Winston Tong, born in 1951 in San Francisco, California, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and puppeteer of Chinese descent. He graduated with a degree in theatre from the California Institute of the Arts in 1973, where he studied classical vocals with Marni Nixon. After establishing his reputation in the San Francisco Bay Area with avant-garde performance pieces, he won an Obie Award in puppetry for Bound Feet in 1978. Tong joined the experimental band Tuxedomoon in 1977, contributing to releases such as the EP No Tears (1978) and the album Holy Wars (1985). His solo career includes the single “Stranger” (1979), the release Like the Others (1983), the album Theoretically Chinese (1985) — which features guest contributions from Stephen Morris and Jah Wobble — and the album Miserere (2003). A reissue of Theoretically Chinese was released in 2005. His song “In a Manner of Speaking,” originally featured on Tuxedomoon's Holy Wars, has been covered by Martin Gore, Nouvelle Vague, and Amanda Palmer.
