Khalil Fong

Khalil Fong Tai Tung (Chinese: 方大同; 14 July 1983 – 21 February 2025) was a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and producer.
Fong was notable for introducing a more sophisticated R&B and soul sound to the Chinese music market, drawing inspiration from artists like Stevie Wonder, Musiq Soulchild and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Khalil Fong was born on 14 July 1983 in Hawaii, United States, to an American-Chinese father, a drummer, and Hong Kong mother, Leung Yu-laam (梁茹嵐), an English language educator, who would later be Fong's lyricist under the pen name Rulan (茹嵐).
Fong moved to Shanghai at the age of 5, then Guangzhou for a brief period before moving to Hong Kong when he was 14. Due to the family frequently moving to different cities, Fong initially studied in a primary school in Shanghai for five years, before being homeschooled by his parents until high school.
When Fong was 12, the family moved to Guangzhou and he would frequently accompany his father to sing at different bars. When he was 14, after moving to Hong Kong, he started writing over 100 tunes for his mother's English language education company, forming part of the company's audio learning resources. He started to learn to play guitar when he was 15, and subsequently sent many demos to different record companies at the age of 17. However due to his relatively young age and changes in the management of the recording company, Warner Music Group, he was not able to sign a recording contract until he was 22 in 2005. Until then, he would write songs for other singers such as Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung.
In 2005, Fong finally signed a recording contract with Warner Records. He then debuted with the release of his first album, Soulboy. Soulboy is largely a soul and R&B album, which genres were rare in the Chinese music industry then. The album won him several awards such as IFPI Hong Kong's 2005 Top 3 Best Selling Male Local Newcomers and CRHK's Chik Chak New Male Singer Silver award in 2006.
In 2006, Fong released This Love album, which continued to receive positive reviews from the media. As with Soulboy, this album received awards for being one of the top 10 selling Mandarin albums for the year, and as well as its titular track, Popular Mandarin Song awards from 2007 Metro Radio Mandarin Hits Music Awards and 2006 Metro Radio Music Awards.
In 2007, Fong held his first concert, "This Love Live 2007" at Hong Kong Arts Centre from 1–3 February, a live album of the performance was released on 23 August. On 28 December, Fong released his third album, Wonderland, which was the first album to be released in Taiwan as well. With love and environmental protection as its theme, the blue coloured album cover had two holes on the sides of the ears of Fong's portrait printed on it. The blue colour would represent Earth while the holes represented the ozone layer, bringing awareness to the holes in the ozone layer. Record label Warner Music Hong Kong specially chose to radio broadcast "Love Song" on major radio stations on 14 February 2008 as a special music theme for Valentine's Day in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, bringing listeners into love theme. "Love Song" topped the music charts in Hong Kong and Taiwan and would go on to win awards at the 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Beijing Pop Music Awards, HITS Music Awards. The album earned Fong his first Golden Melody Award nomination.
In March 2008, Fong held two concerts, titled "Wonderland Live 2008, at Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, a live album of the performance was released on 29 July. In December, Fong released his fourth studio album Orange Moon; the album, as promised by Fong, contained songs that are "catchier and more approachable" compared to his previous releases. The title was inspired by the romanticism of sunset, where the orange moon refers to the sun. For the album, Fong received awards at the Chinese Music Media Awards and the Global Chinese Music Chart Awards Ceremony.
In 2009, Fong released his fifth studio album and first cover album Timeless on 11 August, it contained songs in Mandarin and English that had inspired him to pursue music. In support of the album, Fong held concerts in 2009 at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 27–29 August, a live album of his performance was released on 27 November. For his work on this album, Fong received his second Golden Melody Award nomination.
In 2010, Fong had a cameo appearance in Love in Disguise, directed and written by Fong's good friend Wang Leehom. Same year, Fong was hospitalized multiple times due to pneumothorax.
In February 2011, Fong made his debut at the CMG New Year's Gala, performing "This Love" with Jam Hsiao and Li Jian. On 21 April, he released his sixth studio album 15, the title was to commemorate the age when he first learned the guitar. 15 received mixed reviews for Fong's attempt to integrate blues, rock, soul, and R&B as well as the shift toward more plainspoken lyrics; likely anticipating the reaction, Fong stated this was "a challenge for me in terms of music and the stories or thoughts I want to share with everyone, and it will also be a challenge for the audience." Fong won Best R&B/Soul Artist at the 12th Chinese Music Media Award for his work on this album.
From August 2011 to December 2012, Fong embarked on his first concert tour "15方大同Khalil Fong" with 15 stops spanning Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Macau. The live album of the Hong Kong concert was released on 23 December 2011. On 12 December 2012, Fong released his seventh studio album Back to Wonderland, a callback to his third studio album Wonderland. The album was a "collage of Fong's past music elements", returning to his earlier R&B and soul music styles and incorporating the experiments in his last three albums.
In 2013, Fong's contract with Warner Records ended in July and he signed with Gold Typhoon in August. In November, Fong embarked on his second concert tour "Soulboy Lights Up"; the stage design concept was specifically inspired by the three characters of his name: "方" for the square-shaped stage, "大" for the large-scaled musical feast, and "同" for the use triangular iron frames. The concert tour began in Hong Kong on 30 November to 2 December 2013 and continued through most of 2014.
In 2014, Fong released his eighth studio album Dangerous World, it earned him his third Golden Melody Awards nomination.
In 2016, Fong launched the music label FU MUSIC (賦音樂) on 28 April. Fong released his ninth studio album Journey to the West on 28 September; the album contained two discs, one gold and one black: the style of the black disc is more modern and contemporary while the style of the "gold disc" is more classic. For this album, Fong received four nominations from Golden Melody Awards, bringing up his total to seven, and won his first Golden Melody Award for Best Male Artist.
In 2017, Fong stepped back from making music due to health concerns. Same year, he was named Billboard Radio China’s artist of the year.
In 2018, Fong released three bilingual children's graphic novels, The Secret of the Golden Bricks, Saving Snowy and The Tree of Life, under the series title Emi The Dream Catcher. On 13 July, he released the extended play Emi The Dream Catcher #1.
Throughout 2018–2019, Fong continued releasing singles such as "Dear Ocean" featuring Diana Wang, "Fake Monk", and "White Hair". The latter won Fong Best Male Singer of the Year and Golden Song of the Year at the Global Chinese Pop Chart Awards (华人歌曲音乐盛典).
In 2020, Fong released the extended play Home Sweet Home on 19 June, which included the song "Noodles" that won Fong his second Golden Melody Awards for Best Single Producer. In 2021, Fong produced the science fiction romance Guidance, directed by Neysan Sobhani.
In 2024, Fong posted on his Weibo account that he had been "recovering from health issues" and throughout the journey, "found numerous moments of inspiration that have resulted in a new album". On 18 October, Fong released his tenth studio album The Dreamer.
Fong was a member of the Baháʼí Faith. He was a vegetarian.
Fong enjoyed a close friendship with fellow record artiste Fiona Sit from when he entered the music industry. Sit promoted him when he debuted, singing duets with him. Fong would frequently write songs for her to sing throughout her career, acknowledging the fact with a statement at an awards ceremony that the songs are written for her first. Some of his works would become her best hits. Fong would become one of her pillars of strength when she had depression in 2008.
Fong died in Dali, Yunnan, China on 21 February 2025, at the age of 41 from an unspecified illness that affected him over the previous five years. He was cremated in Dali on 1 March 2025. His label FU MUSIC announced his death on 1 March 2025 through Facebook and Weibo.