‘Luk Thung’ artist passes away at 85

Obituary: Phloen Phromdaen, a Thai country music designer famous for incorporating interesting stories into his tracks, has died at 85.

The luk thung ( country music ) artist, named as a national artist in 2012, was pronounced dead at 11.10am on Saturday at Siriraj Hospital, where he was taken after fainting.

Phloen, whose real name was Somsuan Promsawang, was born on June 12, 1939, in Aranyaprathet city, which was piece of Prachin Buri state at the time.

Born to Pluem and Tun Promsawang, Phloen had eight relatives. Somsuan won his first major singing contest, organised by the Yan Kro (armour ) military radio station, when he was 20 years old, which led to his debut as the singer Phloen Phromdaen.