By: 永久浪客/Forever Vagabond
It was revealed in court yesterday that CHC founder Kong Hee, had regularly “played up” the success of his singer wife, Sun Ho, in CHC. One of CHC leaders, Chew Eng Han, said that he had been brainwashed by Kong into thinking that Kong’s wife would become “a megastar” like American singer Whitney Houston.
Appealing against his conviction and sentence, Chew, who faces six years in jail, said Kong told them that Ms Ho would be more successful than pop stars such as Taiwanese singer Jay Chou and girl group S.H.E. In fact, Kong touted that his wife would be the “next Whitney Houston”.
Chew testified in front of the judges, explaining why he went along with Kong to support Ho’s pop career with the church’s fund, “If she was touted to be the next Whitney Houston, how would she not be a profitable commercial vehicle for us?”
One of the judges hearing the appeal then asked Chew, “So you were brainwashed?”
Chew replied, “Yes, I was.”
He added that if what he did was considered part of a criminal conspiracy, it would have been “the worst thought-out conspiracy ever”.
Ho’s albums all made losses
Last year, during the trial of Kong Hee and his church leaders, it was revealed that Ho’s “success” was an illusion (https://theindependent.sg.sg/kong-hee-made-whistle-blower-roland-poon-pay-33k-to-apologise).
“I am unable to see how there can be any genuine or honest grounds for their claims that they expected far higher sales for her planned US album well in excess of the projection of 200,000 units,” the trial judge said.
“I am unconvinced that they could have had a genuine belief in Sun Ho’s prospects of success for the US Crossover given their consciousness that much of her earlier success was contrived and contributed to by CHC itself.”
The judge added that one of the leaders even conceded that Ho’s Asian Crossover albums all made losses. Other church leaders also knew that CHC was involved in propping up her Mandarin album sales. Two of Ho’s Mandarin albums made losses of almost $1 million.
The judge concluded that Ho’s perceived success was inflated and the church had to “rely heavily on sponsorship from CHC member or supporters to help prop up her album sales and promote her career”.
In other words, Ho’s success was a farce all along.
Whitney Houston’s records sold 170–200 million worldwide
In contrast, Whitney Houston is one of pop music’s best-selling music artists of all-time, with an estimated 170–200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification.
Whitney Houston was also the most awarded female artist of all time, with two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards. She held the all-time record for the most American Music Awards of any female solo artist and shared the record with Michael Jackson for the most AMAs ever won in a single year with eight wins in 1994. She also held the record for the most World Music Awards won in a single year, winning five at the 6th World Music Awards in 1994.
So, how can Kong compare his wife with Whitney Houston?
[fvplayer src=”http://youtube.com/watch?v=wSZQH_c9jOU”]