Earlier on 15 February, news broke about veteran Taiwanese singer Liu Wen-Cheng 刘文正 passing away from a heart attack at the age of 70.
However, it has since been revealed that Liu is still alive and that he had faked his own death in order to avoid attention.
His former manager, Tsia Yu-Shun told media outlets that the singer was still alive and well, and that he was asked to leak the fake news about his death, according to ETtoday on 16 February.
Tsia was the one who leaked the news about Liu’s death a day before, claiming that Liu had died after suffering a heart attack.
Tsia told reporters that Liu had been pestered by someone from mainland China to return to the entertainment industry, offering the singer an incentive of about SGD $38.9 million.
Liu, however, was not interested in returning and asked Tsia to spread the news that he had died, not wanting to be bothered by the requests anymore.
However, Tsia’s statement was not entirely untrue – Liu had indeed suffered a heart attack, but he has since recovered and is well.
The singer’s second aunt also told star.udn.com that her nephew is still alive and well after verifying the news with him through a phone call on 15 February.
It has been about 30 years since Liu retired from the entertainment industry, and he has been elusive and reclusive, not wanting any public attention on himself ever since.