Renowned singer and National Artist Sawalee Pakapan died Tuesday evening at her home in Bangkok, aged 86.
Media reported Sawalee, whose real name was Cherry Savetanant, had dinner with her family at her residence on Soi Sukhumvit 101/1 in Phra Khanong district at about 8pm and went to her room. The family found her when she failed to respond to their calls later in the evening.
Sawalee was born in 1931 to a mixed couple of Thai and Danish heritage. She began singing when she was around 20 and went on to record more 2,000 songs, including over 100 popular hits.
She was renowned for her crystal-clear soprano voice and heartbreaking resonance. She received Royal Gold Record Award for four times.
As a girl, Sawalee, led her classmates in singing the national anthem every morning at school, a small honour that slowly grew into a lifelong talent. She was working as a clerk and typist in the 1940s when a vocal teacher gave her an opportunity to sing an interlude in a stage play. That was the beginning of an illustrious career.
Afterwards, Sawalee won the musical role that, years and decades later, would be played by at least a few dozen other actresses and that would become the best-remembered character in the entire Thai dramatic repertoire: Pojamarn, the poor, proud girl in the story Ban Sai Thong.
To list Sawalee's hits is impossible; those who grew up in the 1960s know many by heart. Even young people who never saw her perform live are familiar with the melody of Rak Ter Samer (Love You Forever), Jamloei Rak (Love Captive), Krai Nor (Who) and the legendary Ban Sai Thong.
In the early 1950s, she starred in about 20 Thai 16mm films.