MAESTRO. Master. Prince of piano. Legendary pianist.
These are some of the descriptions lavished upon Penangite Richard Hoon Kim Huat, who passed away suddenly on Chinese New Year’s Eve (Jan 21) at 10.30pm in Sitiawan, Perak. He was 75.
Those who had the privilege of seeing him perform were often mesmerised by his sublime skills on the piano.
Hoon started his music career playing with bands in clubs such as Nordin Street Café (later called Happy Café) and Captain’s Bar in Penang. In 1973, Hoon emerged as the winner of the first Malaysian Open Organ Festival and went on to study music and arrangement in Japan. He later left for Kuala Lumpur and joined the RTM Orchestra as a pianist and arranger.
His musical prowess saw him being an in-demand recording and musical director, playing for several well-known local and international artistes, such as Datuk Sharifah Aini, Lee Yee, Datuk Elaine Kang, and Frances Yip.
He has also recorded a number of instrumental albums for Million Records, Antelope Records and EMI. Hoon was with EMI and later Warner Music and Sun Recorders as an in-house producer.
His unexpected death shocked his family members, including his wife Melissa Liew, close friends and fans as he did not exhibit any kind of earlier health issues.
According to Liew, both she and Hoon drove up from Kuala Lumpur to her hometown in Sitiawan for the Chinese New Year reunion dinner with other members of the family.
“It was a wonderful gathering, tossing yee sang, and Richard was in a very happy mood. After the reunion dinner was over, he told me “D (darling), I am going out to ‘yam char’ (have tea) with some friends”. Wherever Richard went, he always had friends.
“Later, his friends came knocking on our door and told me that Richard had vomited and fainted. We rushed over to their meeting place. The ambulance came and took him to hospital, but he could not be revived by CPR. It is very hard to accept this sudden loss,” Liew said.
The news of Hoon’s sudden passing spread like wildfire throughout the music fraternity.
Penang House of Music director Paul Augustin said he could not (and did not want to) believe it when he got the news of his passing as they had been communicating with each other rather frequently.
“Richard, who mentioned Jimmy Boyle and Joe Rozells amongst his early mentors and influences, had always been very proud of being a Penangite.
“He was a very versatile musician. Not only could he play English and Chinese tunes very well but he was also one of the few in the country that knew and could play and arrange the many different styles of Malay music, including masri, inang, asli, joget, keronchong and so on.
“He was a walking encyclopedia of Chinese music in Malaysia. He recorded and played for many local and foreign Chinese singers in shows and concerts throughout Malaysia and also overseas.
“He was always my go-to person for information and historical facts regarding the local Chinese music scene. We shared many hours communicating on the local Chinese music scene … I’m going to miss that.
“We were planning on working on the heritage structure of the history of the local Malaysian Chinese music, but unfortunately, this will now not happen.
“Richard was an extremely excellent pianist and music arranger. A fantastic first sight reader and those that know him, know how good he was.
“We have about 10 of his instrumental albums in our Resource Centre archives in Penang House of Music.
“It is very sad that he is gone. We mourn his passing but we will continue to celebrate his life through recognising and acknowledging his immense contribution to the Malaysian music industry,” Augustin said.
Former Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) music director Datuk Johari Salleh, 83, was also saddened by the news of Hoon’s demise.
He said he knew Hoon in the late ’60s, and they became very good friends when Hoon began working with him in RTM in 1972 for four years and then again when Hoon joined Orkestra Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (Orkestra DBKL) in 1989 for about five to six years.
Johari was the RTM music director from 1965 to 1983 and later established Orkestra DBKL in 1988 and helmed it until 2004.
About four years ago, Johari reminisced that he visited Hoon, who was operating the Rhythm & Harmony Music School in Setapak assisted by his wife, Melissa on administrative work. Hoon had a lot of students there.
“Richard was my very good friend. He was very good-hearted and friendly. He was always very supportive of what I did and contributed much to the orchestra.
“He was an efficient main music arranger. While he was very knowledgeable about Chinese music, he had a heart for Malay music too. He was very versatile and highly talented,” Johari said.
Renowned classical pianist Kok Kee Boon, who has known Hoon for more than 20 years, said he was devastated when he learned of Hoon’s death.
Kok, a concert pianist, is also a promoter of performing arts and artistes.
He said he first engaged Hoon to perform for a show in tribute to Teresa Teng on the 10th anniversary of her death in Singapore in 2005.
After that, they became friends and Kok continued to engage Hoon to perform in many of the private events that he organised.
“He was extremely talented and creative. To me, he is a national treasure, the best jazz pianist, arranger and accompanist in Malaysia.
“He has recorded more than 24 albums. A vastly experienced artiste and a huge loss to the musical world.
“As a musician, he was shrewd and had strong principles. He commanded a very high fee, even though you may be his friend.
“Having performed many times for shows in Genting Highlands, he uses the fees he receives for shows there as his yardstick and won’t compromise. It’s either you take it or leave it. He knows his worth,” Kok said.
But Kok said last week, he got an unusually pleasant surprise when Hoon offered to play the piano for free at his Jewel Piano Lounge in Baba House Hotel after performing at the coming Chap Goh Meh event at Peranakan Mansion in Melaka.
“I could not believe it! He told me that all I need to do was to give him a room and he would not charge me at all for his performance. It was very unlike him. I have actually prepared the room for him, unfortunately now, this is not going to happen,” Kok added.
Kok said Hoon was not only a professional musician but also extremely good at managing artistes as a sub-agent or event consultant. Hoon’s other strength was behind-the-scene work, getting the right mix of musicians for a show, and planning to the last detail to ensure the production process runs smoothly.
Kok was also grateful to Hoon for laboriously writing whole musical scores for him, instead of just chords.
“It’s hard to find musicians of his level, doing all this before computer software was invented. This shows his high calibre and commitment to his trade. Talent alone is never enough, you need that plus putting in sheer hard and long hours of work. Hoon never complained, he delivered.
“Every time he played, he inspired me. I captured many of his performances on video. These videos could be used as an educational reference for future generations. This is precious, the legacy that he left behind.”
Those who wish to pay their last respects to Hoon can head to Nirvana Memorial Centre (Sungai Besi), Violet Suite, Parlour 22.
Visiting hours are from 2pm to 10pm today (Jan 26) and from 11am to 10pm on Jan 27 (Friday). There will be a prayer service from 3pm to 5.30pm on Jan 27.
The funeral programme will start at 10.30am on Jan 28 (Saturday) before the cortege leaves for cremation at Nirwana Crematorium (Shah Alam) at 12.00pm.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix courtesy of interviewees