years ago, Chan and Huntley played a concert in 麻豆传媒映画and Fortin says he had no idea how huge of an artist Chan was until he was in that concert along with 30,000 people.
鈥淭hey sold out Rogers Arena for three nights,鈥� he says.
Fortin explains that due to the lack of copyright laws in China, he doesn鈥檛 make any money on the hit song. Nevertheless, he鈥檚 happy for the opportunity and sees this as a way to re-spark his love for songwriting.
鈥淭he hope would be that yes I can make more money, but it鈥檚 opportunities and experience,鈥� says Fortin.
Now the music video for 鈥淎ll About Love鈥� has more than 93,000 views on YouTube.
