Legendary band owner and party promoter, Mike Fung is a Special Person

Oct 15, 2023 Features / Columnists, News

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Serving the local entertainment scene for over three decades…

By Rehanna Ramsay 

Waterfalls Magazine – His welcoming personality and knack for entertaining a crowd is undeniable, but what is most striking about 74-year-old Mike Fung is his agility and drive to continue to service the local entertainment scene even after dedicating more than three decades to the business.

During an interview with The Waterfalls, Fung explained his love for the band – Mingles Sound Machine – and for party promotions is deep-rooted.

He said, “It started in the 70’s when I was still in my prime.”

Fung revealed that he was hooked on “holding down the crowd” after his first time as an emcee.  Fung recalled that he had just completed his studies at St. Stanislaus College and ventured onto the work scene when he met popular Guyanese entertainer and emcee, the late Terrence “Pancho” Carew.

“A lot of people from the 70’s know that name; he is the uncle of popular radio host Rocky Carew and he became my first mentor in the entertainment business. We met after I got my first job at Fogarty’s store, where my mother was employed as a manager.”

According to Fung, Carew also encouraged him to pursue a career in sales and marketing.

“After I left Fogarty’s, I started selling insurance with First Federation Life. At the time, Pancho Carew was the owner of Guyana’s number one musical band called ‘The Combo Seven,’ and I started hanging out with the band,” he revealed.  It was sometime after this, that he and Carew collaborated to form their own band “The Gemstone Combo.”

“That was when he taught me how to emcee,” Fung stated. As his love for entertainment thickened, Fung’s career in sales also thrived.

He became an insurance salesman at the British American Insurance company and later at Demerara Mutual Life Insurance. As a blossoming salesman, his desire was to move up the rank.  As such, he said that he went on to selling merchandise for Guyana Refrigerators Limited where he was employed as a sales manager. There, he sold refrigerators and stoves to customers throughout the Caribbean.

As his popularity as a sales manager grew, the job offers started to pour in.

“When Rex Mc Kay launched Guy-America Airways,  I became the Sales Manager for that airline,” Fung recalled.

Band Life

It was in 1984, when his work with a new company, West Indies Synthetics Limited caused him to move to the Islands, that he met his greatest entertainment mentor and friend, Jamaican musician and band owner, Byron Lee.

“My work caused me to have to travel and live in Barbados for two years and Jamaica for two years. That is when I became friends with the legend, Byron Lee. He taught me so much about the band life.  He was an excellent manager, musician and friend.”

He continued, “Many of my successes as a band owner, I owe to his mentorship.”

Fung recalled that Lee gave him the best piece of advice about longevity in band ownership. “He said to me that ‘For your band to last, you have to be a part of it,’ I didn’t play instruments so he taught how to be a sound engineer.”

As a result, after him returning home in 1988, Fung started planning the launch of his own band.

“First I started the Mingles Night Club at Third and Albert Streets, Alberttown and from there everything evolved,” he said.

In 1992, Fung and his brother Derek launched the band. “I took the name from my club, ‘Mingles’ and my favourite musical group the, ‘Miami Sound Machine’ and we launched Mingles Sound Machine.”

According to the entertainer, the band started out with 12 members.

“We had three vocalists, six persons in the riddim section and three in the horn section,” he said. By 1994, he said Mingles Sound Machine became wildly popular; their name spread locally and internationally.

“The band started to travel; we went on a three month international tour.  We were invited to Caribana in Toronto in 1994 Montreal, Quebec, Winnipeg, later we went to New York for Labour Day. We also played for the Carnival at Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami,” he said. Fung said that he was fully engrossed in band life.

“It was about 14 of us; we stayed in hotels and were away from our families for weeks and sometimes months,” he added. Given its origin, he said the band, also drew a Caribbean fan base.

“Our music had heavy Caribbean influences, lots of reggae, soca, calypso, chutney in addition to international music,”he said.

As a result, Mingles Sound Machine became well known in the Caribbean.

“We travelled for Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, Crop Over in Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Jamaica.  We did some shows with my friend Bryon Lee’s band, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires and our name spread throughout the region,” he said.

Popular promoter

As a result of the band’s new found fame, the ‘Mingles Sound Machine’ owner ventured out as a promoter on the local entertainment scene. He said that back then, he was able to host a number of popular musicians.

“We brought  in so many artistes, Yellow man, Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Shabba Ranks, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Maxi Priests, Beres Hammond and of course Byron Lee and the Dragonaires as well as a whole hosts of others,” he said.

In addition to the shows which were a huge hit with Guyanese party goers, the band entertained at staff parties, weddings and birthdays. “We also held shows where Guyanese talents were given opportunities to perform,” he said.

He said that the band continued to travel touching its fan base in Suriname, French Guiana and other parts of the region.

Given his experience in the business, Fung collaborated with other newcomers to the promotion scene.

“We worked along with Hits and Jams for about ten to fifteen years after they first launched,” he said. Fung said that he continued to work in entertainment until the pandemic hit in 2020.

“We took a break but we are coming back with a bang. We recently re-launched the band and we have a number of shows coming up. On November 18, we have a special show- a tribute to my mentor Byron Lee- 15 years after he passed,” Fung said.

Career longevity  

Fung’s longevity on the music and entertainment scene should come as no surprise as he displayed similar consistency. In fact, Fung only resigned from his position as a sales and marketing executive at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) last year.

The band owner holds an impressive resume given his keen knowledge of the Caribbean market having worked for many years as sales a marketing executive in the region, dealing with all aspects of the regional market.

Fung boasts intimate knowledge in sales and marketing dating back to 1973.

At one point, he had under his command a 15-member regional sales team, with years of experience of setting up, training and promoting /products for distributors, big retail chains, hotels and hospitality industry such as night clubs, restaurants chains. In addition, Fung also worked for the Roraima Group of Companies and Jags Aviation for a number of years.

According to his resume, Fung is described as the ideal sales and marketing executive due his knowledge acute insight into the strata of the market from distribution chains to retail, hospitality industry.

He said that he is great with handling people, very friendly problem-solving attitude, positively focused, and highly motivated. And his personal leadership style inspires confidence and grit as a team player.

Outside of his work, Fung has been married twice.  The band owner has five children and six adoring grandchildren.

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• entertainment, Mike Fung, Mingles Sound Machine, Rehanna Ramsay, Special Person

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