------------The Quests (Singapore)------------

---The Quests (Singapore) with their best hit ever, 'Shanty'.---

The instrumental, 'Shanty,' managed to replace The Beatles, 'I Should Have Known Better' in the 1964 Singapore hit parade charts. It was written by Henry Chua, bass guitarist for the Quests.

Surfers from overseas who wish to read more about The Quests (Singapore) should best check out the band's own personal websites and blogs as there are so many of them on the Internet.

The Quests is the most popular Singapore guitar group in the 60s.

Image: Key in: quests shanty 1964

Thank you.

----The Quests (U.S.) From West Michigan----

Similarly there is a band called The Quests (U.S.) that wish to differentiate themselves from our Singapore group.

This band was steaming West Michigan performing in the 60s under the Fenton record label. They accompanied Freddie Cannon, Neil Diamond and The Supremes when these famous artistes performed at Grand Rapids then.

Bob Fritzen, lead singer, has a son who lives in Singapore and commented in 2008 that he has heard of Singapore's Quests. The US Quests are still active and have done new recordings.

Do you know of bands from across the world that have names similar to our groups here? Why are our 60s guitar groups not recording anymore? Or are they?

Read comment by Bob, click on his name and check out Quests US Website.

The Silver Strings Again. Who Are These Guys?

Silver Strings again. Remember the stage acrobatics like the Shadows routines mentioned in earlier blogs?

Check out the photograph above. They are hot! And it's an Asian band.

The Other Silver Strings and Silver Strings?

Philips recording artistes of the 60s, The Silver Strings (above image) are not the boys from Singapore. Other local bands are in the same situation.

So what's in a name then? Do you know of other bands across the globe that have similar names as our groups?

By the way there are many music groups called The Silver Strings.

Seats Increased To 23,000 With 14 New Venues

We have gone a distance since our bands and singers appeared at the Singapore Badminton Hall and National Theatre in the 60's. According to The Straits Times 'Life' section (13.02.09) the country will have 14 more concert venues when the Integrated Resorts (IR) are completed with 23,000 spanking new seats.

Hopefully the authorities will not forget our own music makers of yesteryears and allow them the opportunity to organise concerts and perform their pop classics as such gatherings have proved successful in the past.

Image: The Esplanade, Singapore

oooo-A 60s Jukebox Dispensing Vinyls-oooo

Jukebox Influence On Singapore60s Music

The jukebox above will astound because it is definitely one that spins vinyls. Conceptualised and invented in 1898, the actual jukebox came about in 1927 and became most popular from the 40s through the 60s. They become CD dispensers in later years.

'Juke' or 'jook' means 'dance' with a sexual connotation and is derived from African-American slang. The machine plays 78 rpm records, 33 1/3, 45s vinyls and CDs.

Its association with rock and roll music is well-known. Hank Williams Jr, established 50s country artiste, has a song, 'Lyin' Jukebox,' and on a more positive note, Alan Jackson's, 'Don't Rock The Jukebox.'

Singapore had them in restaurants, bars, billiard houses, lobbies of various hotels and private country clubs. Enthusiasts who could afford such luxury bought them for home use.

Teddy boys in Singapore with girls to impress would exhibit the coin-drop, then jive and rock for a few cents a song, empowered by a machine they could control.

My own recollection? Elvis Presley's tunes dominated the jukeboxes and there was always a selection where patrons could play Chinese melodies. Were local band vinyls included?

Image: http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/music

Singapore 60s Idols - Cover Western Pops!

Steven Farram's list include:

1. Sakura recorded 'Stupid Cupid' with The Quests. (Image: A Chinese version too.)

2. Lara Tan recorded versions of 'This Is My Song' and 'Downtown' backed by the Trailers.

3. Keith Locke & The Quests recorded 'Earth Angel', 'Sound Of Music'.

4. The Trailers recorded 'Lucille', 'Irene Goodnight'.

5. Heather recorded: 'Love Is Blue', 'Kiss Me Goodbye'.

6. Rocky Wong recorded: 'Rose Marie'.

And there are many more. An unending song of love.

Do help me compile a list if you have the information.

Petula Clark- Most Successful UK Invader

Not forgetting the ladies, Petula Clark is a phenomenon and has many hits covered by our local singers too. She is the Numero Uno of British Pop, ever!

'Downtown', 'I Know A Place', 'My Love', 'This Is My Song', 'Don't Sleep In The Subway' are just some of her hits since 1954.

Tommy Steele, Lonnie Donegan, Helen Sharpiro

I also remember another Tommy, this time it's Tommy Steele and a favourite I shall never forget, 'Butterfingers' which was on the UK Hit Parade Charts for a while.

The UK invasion hit Singapore way before Cliff Richard did in the 60s because songs by Steele and others were heard on the radio in the 50s when I was still a school boy.

Steele's other favourites include, 'Water Water', 'Singing The Blues' (taken from Guy Mitchell) and 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone?', a classic folk.

Other pop singers in the 50s with a large following in Singapore are Russ Hamilton, Petula Clark, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, Gary Miles, Helen Sharpiro, Frankie Vaughn and of course, Lonnie Donegan (the skiffle man).

The influence was tremendous as the British servicemen who came here to occupy the military bases made up a good percentage of people who patronised the night clubs at Orchard Road and other dance halls in Singapore.

Image: Google.

Tommy Sands Another Rock N Roll Influence.

As the 50s went by more musicals were produced and the singing stars became household names.

I remember rushing to the Alhambra Theatre at Beach Road to catch the movie, 'Sing Boy Sing'. Tommy Sands, who had the leading role, and another Elvis Presley copy-cat, was as popular. In fact Tom Parker, Presley's manager was supposed to be Sands' too.

With the usual guitar, side burns and sleek hair Tommy sang his way in the movie to many rock and roll fans who were already immersed in other pop singers. His songs, 'Teenage Crush', 'Sing Boy Sing', 'A Little Love' and 'Friendly Persuasion' (theme from a different movie) became hits.

Singapore bands followed the trend during these early days but many of the band boys were still at school and those who had the audacity and guts would organise a group to sing and dance like Tommy or Elvis.

The buzz word then was TEDDY BOY as everyone wanted to look like the singing stars.

The Crescendos - 50s Songs By Our Groups

• Apparently many songs from the 50s have been recorded by our artistes in the 60s and the influence is strong. The following are some songs that have been pressed on vinyl:
• 1. Naomi and The Boys recorded 'Have I Told You Lately That I Love You' (Philips),
• 2. The Crescendos recorded 'Everybody Loves A Lover' and 'Silver Threads And Golden Needles' (Philips),
• 3. The Surfers recorded 'Answer Me' (EMI),
• 4. The Blue Diamonds (from Holland) recorded 'Pretty Blue Eyes' and 'Ramona' (Fontana)
• 5. The Tidbits recorded 'I Believe' (RCA).
• The list goes on so please provide one to add to the numbers.

Presley, Perkins, Posters And Their Impact

Posters draw attention as they are supposed to. Here we note the date of this appearance in Mississippi by the King and Johnny Cash.

Carl Perkins, who was only a guest artiste in the show, was the first to record 'Blue Suede Shoes' an Elvis hit. Again as pioneers of rock and roll they were from the 50s.

The Father of Rock N Roll - 50s DJ, Alan Freed

Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Connie Francis, Little Richard, The Platters were from the 50s rock and roll scene and not the 60s.

Elvis was the King but Alan Freed was the Father of Rock n Roll as he deemed himself to be. To him it was a "river of music that has absorbed many streams, rhythm and blues, jazz, ragtime, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat (Wikipedia)."

Watching the two movies by Alan Freed gave a simple idea of what rock and roll was all about. The movies were actually music videos that we find so rampant on TV today but with thin story lines that pieced the music appearances of the different groups together.

Roxy Cinema East Coast Road, Movies And Laksa

The Roxy screened movies after they had been shown in the cinemas in towns like the Capitol, Rex or Pavilion. It was also the hub for gatherings of the 50s and 60s band boys and girls as the Palace and Odeon Katong cinemas were just across East Coast Road from Roxy. Katong then was very suburban. The cinema opened in December 1957 by Sir Robert Scott and the movie shown was Oh My Papa. 

Two major cinema companies used to dominate the Singapore scene for many years. So for business competition, another movie theatre opened diagonally across the road. It was called the Odeon-Katong Cinema, the Odeon being famous already at North Bridge Road in the city and Katong being this suburban place on the east coast. 

Sue Thompson says that sad movies made her cry. ET was one movie. My elder son cried at the end of the show when ET went home?

Then there's the Palace next to the Roxy, separated only by a pencil-thin road at Brooke's. This whole area attracted food shops and other businesses. The shop houses still stand today but the cinemas have long been demolished; we watch our movies at home now...

(Many young Singaporeans are not aware that the Roxy Laksa that is so famous today originally had a little stall behind Roxy Cinema, not too far from its ticket booth. Many patrons would rush to the little stall to have a bowl before popping into the cinema for a show. The owner was a Chinese male. Does his son run the stall today?)

Map from LauKokok's Blog. Roxy is just across from Ceylon Road, next to Brooke.

Tickets at these cinemas used to cost 50 cents for the first five or six rows from the screen, so if you happen to buy a seat near the screen, you crane your neck for two hours to see the movie and the images on the screen are distorted. 

The next 10 or 12 rows of seats cost $1.00 and the last few rows and the circle seats (upstairs/balcony) cost $2.00. There were times when you could put $1.00 into the usher's hand and get a comfortable $2.00 seat in the corner of the theatre. 

Have you been to the Roxy? Tell us. 

1960's Cinema ticket samplings from SKY Theatre. Similarly Roxy's.

Image: Shaw Brothers Website or the National Heritage Board.
Original Article: Andy Lim Collection.

Bill Haley's Comets And Black Market Tickets

On a little road in Singapore, way down on the East Coast.

A poster, 'Rock Around The Clock' (1956), like the above was the talk of the town in the late 50's in Singapore when the rock and roll explosion hit the country louder than Chinese New Year firecrackers. The Roxy Cinema was filled to the brim when the movie invaded the theatre near the beaches at the East Coast. (Roxy? The Roxie people know today would probably be the notorious lady in the musical, Chicago.)

When patrons wanted to buy tickets for shows like these, the queue circled round the Roxy building like a snake would round the victim's body. Black market tickets sold for as much as 100% more i.e: a 50 Cents front-seat ticket would cost $1.00 as tough, unruly boys filled the queue much earlier before a show to buy and control tickets.

Seats were cheap then and the cinema hall was divided into four sections i.e: the first 5 rows from the screen cost 50 Cents while the rest were priced from $1.00, $2.00 and $3.00 depending on how far away from the screen the seat was. The circle (upstairs balcony, back rows) was priced at $3.00. Or was it still $2.00?

Can you imagine paying $4.00 for a seat back in the old days? That's more than two day's salary for a school teacher. Black marketeers or should we call them hooligans were making their pile before the police in their Black Marias came to arrest them in later years.

Such was the impact when this music phenomenon rocked Singapore as Bill Haley, the Comets, the Platters and others came to town. So it's not true that Cliff Richard started the rock and roll craze on this island. He started the Shadows' band craze. 

Rock and roll took its roots way before Cliff Richard and Rolling Stones came to Singapore with movies like Bill Haley's with his one kiss-curl (image below) on his forehead. He had the girls screaming to their pony-tails when he appeared with his Comets on stage.

Images: Google.

Alan Freed:

Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Connie Francis, Little Richard, The Platters were from the 50s rock and roll scene and not the 60's.

Elvis was the King but Alan Freed (the DJ who introduced Bill Haley in the above video), was the Father of Rock n Roll as he deemed himself to be. To him, it was a "river of music that has absorbed many streams, rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat (Wikipedia)."

Watching the two movies by Alan Freed gave a simple idea of what rock and roll were all about. The movies were actually music videos that we find so rampant on TV (before YouTube's arrival) but with thin story lines that pieced the music appearances of the different groups together.

If YouTube (current) got many new singers and musicians started today, Alan Reed's two movies could have got quite a number of artistes on their path of success too.

Wang Sa, Yeh Fong: Comedic Duo Beat The Lot

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Like the Malays who had Momo Latiff and Abang Apek in the 60s, the Chinese community had their share of comedians too, Wang Sah and Yeh Fong were a famous pair in the 60s and 70s. They had appeared in numerous stage shows with our bands and were TV and movie stars.

Dubbed the Laurel and Hardy of Singapore and well known in Malaysia, Taiwan and Hongkong they enjoyed a successful career with their banter, singing, wit, and slapstick, speaking in Chinese dialects, Mandarin, Bazaar Malay and sometimes Singlish. They had since passed away.

I have included these two gentlemen in this music blog because they were a famous pair and an integral part of Singapore 60s and 70s popular culture. They had first appeared at some of the pop music concerts around Singapore and, a little like Falstaff in Shakespeare's comedies, provided comic relief, while *backstage as bands and singers prepared for their next performance.

With Lauretta Alabons on Singapore TV

'Rolling Good Times'

The duos' popularity grew when they started appearing on both local Chinese and English television channels and were heard over the radio and Rediffusion. As their mass appeal ballooned, they recorded songs in local Chinese dialects, which sold well.

Dubbed the Laurel and Hardy of Singapore and just as well known in Malaysia, Taiwan and Hongkong they enjoyed a successful career with their humorous sketches, speaking a chaotic mix of Chinese dialects, especially their own which was Teochew, with Singlish (pidgin English), pasar (bazaar) Malay and even Tamil.


The late Wang Sa (1924 - 1998) and Ye Fong (1932 - 1995) whose real names were Heng Kim Ching and Seow Tian Chye kept most Singaporeans glued onto their television sets when they appeared on the small screen with their wit and comic banter.

Chinese variety shows like Sharp Night (声宝之夜), sponsored by Sharp Television, were produced by Television Singapura and in their heyday，Wang Sa and Ye Fong were always around for rib-tickling laughter with their cross-talk routine, mimicry and farcical imitation of Singapore lifestyle they knew well enough to make fun of. As in most comedy, Wang Sa and Yeh Fong perfected their timing, candor and displayed flawless chemistry together.

They were the island's version of comic duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy from the US and were the grand old men of Singapore comedy. Affectionately known as Ah Pui and Ah San (The Fat One and Skinny One) they met in the 1960s on Xin Sheng Ge Tai ( 新生歌台) or live theatre and had never looked back. They had since become household names.

Many youngsters today may not understand their Hokkien catchphrase: Ah Tee ah, agak-agak chiu hor ah! (Brother, take it easy!) and Oi Ah Boi? (You sure you can?) They worked together from the 1960s till 1972 and then split to try their luck at movie-making in Hong Kong.

They appeared in several Cantonese movies there. These two became Singapore's only Asian movie stars. The huge box-office success of their 1974 Hongkong debut, The Crazy Bumpkins (阿牛入城記) spawned three sequels and Ye Fong was the most outstanding comedian in the 20th Asian Film Festival. 

They had also appeared in other movies like The Mad Monk and Mr. Funnybone. Like their stage antics, their movies were awesome to watch and, you guessed it, filled the cinema halls with mirth.

The news of their demise in the late 90s was not taken too lightly by Singaporeans as fans had lost two of the most loved icons from the 60s. Up till today, no pair could match their wit and versatility in the local world of comedy.

I have a good collection of their Extended Play (EPs) vinyl as indicated on the YouTube video below.

*The National Theatre had a revolving stage.

Wang Sa and Yeh Fong on 'Rolling Good Times' 

with Lauretta Alabon. YouTube Video.

[A short except of the song 'Be Bob A Lula,' ('Ti Ti Ta Ta')

on the above video was accompanied by The Silver Strings.]

COMMENT SECTION:

Hi Terence, 
thanks for your constant support for the Blog/FB postings. Your comments are always welcome, especially with your background. I was just wondering if you could write an article about the show where you played when Wang Sa, Yeh Fung, and Rita Chao appeared in KL. If you have photos, they'll be a bonus. Thanks again.

Terence Lee:
Andy,
The shows we played were in cinemas featuring mostly Chinese singers where Wang Sa, Yeh Fung, Sakura, and Rita came down from Singapore. I do not have any photos of them. I have two black and white individual photos of Sakura and Rita with their signature on it. Unfortunately, the management did not give us back those taken on stage. 

Most of the shows were staged in Star cinema situated in Pudu. All the tickets were sold out within an hour and the management had to add seats to make more money. It was a real experience playing with Sakura and Rita. I used to tease Sakura backstage and she would chase me around but Rita was a quiet person.

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Images: AndyLim Collection.

Information about Wang Sah/Yeh Fung: from Websites and articles.