Death of a Hong Kong pop star: when city mourned Beyond singer Wong Ka-kui in 1993

“Beyond singer in coma after fall in Japan”, ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on June 25, 1993. “Pop star Wong Ka-kui, lead vocalist for Hong Kong band Beyond, was in a coma last night, 19 hours after falling off a production set during the filming of a television variety show.”

Next day, the Post reported, “Wong, 31, plunged three metres and hit his head after slipping on water during filming of a slapstick fight scene for one of Japan’s most highly rated television comedy shows.”

Reviewing the band’s progress, on June 27, the newspaper’s entertainment editor wrote that Wong, his brother Ka-keung, Yip Sai-wing and Wong Koon-chung had formed Beyond in 1983 “as an independent, alter­native band”. They had “developed a follow­ing, playing punk and new wave shows at small venues […] and represented an important counterpoint to the all-pervasive Canto-pop”.

On July 1, under the headline “Fans pay homage to Beyond singer”, the Post reported the death of Wong from a cerebral haemorr­hage in Tokyo the day before. Fans had held a vigil outside the band’s studio in Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok.