[1] Kwan had her first taste of the limelight in 1986 when she became one of twelve finalists in TVB's New Talent Singing Awards, along with Andy Hui and Leon Lai, but lost to both.

Her second album, Happy Are those in Love, would produce her first major hit with its title track, which immediately propelled Kwan into Hong Kong stardom.

Kwan also covered Amina's 1991 winning Eurovision entry, "Le dernier qui a parlé", rewritten by veteran lyricist Andrew Lam (林敏驄) as "Buddhist Chant" (梵音), which became a surprising top 10 radio single.

On 18 November 1993, Kwan released the platinum-selling album, The Story of Shirley (真假情話), which spawned the minor hit "Fake Love" (假的戀愛).

The album also featured two of Andrew Lam's techno and house inflected compositions "Anxiety" (緊張) and "Out of This World" (驚世感覺), as well as another popular ballad "Farewell Love Song" (告別戀曲).

With increasing confidence in her musical style, Kwan asked producer Joseph Ip (葉廣權) and eight different sound engineers to rearrange ten of her favourite cantopop songs which she handpicked for a covers album.

The result was 'EX' All Time Favourites, released in February 1995, which featured covers of classics by Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung and Alan Tam, reworked and reinterpreted with Kwan's alternative musical influences and trademark, ethereal singing style.

The lead single, a cover version of Teresa Teng's "Forget Him" rearranged by Donald Ashley, was featured in Wong Kar-wai's 1995 arthouse film Fallen Angels.

A final PolyGram studio album was initially scheduled for release in the summer, containing three American collaborations ("Infectious" [傳染] and "Elusive Love" [愛難尋] written by Andy Goldmark; and "Mumbling" [自言自語] by Suzanne Fountain) and seven other tracks.

After several years of inactivity, Kwan attempted a short comeback in 2001, signing a contract reportedly worth 8-million dollars with BMG Taiwan in a high-profile press conference.

[2] Working with well-known producers such as Anthony Bao (包小松), Jamie Hsueh (薛忠銘), and Benjamin Lin (林明陽), she released one Mandarin album, Freezing Flame (冷火) in November, to critical acclaim.

It was in an interview with Mingpao in 2013, in which she revealed that BMG had not arranged for any recording sessions for more than a year after she gave birth, and this ultimately led to an early termination.

In fall 2005, Kwan stepped into the recording studio once again and performed a duet with music veteran Alan Tam in "Rekindle The Flame" (舊情復熾), a Cantonese remake of the French ballad "J'ai murmuré va-t-en".

The news of Kwan making a comeback sent excitement through Hong Kong's airwaves, and "Rekindle" took the charts by storm, reaching number 1 on TVB, RTHK and Metro Radio.

This coincided with the release of a 3CD-Karaoke plus DVD compilation by Universal Music (formally PolyGram), entitled All About Shirley, which contained side projects and rare tracks dating back to the very beginning of her career in Japan.

To much anticipation, three comeback concerts, "Being Shirley On Stage" (關於我 關淑怡演唱會) were held in late February, at the legendary Hong Kong Coliseum.

[3] In the final encore, Kwan famously covered Eason Chan's "Today Next Year" (明年今日) to a standing ovation, and a sing-a-long audience of 30, 000.

In June 2007, longtime friend and veteran producer Herman Ho (何哲圖) recruited Shirley to his new company "Star Entertainment Ltd." (星娛樂有限公司), which is financed by Neway Karaoke Box (Neway卡拉OK).

On 9 April 2017, she performed as a musical guest at the 36th Hong Kong Film awards amidst controversy of her recent arrest for intimidation and common assault.

Kwan broke her silence on the matter in 2014 when she posted a photo of Zuri Rinpoche the 8th, a Bhutanese religious teacher, on her Instagram, with a caption saying he is the true father of her child.