Veteran mandopop singer-songwriter David Wong dies at 61

Taipei, June 14 (CNA) Taiwan-based singer-songwriter David Wong (黃大煒), best known for his Mandarin pop classics including "You Make Me Drunk" (你把我灌醉) and "Love Breaks Everyone's Heart" (讓每個人都心碎), has died at the age of 61, his family announced Sunday.

In a statement released through a law firm on behalf of his sisters, Consulina Wong and Joann Wong, the family said Wong passed away suddenly on the morning of June 2 in Honolulu (June 3, Taipei time) at his sister's home in Hawaii.

They did not provide a cause of death.

Born in Hong Kong on Sept. 17, 1964, Wong immigrated to Hawaii as a child and graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in hotel management.

He came to music by teaching himself to play the guitar given to him by a university professor, and he eventually formed bands and performed locally before being discovered by Taiwanese producer Lee Shou-chuan (李壽全).

Lee brought him to Taiwan to launch a Mandarin-language music career. His debut Mandarin album in 1990, "Love Breaks Everyone's Heart," was a commercial success, establishing him as one of Taiwan's best-known pop artists.

Wong later won the Golden Melody Award for Best Arranger for the song "The Fall Of Forty Four" (秋天1944).

In 2025, he made his acting debut in the Taiwanese drama "The Outlaw Doctor" (化外之醫), earning a Golden Bell Award nomination for Best Newcomer in a Television Series category.

According to the family statement, Wong "wrapped up his life in Taiwan" on Dec. 27, 2025, and returned to Hawaii to live with his sisters. During this final month, he remained eager to embark on a new chapter in his music career.

Wong's mother, Chang Lu-heng (張閭蘅), was the eldest daughter of Chang Hsueh-sen (張學森), the fifth son of Chinese warlord Chang Tso-lin (張作霖).

That made Wong a grandnephew of the famed Nationalist general Chang Hsueh-liang (張學良), known as the Young Marshal, who inherited control of Manchuria from his father in 1928.

Chang Hsueh-liang is best remembered as the instigator of the Xi'an Incident of 1936, in which he detained Nationalist generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) and pressured him to halt the civil war against the Chinese Communists and instead unite against Japan's military aggression.

Wong is survived by his sisters.