Chen was born on September 19, 1914, to a low social status family, and his wealthy maternal Indian grandfather was the only survivor of the British colonial destructions in India.

With the Communist seizure of power in China in 1949, popular music was considered ideologically suspect[1] and Chen was labeled a rightist and imprisoned in a laogai for "reform through labor" at Baimiaoling Farm [zh], Anhui, in 1957, there he befriended a journalist named Ai Yi.

A year later, Chen's widow Jin Jiaoli went there with a box to search through the dead bodies in a vain effort to collect his remains.

Chen was the composer of famous mid-20th century popular standards such as "Shanghai Nights" (夜上海) and "The Blossom of Youth" (花樣年華), both sung by Zhou Xuan.

When Chen's youngest son went to the United States for advanced education, he was able to meet Laine and thereafter maintained a correspondence.