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| Eunice Sim: Singapore Idol 1969. |
UP TO 3,900 VIEWS. 14 COMMENTS
Singapore had its share of talent competitions in the 1960s way before American Idol, Media Corp's Final 1 and its local version Singapore Idol were launched in the 2000s. 1969 would be a perfect example where 10 contestants, each with either a song to sing or play, participated in the finals of Radio Television Singapore (RTS) contest.
Those days it was called, 'Talentime' (term was later inspired by the quick-witted with, "I got talent but no time...") and with the versatility of Singapore's top professional musicians like Ahmad Jaafar and Charlie Lazaroo leading the RTS Orchestra and backing the contestants, the eager beavers were in safe hands within the confines of the air-conditioned media building at Caldecott Hill.
The list of the evening's line-up from the CD list shows, M. Almen: Fly Me To The Moon, M. Ismail: One Day Soon, Marie Tang: When China Boy Meets China Girl. Patrick Rudge: On The Beach. Eunice Sim: Cry Me A River.
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| Vinyl Record Cover for 1969 Talentime |
Dusky La Gooma sang: Getting To Know You, Ainah Ahmad: The Look Of Love, Aziz Talib: The Way It Used To Be, Loretta Mendoza: I Wish You Love, E.C. Tan: Night And Day. Christina Tan was the only finalist playing classical piano with: lst Movement Sonata in D. Wonder why?
Marie Tang later recorded Fireball XL5, Dusky La Gooma appeared with a face painted black and E.C. Tan, an old pal, is also called Easy Tan because of his relaxed and lazy singing style.
**One RTS talentime winner who made the grade was Eunice Sim (image) and like other winners, received a recording contract with RTS Enterprise Private Production Singapore. The above image shows her EP vinyl with covers, Alfie, Hello Dolly, Windows Of The World and Something On My Mind. On the Talentime CD recording of Julie London's, Cry Me A River she sounds as heart rendering as the original.
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| Lena Lim, a Chinese Talentime winner from RTS. |
**A Note from Marie Tang:
Hi Andy,1969 Talentime winner, Eunice Sim and 1968 winner, The TidBits. Many mistook me for one of the TidBits, but I'm not. I sang solo in 1968 To Sir With Love and 1969, When China Boy Meets China Girl. The recording contract went to The TidBits.
Thanks for bringing back the good old memories !
Regards
Marie.
20th May, 2010; Updated: April, 2013; Original article: Andy Lim.
14 comments:
Hi
Thanks to you, i have been looking for a song "Marie Tang: When China Boy Meets China Girl" for atleast 10 years, i did not the singers name nor the album , i only know the wordings, and finally, i got thins from ur post thanks a lot.
nmmurari@hotmail.com
Thank you very much for visiting the blog. I am glad you got your song as I try to help whenever possible.
Hi andy do you know who are the winners of talentime after singapore's independence till the final talentime shown on tv?
I am afraid you got me stumped. There's a long list and it would take me a while to find out.
Keep checking this blog. Will try my best. Thanks for visiting.
Hi Andy, do you happen to know which group sang "Dedicated to the one I love" in one of the Talentimes. Perhaps not a finalist, maybe semi.
Hi Violet,
Sent out your question already.
Waiting for answer.
I'm not sure myself.
Will post when it comes in.
I was thinking could be TIDBITS.
Mostly say it's TIDBITS, Violet.
But not verified.
Thanks Andy for the prompt response. I doubt it was sung by the Tidbits because I vaguely remember them as older contestants than the Tidbits then.
Yes, answering your question.
It was sung by the TIDBITS but at one of the earlier rounds of the Talentime.
This answer comes from a well-known DJ currently on our air-waves.
Cheers.
When you get the correct answer, let us all know.
Thanks Andy for the info. Much appreciated. Cheers!
Hello Andy how do I obtain a copy of the Talentime 1967/68 finals telecast which was shown on Rts at that time. The video of that telecast.
You need to buy the vinyl record.
It's usually a collector's item.
Owners don't lend them around.
So circulation is usually minimal or not at all.
Good luck
Hi Andy, thanks for the infos on the old Talentime contests nn Singapore TV.
I would be great if you or someone can do a full listing of the past Talentime contests and their participants through those early years.
Would be great to know what are those finalists for each year doing now.
Let our children know that those digital karoake singing today is no match for the passion of the singers in the talentime series of the 60s and 70s.
Thanks again for those good memories.
Hi UNKNOWN SOLDIER,
Yours is a passionate note indeed and it's a great idea.
Trouble is, nobody really contributes to this blog except for a few sincere readers and friends.
They are all with their own names on the postings and are passionate with what they say.
Nobody so far, especially those who have much information, will contribute.
I'm not sure why, just human nature I guess.
Or they want to write their own book perhaps?
Maybe you could contribute to this Talentime list?
Or other pieces of information for readers?
Will be nice.
We can start from there?
Thank you for writing in.
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