COUNT Frederik van Pallandt, a reclusive singing star who brought the flavour of the Caribbean to contemporary music in Hong Kong, and his girlfriend have been murdered at his island resort in the Philippines.
Van Pallandt, 62, a partner in the singing duo Nina and Frederik, played in the Harbour Room at the Mandarin Hotel in the 1970s, and still made frequent business trips to the territory.
Sources said Van Pallandt and his Filipino girlfriend were shot in the garden of his luxury home on the island of Puerto Calera only moments after saying good night to dinner guests on Monday evening.
He died of two head wounds.
His girlfriend died after receiving three bullet wounds but, in a manner bearing all the hallmarks of an execution, she too was shot twice in the head.
Sources said nothing was stolen in the attack and it was believed the gunmen escaped in a rubber boat.