Abilene singer-songwriter identified as man who drowned at Eagle Mountain Lake
The family of a man who drowned at Eagle Mountain Lake on Aug. 23 has identified him as an Abilene musician and martial artist.
Jimmy “Ninja Cowboy” Chaikong was on a small boat with his children when it overturned, the Star-Telegram previously reported. Chaikong’s children were pulled from the water by a witness; searchers found his body the next day near Crest Point on the southeast portion of the lake.
Chaikong had just been signed to a new talent agency and was about to be booked through the end of the year, his friend Ben Gonzalez told KTAB Abilene.
The singer-songwriter had just announced plans to host a music festival, the Big Country Inaugural Songwriters Festival, to be hosted Nov. 7 at Abilene’s Stairs Nightclub. The nightclub plans to go on with the festival to benefit Chaikong’s children, whose mother died two years ago, according to KTAB.
“He wanted to showcase a lot of the big country’s talent,” The Stairs owner Julie Young told KTAB. “So we would like to continue this in honor of Jimmy and to benefit his children.”
Chaikong taught MMA classes at an Abilene MMA school and ran his own entertainment and record companies, according to KTAB.
“Jimmy is more than a headline,” family friend Tracy La Porte said in an email. “He is a beloved member of our community, a man of faith, and an artist who has touched countless lives through his music and service to others.”
