Veteran Canto-pop singer Ken Choi Fung-wah has launched a $3.5 million lawsuit against music giant Sony over a royalties dispute. In a High Court writ filed yesterday, Choi said that after he was dropped by the company in June 1989, he understood that it would stop distributing and selling his recordings. However, he claims Sony Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) continued to profit from the recordings without his permission and did not pay any royalties. Choi claims to have suffered losses and damages amounting to $3,563,456. The singer, who has been out of the limelight for more than a decade, returned briefly to the public gaze when he made a surprise appearance at the funeral of ex-rival Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. The pop stars had clashed after Choi said of Cheung: 'A moment's glory does not mean that it will last forever.' The comment led to Choi being dismissed as host of a music show in the 1980s and exiled from the Canto-pop fraternity. During a fund-raising event on TVB, in 1999, other singers refused to stand next to him. The following year, a hair regeneration company announced plans to sign him as a spokesman with the slogan: 'A moment's baldness does not mean it will last forever.' sara.bradford@scmp.com
