Fong Fei-Fei Death Official

The death of Taiwanese pop diva Fong Fei-Fei was made official with an announcement from her family and lawyer Feb. 13 – more than a month after she died of lung cancer.

By that time, the singer’s ashes had been placed in a Buddhist temple in her hometown of Dasi in northern Taiwan.

“We did not break the news of her death earlier in accordance with her wishes,” her lawyer said. He added that Fong, 58, whose real name was Lin Chiu-luan, was a “fairly modest, low-profile” person, and demanded that news of her death be kept from the public until after her funeral services were completed.

Fong started her career in 1968 after winning first prize in a radio singing contest while still in junior high school.

In her prime, she recorded hundreds of songs for films, especially love stories adapted from the novels of Chiung Yao, which were very popular and helped spur her own popularity.

Critics have said that the secret to her success was a combination of vocal virtuosity and approachability. She recorded more than 80 albums.

Her concerts, staged throughout the Chinese-speaking world, always sold out. In the ’90s she helped revive older pop songs in Taiwanese.

Fong was first diagnosed with cancer while she was rehearsing for a concert last May and noticed an abnormality in her voice. Her condition deteriorated rapidly after the start of the new year.

Taiwan’s show-business world reacted with shock and sadness, and a few well known singers made the connection with the passing of Whitney Houston, saying that Fong’s voice was as influential on Mandopop as Houston’s was on American pop and R&B.