SINGAPORE – Local singer Ling Xiao, a familiar name in Singapore’s 1970s music scene, died at the age of 75 on Dec 13, said Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao.
The singer, whose real name is Tan Choon Huat, became partially paralysed in 2022 after suffering a stroke, and eventually faded from the entertainment industry and out of the public eye.
Prior to this, he dealt with a range of diseases, including hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes, Zaobao reported.
According to his obituary, his funeral will take place on Dec 17.
Ling Xiao was only 17 when he placed second in a singing competition organised by radio station Rediffusion, or Li Di Hu Sheng in Mandarin, according to the National Heritage Board’s roots.sg website.
Soon after his debut in 1967 he landed a contract with Happy Records, and his song Ku Qing Hua (Melancholic Flower) soon became a local favourite and one of his biggest hits.
The evergreen crooner turned lead actor in the 1998 Channel 8 drama serial Facing The Music – a breakthrough that ended a career slump which saw him singing in small bars along Bencoolen Street and Middle Road, according to previous reports in The Straits Times.
He later went on to star in Kampung Ties (2011) and The Quarters (2012), and as a long-term mentor on Mediacorp’s Golden Age Talentime programme for several years.
The veteran marked his 50-year milestone in the entertainment industry with a concert at Resorts World Theatre in 2017, performing 38 songs from more than 100 Mandarin albums.
A year later, at the same venue, he joined the star-studded cast of the Mandarin musical Taru, which also featured Singaporean singer and actor Huang Jinglun and Malaysian Mandopop star Freya Lim.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.straitstimes.com ’
