Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday.
“With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page.
“The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said.
Photo: Billy Dai, AP
Although Fong’s company did not disclose the cause of his death, the artist during an interview in October last year said that he had been battling an illness since 2021.
Fong said his voice and the sound of his latest album, The Dreamer, which was released last year, were different due to his age and ailment.
While the illness did not affect his voice, he had started to breathe differently, which prevented him from performing, Fong said.
The Hawaii-born singer had generally remained out of the limelight since the interview. His latest public appearance was a social media update released on Feb. 13.
Local media speculated that Fong might have had pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, which can be life-threatening, especially if there are complications.
Known for his sophisticated R&B and soul music style, Fong made his debut on the Chinese entertainment scene in 2005 with his album Soulboy.
Although Fong performed in English and Cantonese, his songs were predominantly released in Mandarin.
Earning countless accolades after his initial splash, Fong’s first prestigious award came in 2008, when he won four honors at the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation, including best male singer.
In Taiwan, he was named best male vocalist at the 2017 Golden Melody Awards for his 2017 album Journey to the West — the songs of which were in Mandarin — beating famous artists such as Jay Chou (周杰倫), Crowd Lu (盧廣仲) and Yoga Lin (林宥嘉).
Aside from music, Fong also dabbled in drawing and writing. He published an English graphic novel in 2018 titled Emi the Dream Catcher: The Tree of Life.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS