Benjamin Fong-Torres (
方 振 豪;
Cantonese
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
: Fong Chan Ho; born January 7, 1945) is an American
rock journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
best known for his association with ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine (until 1981) and the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' (from around 1982).
Biography
Due to the
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
, Fong-Torres's father Ricardo (born Fong Kwok Seung), changed his surname to Torres and posed as a Filipino to immigrate to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The family later adopted the hyphenated surname "Fong-Torres". Ben is the brother of the late
Shirley Fong-Torres.
[
He grew up in Oakland, California, where he served as student body president at Westlake Junior High as well as a newspaper reporter/columnist and commissioner of assemblies at Oakland High School.]
Fong-Torres, who graduated from San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...
in 1966 with a B.A. in radio-TV-film, was a writer and senior editor of ''Rolling Stone'' nearly from the magazine's inception.
In 1972, Ben's older brother, Barry, a probation officer and community worker, was murdered. Barry had been passionate about working with the Chinese community. In the Netflix documentary about Ben's work with ''Rolling Stone'', Ben states that some may wrongly have thought his brother was with law enforcement.
He conducted interviews for ''Rolling Stone'' of entertainment figures including Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
, the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
, comedian Steve Martin and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
's first cover story in 1975. He also profiled Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner was an American musical duo consisting of husband-and-wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocalists, the Ikettes. ...
, Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...
, Sly and the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her Bonnie Raitt (album), self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed Americana (mu ...
, Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
and Rodney Dangerfield
Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...
. A Fong-Torres interview with Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
was awarded the Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was e ...
Award for Magazine Writing in 1974.
Fong-Torres was also a rock DJ for San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
KSAN-FM in the 1970s. He later hosted a live, weekly entertainment and talk show, ''Fog City Radio,'' on NPR affiliate KQED-FM
KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial public radio station in San Francisco, California. It is simulcast on KQEI-FM (89.3 MHz) in the Sacramento metropolitan area. The parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns tw ...
. On television, he is the five-time Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast on KTVU
KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division along ...
( Fox) in San Francisco.
Fong-Torres was a contestant on the game show '' Wheel of Fortune'' in 1993.
He has published several books, including ''Hickory Wind'', a biography of Gram Parsons; ''The Rice Room'', a memoir; ''The Hits Just Keep on Coming'', a history of Top 40 radio, and two compilations of past articles, ''Not Fade Away'' and ''Becoming Almost Famous'' (published in May 2006). His book with The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
(''The Doors By The Doors'') was published by Hyperion in November 2006, and he published ''The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
Scrapbook'' (Chronicle Books) in 2009. ''The Rice Room'' was reprinted, with additional material and photographs, by the University of California Press in 2011. That year, Fong-Torres published ''Eagles
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
: Taking It to the Limit'' (Running Press). In November 2013, ''Willin': The Story of Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...
'' (Da Capo Press), was released. In 2020, Welbeck published an updated version of his Eagles book, and he signed with Audible to narrate his memoirs and his book on Little Feat.
From July 2005 to April 2019, Fong-Torres wrote the bi-weekly column "Radio Waves" in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' Sunday Datebook. He has been a contributing editor to ''Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
'' magazine, and has served as Senior Editor for Qello, an app and site that streams music concerts and documentaries. In 2007 to 2008, he hosted ''Backstage'' Sundays on San Francisco's KFRC-FM
KFRC-FM (106.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It currently simulcasts sister station KCBS, which carries an all-news format. The station transmits its signal from Mount Beac ...
, and he was a DJ on BossBossRadio.com until 2016, when he became program director and DJ for Moonalice Radio.
He was portrayed in the 2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
'' Almost Famous'' by actor Terry Chen. The fictional version of Fong-Torres is the lead character William Miller's editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
at ''Rolling Stone''. He is depicted on a mural on the side of a building at Haight and Clayton Streets in San Francisco.
Fong-Torres was inducted into the SF State Alumni Hall of Fame in 2004 and delivered the commencement address in 2005. Frequently called upon to MC community events, Fong-Torres has also sung at senior facilities, Broadcast Legends luncheons and weddings. As an officiant, he has married some 30 couples. Fong-Torres was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
In 2010, Suzanne Joe Kai, founder of production company StudioLA.TV, co-founder of the website AsianConnections.com, and a television and film producer, began work on a documentary on Fong-Torres titled ''Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres.'' The film was licensed to Netflix and released for streaming on May 6, 2022, to English-speaking countries.
References
External links
*
*
Interview with Ben Fong-Torres
October 2001, JournalismJobs.com. Includes photograph. (archived in 2005)
Archive of Ben Fong-Torres' column ''Radio Waves''
from ''San Francisco Chronicle''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fong-Torres, Ben
1945 births
Living people
People from Alameda, California
American music journalists
American radio DJs
American talk radio hosts
American writers of Chinese descent
San Francisco State University alumni
Radio personalities from San Francisco
Journalists from the San Francisco Bay Area
American musicians of Chinese descent
American journalists of Chinese descent
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle people
Rolling Stone people
Contestants on American game shows
Emmy Award winners
American people of Chinese descent