Rex Goh: Singapore to Madison Square Garden, NY

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This Blog's 8th Anniversary Special Story about a Singapore guitar hero:

Even before Stephanie Sun and JJ Lin stepped into the limelight and stardust of the international arena, we have a music maker who has made a name for himself beyond our shores way back when in the 1970's.

You must know Air Supply?  Well, let's find out who was the Singapore guitar hero accompanying the Australian group from July 1977.   Here's drummer and this blog's regular contributor John Cher, on this anniversary special posting, to tell us about another of his music buddies.

Rex Goh: Crossroads - Eric Clapton Tribute - Steppin' Out - (Uploaded on Jun 11, 2011, Enmore Theatre, Sydney, 11th June 2011.)

Rex Goh was the first Singaporean to join the ranks of rock music superstars.  Without a shadow of a doubt,  the best known pop guitarist that Singapore has ever produced. 

  

During secondary school days, my buddy Henry Tay, used to have a band and we played together occasionally.  Rex was playing for Henry's band for a few months.  Of course, he just blew everyone away whenever he played.  Even as a teenage musician, he was head and shoulders above everyone else!  It wasn't long before he graduated to playing commercially. 

One of the first places he played at was;  The Pub, a disco at Hotel Malaysia, later to become Marco Polo Hotel. The band's name was 1 2 3.   Another local guitar hero,  the late Reggie Verghese (lead guitar: The Quests) praised Rex and said that, " he was very good and that his guitar had that certain sound". 

Rex migrated to Australia at aged 21. All for love and for music!  At a point in history when even Bruce Lee had to face racial discrimination it is not hard to imagine the challenges that Rex had to face to break into the music scene in a white man's world.  

But he not only broke into it, he made it to the peak and performed with the best in the  business. In 1973 Rex was voted the best guitarist in South Australia - a title which brought him much deserved recognition.

He auditioned and became the lead guitarist of Air Supply. The group toured the entire length and breath of Australia. But the real big, dream break came when Air Supply toured the U.S. and was the supporting act for Rod Stewart. 

Among other venues, Air Supply played at Madison Square Garden. On opening night, Rex said his legs were shaking.   Playing to a cheering crowd of about 80,000 people. It was a fantasy come true. It really couldn't get bigger than Madison Square Garden. They did 52 concerts in America.

Rex left Air Supply after the tour.  During this time he studied jazz music, five days a week  for two years. But while he studied jazz music, his real  interest was to play pop music.  It wasn't long before  Graham Russell called and invited Rex to rejoin for a second tour. By now Lost in Love was huge in America.  The band was invited to appear on Solid Gold, a premier prime-time music show which was hosted by Dionne Warwick.  

The show was telecast in Singapore, generating a great sense  of pride among musicians and music lovers here. It was truly a  dream realized for a young man. It was everybody's favourite story, about the local boy who made good!  The parallel to this would be Bruce Lee making it big in America with The Green Hornet.

Rex Goh's family used to live in Seletar.  He fondly remembers his mom giving him a ukelele when he was 8 years old.  He enjoyed playing the uke but no one in his wildest imagination would have anticipated the distance he would go. He eventually took to playing rhythm guitar. 

A neighbour and well known local musician, Benny Chan, encouraged him to do so. (Benny used to be with The Checkmates, Richard Ortega and The Ortegas, which played at the Tiara Supper Club at The Shangri-la Hotel, Singapore).   

For two years he just played the rhythm guitar before eventually taking up the lead guitar.  As a young guitarist he was heavily influenced by Hank Marvin followed by Eric Clapton. Two great guitarists with totally different styles of playing.  

Besides Air Supply, Rex has played for Glen Campbell, Savage Garden, Tom Jones, The Supremes, Randy Crawford, Temptations, Soul Decision, Eurogliders, Renee Geyer, Tommy Emmanuel and  Wes Carr. The list goes on.

The last time Rex was in Singapore was in April 2015.  He performed at  D'Marquee, Downtown East with his old band The Flybaits.  Rex's brother, Steven, a guitarist as well, used to have a band in Singapore known as The Formations.

Rex Goh is still living his Rock and Roll life and loving every moment of it!  It sure beats selling shoes at Victoria Market!

Thanks for your music Rex.  You are influencing people whom you will never meet nor ever know.  However, one day in the not so distant future,  another superlative guitarist would appear and say, my greatest mentor and my greatest guitar hero was, REX GOH!

All the very best Rex!

Write-up by John Cher (right).

Copyrights Reserved.

Images: A personal collection and Google.

You Tube Video by Colin Hay: 'Rock From The Crowd".  Uploaded on June 11 in 2011, @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Aus.

Many thanks to Rex and John for making this posting happen. One of my best birthday gifts this year of 2015.