My Family History

She was born Wang Xiamin in 1931 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Her family moved to Hong Kong during the late 1940s and worked in the family restaurant trade. Her father took her to the USA to further her education. Fong had a clear, distinctive voice and sang from an early age.  She became a popular nightclub singer in HK and fell in love with a fellow nightclub singer.  

She has been compared to Zhang Lu in the ebulliant way she performed on stage. You can see her performing "Dragon Kite" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXsgw1cWSw and it shows what an expressive singer she was. She recorded her first song in 1952 on the Pathe label. Her recording of Vortex of love ( with Shardan) shows what a great loss her death was. Such beautiful vocals, and one of my favourite mandarin songs ever. 

Tragically, on the 6th of December 1959, she died in a car crash on the outskirts of Hong Kong, and the world lost a wonderful star. Bless you Fong Tsin Ying.