Mona Fong 方逸華: 50's Charming, Attractive Has Passed Away

Mona Fong: EMI Record: S-CPAX-334. Cover design is by Jimmy Law.

Sad to know Mona Fong passed away on 22 Nov 2017. She used to perform at the Cathay Restaurant. Saw her singing, The Wedding in English and Mandarin in the film, The Lark and simply love her voice.

RIP Mona aka Li Menglan 方逸華:
(January 1, 1934 – November 22, 2017) 

SONGS I LOVE:

Mona Fong (方逸華) was a hit name in the 60s especially with her simple attractiveness and sweetheart smile (see image). I managed to buy one of her LPs, Summer Love, some years ago when it cost only two Singapore dollars. The surface of the LP looked good but scratchy when I played it. A patient cleaning up job didn't do much good.

The songs from Side Two which were in English were mostly covers from hits those years and included Magic, San Francisco, Lavender Lace, Summer Love, My Love Forgive Me and There's a Kind of Hush uploaded on YouTube in 2011 by RegalPCS.

Side One contained six songs in Chinese (Mandarin) and had titles in English namely, My Dreamboat, The Wedding, Blue and Black, Clouds and Mud, Tonight and Shooting Star.  

Again these were hit Chinese songs from yesteryear and Ms Fong had put her signature blush on them.  Never loud, never harsh, Mona sang them with dignity and calm. It was that 1950's charm still attractive today.  The upbeat version in English of The Wedding that she sang for this LP was one example.

The Wedding  - Mona Fong from Summer Love album: with Video by RegalPCS.

Ms Fong Yat Wah is a Cantonese born in Shanghai. She is a TV and film producer today and became one of the most popular nightclub singers and recording artistes in Singapore and Hong Kong in the 50s. She often sang English popular covers and since 1977 had produced over a hundred films. Also known as Lady Shaw she married media mogul the late Run Run Shaw.

The man behind the recording was Filipino musician Vic O. Cristobal with the usual backing of E.M.I.'s big brass and strings band. Mr Cristobal had much to his name having produced numerous recordings for SEAsian artistes during the 60s.

Summer Love was pressed with stereophonic sound capabilities in 1967. Many of these Hong Kong stars flew from the island to ours and recorded vinyl at one of the best studios at MacDonald House, Orchard Road. 

It was the same building that was bombed on 10 March 1965 by two saboteurs, during the Indonesian Confrontation under Soekarno's regime of Konfrontasi from 1963 to 1966.

There's a kind of hush all over the world tonight,/ All over the world, you can hear the sounds of lovers in love...  Keep the peace man.

Outside MacDonald House in March 1965.

Images: Google and Personal Collection.
YouTube Video: Thank you PCSRegal. 
There's A Kind Of Hush was written by Les Reed and Geoff Stephen, a hit in 1967.