Khalil Fong, Hong Kong Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 41

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Khalil Fong, Hong Kong Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 41

Khalil Fong, a Hong Kong singer-songwriter who infused a soul and R&B sensibility into ******** pop songs, died on Feb. 21. He was 41.

His death was

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

on Saturday by his record label, Fu Music. The announcement did not say where Mr. Fong had died or specify a cause of death, but it said he had endured a “relentless illness” for five years.

Beloved for its soulful vocals and distinctive blend of soul and Mandarin pop, Mr. Fong’s music found an audience in Hong Kong, mainland China and much of the wider ********-speaking world.

“Trying to introduce soul music, or soul R&B, was not the easiest thing,” he said in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, noting that the genre was not widely embraced in the region. “One of the things I wanted to do was to introduce this type of music within the context of ******** language.”

He broke into the popular music scene in 2005, when Warner Music Hong Kong released his funky, syncopated debut album, “Soulboy.” In the following decade, he released eight albums and performed in stadiums and large concert halls around the world, wearing his signature thick ****** glasses.

But Mr. Fong’s career was cut short by health problems, and in recent years he had largely retreated from the public eye. Inspiration never stopped flowing, however, and he sporadically released singles.

He recorded his final album, “The Dreamer,” during what he described as various stages of illness, the nature of which he never disclosed.

Making the music was “both a challenge and a relief from the rather tedious circumstance” of ill health, he wrote

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

“I had tons of notes and ideas, song structures and lyrics jotted down, and whenever I could manage, I would gradually chip away at them,” he added.

Khalil Fong, whose ******** name was Fong ****-tung, was born on July 14, 1983, in Hawaii.His father was a drummer, and Mr. Fong grew up listening to his collection of blues and soul records from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. His mother was a language teacher who later became his full-time business manager and was credited in some songs as a lyricist.

When Mr. Fong was 5, the family moved to Shanghai, where they lived for several years. After a brief stint in Guangzhou, they settled in Hong Kong. He began learning guitar and writing music as a teenager, and he was soon submitting demo tapes to record labels.

He was 22 when “Soulboy” was released. More albums, among them “Love Love Love,” “Orange Moon” and “Timeless,” followed in quick succession, along with world tours.

His interpretations of American hits like “

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

” and “

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,” a ******** ballad by the popular singer Faye Wong, accumulated millions of views online.

While most pop musicians in Hong Kong sang in Cantonese, Mr. Fong acknowledged that he did not feel comfortable singing in what was his third language. He mostly sang in Mandarin and English.

In 2016, he founded the independent label Fu Music, saying he wanted it to pay tribute to both ******** and Western influences.

“JTW,” named after the Ming-dynasty Buddhist epic “Journey to the West,” was released that year. The album included collaborations with two South Korean pop stars, Zion T. and Crush, as well as the Taiwanese-American pop star Wang Leehom.

In 2018, Mr. Fong began publishing “

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,” a fantasy graphic novel series he wrote in ******** and English, about a girl who has lucid dreams that help her understand her place in the world.

“I think these stories are a reminder to myself and others of the things we should be mindful of, to create a better society for future generations,” he said in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

He did not disclose that he had been struggling with health problems until 2024, when he introduced “The Dreamer,” his last album.

“In life we are each faced with challenges but through it all let’s not forget how to be dreamers,” he wrote.

Complete information about his survivors was not available. He said in interviews that he was an only child and had no children himself.

Mr. Fong recently told ********-language media outlets that he hoped to start touring again and had plans for new music. Just a few weeks ago, he promoted the video for

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

a song from “The Dreamer.”

The album was wide-ranging. Its songs included a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to an internet rumor that he had taken up farming, and a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

: “It was good but it was sad/ Mike was good and Mike was bad / But mostly mad and lonely.”

Most poignant, perhaps, was how he conveyed the swift passage of time. Many songs on the album, including the last one, “

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,” ended abruptly midsentence, just before he could complete the thought. He sings:

Oh, my love, I could want you to stay

But the truth’s telling me

That there’s nothing here left to …

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Khalil #Fong #Hong #Kong #SingerSongwriter #Dies

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up