Ivor Lesslar: A Tall Dark Handsome SG Guitar Hero

Ivor with his iconic hat playing at the Esplanade.

This video is the work of ROBERTO LIM, passionate in his ways to film 

many of the Singapore music scenes you see on YouTube. 

Like Ivor, Roberto is another unsung hero. Thank you sir.

(1) Ivor  Lesslar is second from left,

and left in the 3rd picture.

IVOR LESSLAR by Mike Bangar (unedited.)

🎸🎹🥁🎷🎺

Hi Blog Readers !

Time is slipping away so fast. Singapore's Golden Era Of Pop Music (post WW2 up till now) is also slowly but surely fading into our musical history. And now made worse by Corvid-19. 

Many many years have gone by and taken along with them quite a few of our Music Legends.  Keyboardists, Percussionists, Horn Players, Bassists, Guitarists, etc.

Time for an Article Special on Musician Extraordinaire  Ivor Lesslar: multi - instrumentalist, & a multi - talented gentleman,  vocalist, band mate of many years & long time friend of ours.

An Unsung Hero From That Golden Era.

A self taught music man, he started his early years paying his dues and was lead guitarist for Singapore’s 60s recording band ‘Cells Unlimited’.

After the group broke up, he moved on to Bangkok, Thailand, making music there for quite a few years. While he was there he played with bands and musicians, doing club work & events.

Upon Ivor's  return to  Singapore, after spending some years gigging around Thailand  (previously known as Siam), he brought along with him some  years of experience playing music of other genres  He comfortably just grooved his way into our nightclub music scene. 

Home here, he spent a few years in the Country & Western music scene working, in clubs like Boots & Saddle at Sembawang, Ginivys & Peyton Place  along Orchard Road. The next number of  years, he worked at various clubs along the Orchard Road stretch,  performing various genres of music. During this  period he became a family man with a wife and two sons.

Then by the mid 80's, our music scene took a change when clubs started hiring foreign bands, ie mostly Filipino acts. After a few more years gigging in pubs & clubs with  duos, trios & quartets, Ivor got into the budding function circuit.

A free-lance musician by now, he played with any band and  any musical set up when his services was called upon. Regular Electric Bands, String Duos, Trios, quartets as well as Strolling Bands: stationary at a fixed point or going round from table to table. With so many decades of music making behind him, he just fitted into any music line-up with ease, most times with hardly any rehearsal. Besides doing a great job on guitar, he plays keyboards and drums.

Up till the present time and by now a grandad, he still performs free lance gigs.

For a long time, Ivor does regular gigs with the band with multiple names: Tropical Cats / Los Tropi-Gatos, Transit, Mixed Combination, New Notes, Limited Edition.😉

In the band line up : hornsman Jerry Murad, drummer Ramon Francis, bassist Jeffery Pinto (bassist Stephen De Souza - substitute bassist) and rhythmist Michael Bangar. All band members do frontline vocals and vocal harmony. 

Ivor Lesslar: An Excellent Man Of His Craft. From a musical era, neglected and fogotten by today's mainstream.

Salutè ! Our Buddy In Music.

He who stands tallest; that's Ivor Lesslar at his youngest with pop band 'Cells Unlimited' with their hit vinyl.

First picture below is Ivor with his hat. 2nd pix - extreme left; 3rd pix: third left.

(The above posting is by Michael Bangar. I must thank him again for so willingly imparting his historical expertise about Singapore's music industry. Ivor Lesslar is a good friend and has appeared many times with their different groups that includes Michael. 

I have often seen Ivor play at the Catholic Church on Siglap Hill and if you close your eyes, you'd probably think you are listening to Hank Marvin live with a church filled Shadows hits. It's my own opinion, but like Michael explained, he's definitely one of the best lead guitarists in town.

He is easily recognised. Tall, dark and handsome; he beats them all in height and a superb handling of his solid guitar.

Many thanks to Ivor for agreeing to this post. He's a quiet man and never looks for publicity. He just plays his best and it took some persuasion to print this article.

We went out together once; Ivor doesn't talk much. He lets his fingers do the talking; his guitar replies.)

If you've heard Ivor play, come on, give him a pat on the back and reply!

More about Ivor:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2022/05/singapore-musician-ivor-lesslar.html

Article and Images (specially formatted) have been copyrighted by Mchael Bangar.