Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Singapore 60's Covers Sell Better Than Originals

Rita Chao n Quests, ' How To Catch A Girl' 
YouTube video by luposol66. Thank you.

 [recording of '16 Candles' is copyrighted].

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Songs I Love:

In the 1960's when the craze among our youth was to buy local records (i.e. Singapore vinyl), they were more familiar with the covers of Western pops sung by our own artistes than the original ones.  In fact, some record buyers were not even aware of the versions by our British or American counterparts.

I have listed five hit songs below that fit into this category. The original version comes first and the Singapore copy-cat beside it. Most were songs from the late 1950's and recorded in the 60's. 

The Singapore artistes were the top stars those years and, if it's true of what I've been told, each recording would have produced at least 20,000 copies. They were the dominant players in the recording industry then. Some of these records would have been reprinted if sales were good. Let's take a look at them.
1) Mr. Twister: Connie Francis (original)
    Mr Twister: The Crescendos (cover)
    No details on date and composer
   
Although Connie Francis was a multi-hit maker in the 60's with her songs like, Who's Sorry Now, Stupid Cupid and Where the Boys Are, her song Mr Twister was not as popular in Singapore.   Instead the local vocal group The Crescendos hit the air waves with the same song and made it a sell-out on the island. The late Susan Lim sang it.

2) Happy Happy Birthday BabyThe Tune Weavers (Original)
    Happy Happy Birthday BabyNaomi and The Boys (cover)
    Margo Sylvia, Gilbert Lopez - 1957

Many fans thought that Happy Happy Birthday Baby was an original song by Naomi and The Boys. In fact it was recorded in the US by a group called The Weavers. Another Naomi hit song, I Know which is a Boys original was thought to be a western hit. Naomi's Happy Birthday became so popular that many pirated copies were on sale in the market.               
 3) Sixteen Candles: The Crests (Original).
     Sixteen Candles: Rita Chao (Cover).
     Luther Dixon Allyson R. - 1958.

Similarly the late Rita Chao's version of Sixteen Candles was more popular than The Crests.  Many local listeners had never even heard of The Crests. Rita Chao's, together with top pop guitar twangers The Quests' version was heard all over the country. 

Our cute and petite lady was Queen of Pops those years and did a Chinese version of the same song. Even good friend Sakura Teng could not outshine her.
4)  Don't Play That Song: Ben. E. King (Original)
    Don't Play That Song: Keith Locke and The Quests (Cover)
    Ahmed Ertegun, Betty Nelson - 1960

One of the most popular songs when it was around in the mid-sixties, this number was performed all the time whenever Keith Locke and his team-mates came on stage during variety shows, charity shows, theatre shows and during night club acts. 

Keith Locke was a sensation and made a name for himself. Everyone in the audience could chorus, "You lied, you lied, you lied. Yeah, yeah, yeah..."  The Ben King version was over shadowed a thousand times over.

 5) Silver Threads And Golden Needles: Skeeter Davis (Original).
     Silver Threads And Golden Needles: The Crescendos (Cover).
     Jack Rhodes, Dick Reynolds - 1956.

A classic, the song by our local group did not hit the headlines but was part of an EP with three other songs. The Crescendos EP's usually sold well and the vocal group was on an uphill curve with the vinyl records they pressed. 

It was very impressive indeed and they were the first artistes from Singapore to have recorded with an international company like Philips.  Skeeter Davis came earlier with her version but this was a hit song by any means.
Mr Twister - Crescendos: YouTube
Video by eosyeo. Thank You

A very strong support group for our local bands and singers uplifted the record sales. It was a novelty then, the only time in Singapore's history when our own boys and girls could hit the pop song parade together with international stars.

Credit must be given to the fledgling music industry in the 1960's. The incentives activated a new vehicle to promote it, local music producers like Reggie Verghese and composers like, Robert Suriya, Henry Chua and Harvey Fitzgerald. This new and exciting onslaught of local hits flooded the market. But that's another tale.

Comment anyone?

Images: A Personal Collection and Google.
You Tube Videos: Alvin Tan and eosyeo.

Copyrights reserved: Don't copy.

Disclaimer: 
The article is my own personal view. Information may vary according to sources.

20 comments:

OLIVER BALASINGAM (FORMER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, DRUMMER WITH SILVER STRINGS) said...

These particular cover songs outsold the originals because they were in our minds just as good as the originals, if not better. Many factors collided to bring about this, including the quality of the female lead singers, the presence of international recording companies and astute local producers.

JIMMY CHNG (THE DECIBALS GUITAR GROUP) said...

Hi Andy,

Firstly, congratulations on the huge success of your blog, what with readership reaching far and wide as evidenced by the stats.

Well done bro'... thumbs up :)

chakap chakap said...

Rita Chao, A-Go-Go Queen, died in July 2014 of colon cancer, her mother revealed on Feb 2. She was 64. A pop singer in the 1960's and 1970's, she also sang with bands like The Quests in both English and Chinese.

She did many covers of English songs in Chinese and sang in Japanese. One of her first and greatest hits is 'Shake, Shake, Shake'.

She was also known for her cover of English song 'Sixteen Candles' and handled both quick tempo songs and ballads.

Read more about her by clicking to 'Labels' below this posting.

hsia lin (you tube) said...

This is the only true version of Rita Chao's Sixteen Candles. Thanks for posting!

goldbullions you tube said...

Nostalgic and brings back memories of the good old days of the late 1960's and 1970's. Both Sakura and Rita were then very popular among Singaporeans. Often sang as a duet. Sakura was said to be the 'yang' and Rita was the 'ying'.

Rumour has it that Sakura now lives in NYC while Rita is staying in Singapore. We had recently seen Sakura in S'pore. But Rita seems to adopt a low profile & had never been seen for decades. Perhaps better for us to remember her at her peak, then young & pretty. Yes / no ?

sleepybread said...

Hi Mr. Andrew Lim,

I'm PL, an ex student of yours from .... from some 20 years ago. Heard from EG (another ex student of yours) that he bumped into you sometime back & saw you on TV, much to my disbelief. And so, I embarked on this google search for the TV program you went on and came upon this blog.

I seriously had zero idea you were a celebrity, just that you love to sing a few verses here and there during classes.

I'm not doing any researches nor planning to interview you on your vast knowledge on music. But would you have time for tea with me when you're free?

Best Regards,

LPL

HAPPY TAY (VANCOUVER, CANADA) said...

Love them! For me these memories are precious. From the RTS Talentime days when I participated and when T.F. Tan was the winner up to the Crescendos, Tid-Bits and those T Dance days where you had The Quests, Moonglows and Silver Strings, McCoys, Impian Batek and Thunderbirds...

Those hit songs were really great too.

MERLIN LIM (SILVER STRINGS, ORIGINAL RHYTHM GUITARIST) said...

The Silver Strings did provide back up music for quite a number of singers. I don't remember their names but the one I can still acknowledge is Wang Sar and Ye Fung. How well the records sold I don't know.

Of course we backed Shirley Nair and Mike n Herb for all their vinyl recordings.

FL said...

Agree with Oliver's comments. Also, during those years (50s/60s), very few local people heard of the original singers of those mentioned songs, myself included. We have no internet access to do a search, unlike today. Anyway, our local singers were popular artistes then, and the covered versions were also backed by popular guitar bands. That's made the difference !

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

Thank you all for taking time to make comments. It is true about not getting proper information like we do now. The only newspaper or tabloid available was the RADIO WEEKLY which wrote about local pop music and those from abroad.

The replies I get are from the blog's regular visitors like Oliver B, Jimmy Chng, Happy Tay, John Cher, Merlin Lim and FL., truly a precious lot of readers, supporters and friends who have been providing feedback many, many times without which this blog would have no soul.

I wish other readers will write in too.

APPLE TSKYCH said...


Andy Young ..thank you for the beautiful song...have a great year...Rita sang beautifully...it's a great pity...she's no longer with us...rip rita. ..thank u for the beautiful song.

FACEBOOK CHATS said...

Andy Young
RITA CHAO = 16 CANDLES and CRESCENDOS = MR TWISTER sell better than U.S. originals.
Check it out.
Do you know of other SG covers topping original ones.
Tell us.

Stephen Han
I love the covers of the popular songs you mentioned. Naomi and the boys did well in “Happy Birthday Baby'', Susan Lim sang the Twister fabulously with the Crescendos. Rita Chao did 16 Candles splendidly and best of all was “Don't Play That Song For Me” by Keith Locke and Quests.

Andy Young
Yes Stephen. And all more popular than the original recordings.
Thanks for your comment.
Also thanks to others who like this post, DICK, SER KIONG, DAISY and WEN HING.

FACEBOOK CHATS said...

Hiroshi Deguchi
I'm not sure if she recorded the song, but to my ears Veronica Young's "Where The Boys Are" is more touching than Connie's. I don't know why but Veronica seemed closer to me?

Andy Young
Hi Hiroshi, Connie Francis' WTBA was a big hit, especially in Singapore.
I don't remember anyone in SG recording it.
THANKS for the memory.

FACEBOOK CHATS said...


Andy Young
Thanks for the comments guys and all who LIKE this post. If you know of other international hits that's been over-shadowed by our SG60s boys and girls, do write in.

Freda Hanum
Such an impressive article feel real proud of the S'pore local artistes in the 60s70s, yes they are the ones had made it top charts in the local music scene, excellent!

Angela Leow
I loved Rita Chao when I was young. 😀

Andy Young
Hi Angela, thanks for the visit. Been a while... Do you still like her renditions today?

Angela Leow
Andy Young I don't listen to her songs any more. But I think I bought one of her singles.
The very first song I was drawn to was Shake Shake Shake. It was so fun dancing AGoGo to the upbeat song.
A pity that she has passed on.

Andy Young
Thanks again Angela for your immediate reply. I have always loved comments like yours; seldom do readers point out certain songs that they like and why. Nostalgia is really about a certain time and place and a song [in this case] that we remember.
Do visit us again.

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

After your Top 10 hit posting of your singing, I'm now hoping that you will write an article for the blog about your experience in the SG music scene as a younger person.
THANKS.

And appreciative thanks to all who responded so warmly to this post about our local covers that became so popular around the region and possibly in other countries.

FACEBOOK said...

THANKS TO ALL WHO LIKE THIS POST

Angela Leow
Ann Rowena Lim
Freda Hanum
Fred Ching
Koh Sui Pang
Ho Victor
Hiroshi Deguchi
Ericbronson Wong
Alphonso Soosay
Charlie Yap Locomotion
Yip Dick
Ser Kiong Tan
Koh Daisy
Chow Wen Hing

James Kwok said...

Discerning listeners will appreciate the covers done by our local artistes. Thanks to Andy for keeping the memories alive.

FACEBOOK CHATS said...

Andy Young
Author
Hey guys, fastest early birds ever. Thanks for the LIKES.

Hassim Madali
Keith Locke and The Quests.Popular song" Don't Play That Song".

Martin Michael
Hassim Madali Push push

Hassim Madali
Martin Michael
Oh yes...something like.."let's dance push"...push"...thanks for the reminder...have a good day...cheers!!!..

Martin Michael
Hassim Madali my brothers used to listen to this on radio..

Andy Young
Author
Hassim Madali, hi. Yes, fantastic music, they all provided. Thanks for the memories.

Martin Michael
Hassim Madali Push2 like maternity ward song..😳😵‍💫

Andy Young
Author
Yes, he was more popular in SG with this song than the original Ben King.

Freda Hanum
Loved this article of comparison of the originals and the local versions... Agree mostly local artistes vinyl recordings are preferred

Andy Young
Author
Freda Hanum, hi! Thanks for the comment. It's true. Supporting our own artistes...

HASSIM MADALI [FB] said...

Hassim Madali
If you are referring to The Quests, yes they were the " top band" in SG during the 60's with resident vocalist Vernon Cornelius. Keith Locke was an " added" vocalist only. The Quests also played gigs in discos besides live stage shows especially at the old " dame" (the famous National Theatre.)

FACEBOOK CHATS said...

Patrick Choo
Met KEITH LOCKE & the QUESTS when my band was GUESTing with them at Seletar Airbase then 👍

Andy Young
Author
Patrick Choo HELLO! Good to know, you are familiar with S.Strings too.

Patrick Choo
Andy Young Yes . The lead man of Silver Strings...met him years later at a community club.