Fabian's Music Milestones In Rock n Roll Singapore

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Fabian Foo supports this blog for its cause and has commented on the postings about our local music in the 1960's. He is also an avid photographer and a movie-maker having recorded many videos on You Tube showing performances by our local 60's music boys and girls.

When I asked him if he could write an article about his experiences as a young man enjoying his rock and roll years, he responded immediately and positively.  As he starts the engine of his vintage beauty, let's ride with him and enjoy his music milestones.

Thank you very much Fabian for this nostalgic piece.


Dear Andy,

Music lover of the 60's

From my young days of a 10 year old, I have been listening to music when my paternal uncle would play his singles vinyls both in English and Chinese. I remember that he liked Rita Chao and Sakura songs both in Chinese and English. As a young teenager at 14, my parents subscribed to Rediffusion and I started to listen to programmes like Top Tunes of The Week, To Each His Own etc. 

Mike Ellery, Larry Lai, Joseph Goh and many others were answering requests on radio and Rediffusion throughout the weekend. On some occasions I also made requests on radio sending greetings to friends and classmates. Also I participated in some programmes sponsored by Hacks and Hudson sweets guessing the top 5 songs of the week ( in the order of merit) and managed to win token sums on some occasions.

However in the year before PSLE examination, there is a red mark in one of my result slips, my parents immediately took away the Rediffusion subscription. I brushed up and assured my parents that I would get into and be within the top 5 students in the class. My efforts paid off and in the next semester I was honoured to be in the top position in class. It was a great Rock n Roll feeling in those early years of 1962 to 1965 when we had the Beatlemania craze, Rolling Stones, Herman Hermits, Yardbirds, Peter & Gordon, Lulu, Petula Clarke, Cilla Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and many others. 

Those years in secondary education (1966 to 1968 ) were also exciting for me. I remember that a group of us ( cheeky boys ) will sit on the last row in class. We had pocket size transistor radios and when the subjects were not interesting, we listened to music and songs on the quiet. Also a few of us saved our pocket money (skip recess) and hit for Kwang Sia Record in Hill Street to buy our singles and EP. 

Those were the good old days when we saved and built up our vinyl record library and kept ourselves occupied by cleaning them every few months. The biggest regret is that the whole set of LPs ,EP's and singles were thrown away when we started our journey into married life and there is no space in our new home to store away those precious vinyls. What a pity as they are now worth every ounce. 

During the late 80's my passion for music continued and visiting Tower Records ( Pacific Plaza ) and other record shops had been a good pastime. I began to buy and keep some compact discs of the 60's music. The good time I had is knowing so many of the 60's musicians in the late 80's. We were then active members of the Lions Club movement and the club had some of the best 60's music makers in the local scene. Names like Veronica Young, Henry Chua, James Choa, Tony Kwek, Lawrence Lee, John Cher, Victor Lam and others. 


After each monthly meeting on Friday evening, the group of musicians would start to jam and we all enjoyed our fellowship and fun. The club did a great show for charity in September 1989 known as “Thanks for the Memories” and all the local bands performed to a full capacity audience at then The Neptune Theatre. We contributed our time and effort to help the needy but same time we enjoyed good music and long lasting friendship. That is the power and influence of music …

Fabian Foo 
Copyrights Reserved

               The Silver Strings Perform: Video by Fabian Foo December 2014

            Fabian Foo Videos on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jffoo289

These items below that were mentioned by Fabian Foo are still around and we can find them if we look hard enough but they are hardly used today. The mint sweet was popular with school children then.

If you have a story to tell about your experiences in the past please write in and it will be published.

Images: A Personal Collection; Google.