Bittersweet 93rd birthday for veteran Hong Kong DJ ‘Uncle Ray’ as he mourns friend and singer Mona Fong
The radio legend is excusing himself from the memorial of his good friend for some quiet time to recall fond memories and tunes
Nothing can describe the mixed feelings of veteran Hong Kong radio DJ Ray Cordeiro as he celebrates his birthday while also mourning the death of a long-time friend.
“Music drew us together as I admired her voice and she had probably admired mine. I played her music as a DJ over the years,” Cordeiro said of Fong, who died last month at the age of 83.
In her heyday, Mona Fong was a star in Singapore and Malaysia, with her expressive voice drawing crowds
Cordeiro started his radio career when he joined British broadcaster Rediffusion in 1949, the year Fong arrived in Hong Kong. She would host the variety programme Mona Fong Show at the station in 1957.
“That show was very popular as she was already famous from her English songs. But I first heard her when she was a cabaret singer and I was most impressed with her bassy voice,” said Cordeiro, holder of a Guinness World Record as “most durable DJ”.
It was because of her popularity that Cordeiro invited her to be the only female singer to perform on stage with Matt Monro at Operation Santa Claus, a 1962 charity event at the new City Hall. Monro was a top British singer who would later record hits such as From Russia with Love and Born Free.
“Matt’s real name was Terry Parsons and he won many singing competitions when he was a serviceman in Hong Kong in the early 1950s, so he already knew about Mona. Their singing together was a highlight of the event,” Cordeiro said.
