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BIOGRAPHY

After a few years of working as freelance musician in styles of Jazz, pop, Latin and soul, the Utah native has uprooted his life and is currently aboard Queen Victoria of Cunard as a show band musician performing on tenor saxophone, clarinet and flute.

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Kenny Fong is an Asian-American saxophonist raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Born in August, 1993, Kenny's musical journey began at a young age, after he begged his parents to start piano lessons at the age of 6. From there his passion for music grew, and he would later be selected to lead and conduct the Utah Symphony at age 11 and then began to learn clarinet at age 13. In Jr. High and High School, Kenny left behind the clarinet and bounced around on different types of saxophones, starting on alto, switching to baritone, and then back to alto again. He would later pursue the instrument of his choice, the tenor saxophone, which he would eventually decide as his "main" instrument, after private studies with local professional Brian Booth.

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Following his graduation of High School in 2011, Kenny decided to pursue music more academically, and was able to land a generous scholarship with Snow College, who at the time had a strong relationship with the Julliard School of music in New York, that would regularly send faculty of their own such as Carl Allen and Willie Applewhite to aid the musicians of Snow. Although hesitant at first to commit fully to a music lifestyle, Kenny began to study in depth the immersive history and technique of the saxophone under Berklee and Manhattan School of Music graduate Patrick Cornelius, an accomplished alto saxophonist currently based out of New York City. Although early on Kenny never made the top ensembles with his classmates, he continued to work hard and eventually become a leader with his peers.

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After the grit and grind of college, the practicing and studying countless hours of music, Kenny instead began to work full-time in the world as a store manager of a local food franchise, to build some financial stability before deciding where his career path lay. In the end, however, he would quit his full-time job and fully commit to performing music. "I always wanted to play," Kenny says simply, "it started a long time ago and it has never gone away, through college and after. There was a time when I did not have gigs or anything musical going on in my life, just emptily making money to get by. During that period I was always felt like I hadn't finished a strong personal goal from the past, and it slowly ate at me. I wanted to perform, I wanted to pursue what I set out to do many years ago."  Although his job was merely means of financial support, Kenny in hindsight highly values his time spent there, where he was given the opportunity to learn to be a stronger leader and work better with others.

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After the year 2015, Kenny began to work with local established cover groups such as top-40s wedding band Diamond Empire and the Latin Pop ensemble Rumba Libre. In 2017, he once again took up private saxophone lessons with another local professional saxophonist, David Halliday, while he began work as clarinetist at Lagoon Theme Park. "I'm just thankful things worked out," laughs Kenny when looking back, "Music is a tricky business and I was a bit nervous to leave behind the comfort of financially stable employment. I'll always be grateful to those who were willing to hire me to perform with them, it gave me the confidence to keep pursuing music." With the help of his private teacher, Kenny once again started to hone together his musical craft, and it was then that he decided to audition to work on a cruise ship. Not only for the opportunity to perform for a living, but hopefully see the world as well.

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As of November 13th, 2017, you can find Kenny Fong aboard Queen Victoria of the Cunard line, working as a show band woodwind musician.

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