SINGAPORE 60's: ANDY's POP MUSIC INFLUENCE IS A PERSONAL MUSIC, MEMORY TRAIL. BLOGGER DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO VIDEOS, AUDIO TRACKS AND IMAGES. THEY ARE UPLOADED FOR FUN, EDUCATIONAL, ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES AND HAVE BEEN CREDITED. BLOG IS NOT SPONSORED NOR ADVERTORIAL IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. INFORM BLOGGER OF COPYRIGHT ISSUES AND POST WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT COPY THE POSTS; GET PERMISSION N CREDIT ME IF YOU DO. ANDY LIM LA (NOVEMBER, 2008) -
(新加坡六十年代安迪的流行音乐影响力), SUDI MAMPIR !
One of the prettiest ladies in Hollywood history has passed away...
RIP STELLA STEVENS.
She acted in the movies, 'Girls, Girls, Girls,' with Elvis Presley and 'The Nutty Professor' with Jerry Lewis. The song 'Pretty Blue Eyes' was featured in a YouTube video made by karina ibanez villao, with Steve Lawrence singing it. The Blue Diamonds version was a hit in Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore recording artiste Lara Tan or Ying Ying (櫻櫻) who usually sings in Mandarin pressed songs with The Trailers in 1967. You Only Live Twice the James Bond theme was sung entirely in Mandarin. Other songs on the same EP (CEP 3008) and accompanied by the same group include Don't Talk To The Lifeguard, Single Girl and Dream Girl.
Lara Tan sings with The Trailers
Another EP (CEP 3002) titled This Is My Song has Dear Mrs Applebee, Downtown and Love Potion Number Nine. The above video is from a record and with Visions Lara sings, Run For Your Life, Puppet On A String and Sugar Town (CEP3004).
It was the usual path for many would be singers in Singapore 60s and Lara was no different. She sang at school concerts and in private parties for a while.
The break came when she was spotted by an executive from a local record company, was contracted and trained in the skills needed to be a pop star. It was tougher for her because she did not like some of the songs she was singing.
After an exhaustive period Lara was provided with about 40 songs to select for her vinyl debut. Since Mandarin songs had a bigger fan base in South East Asia, Lara recorded covers of current English 60s songs and had them translated into Mandarin by a Ms Violet Chow.
To make the formula work she was backed by The Trailers, one of the most popular bands then. Where EMI had Rita Chao and The Quests, Lara was the answer to Cosdel's search for a female lead vocalist to front The Trailers. And like Chao and Sakura she had her share of singing a-go-go and off-beat cha-cha music as well.
So here after nearly 45 years under cover, Ms Lara Tan appears again on Valentine's Day singing Visions - a very popular Cliff Richard number - hopefully to revive days of yore that all you Seniors remember. It's for the young ones to appreciate too.
The Trailers
If you have stories to tell about your T-Dance days and golden nights with your girlfriends at the Palace Cinema, Hotel Prince Garni, Paya Lebar Niteclub, Springdale, Singapore Hotel, South-East Asia Hotel, Hilton, Cockpit and other exciting venues do write in. Valentine's Day must have been as exciting in the 60s and 70s as it is today.
To all my friends in the music business, the Bloggers group, writers, the old teacher friends I meet sometimes, the lecturer buddies from the universities, the new friends who write to me on the Comment page, the young students who ask for information and all the others who have made this blog what it is today, Happy Valentine's Day. Don't forget the flowers.
"Visions of you in shades of blue..." Lost love?
Valentine's Day in Chinese - 情人节 - qing ren jie.
Image: Andy Lim Collection. You Tube video by Mr. Rainbow.
Michael Bangar, a good friend, is an experienced Singaporean guitarist having performed for 40+ years with many pop bands. His comment below about the recently deceased Bobby Vee and the American pop 60's scene is insightful:
Pix: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 UP TO 9,600 VIEWS
40+ CHATS, COMMENTS
1963 Bobby's Girl Susan Maughan
YouTube video by: jaggme
60's Teen Idols:
"RIP Bobby Vee! Him and his kind - Brian Hyland, Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton and were made pop stars by the American music makers. They were groomed to look clean cut. And whether it's a coincidence or otherwise, many of them are called Bobby.
The US establishment was concerned about early rock and roll for being too wild. The King, Elvis Presley was drafted. Jerry Lee Lewis (pix A) married his 13 year old cousin. Chuck Berry (pix B) was in trouble for income-tax evasion. Little Richard (pix C) became a church minister.
Buddy Holly (pix X), Ritchie Valens (pix Y) and P. Richardson or The Big Bopper (pix Z) perished in an air crash. Only Ricky Nelson plodded along. So these teenage idols became clean cut pop stars. But he too died at an early age of 45 in 1985, while Elvis at 42 in 1977. The big bosses in the US were unaware that there was a huge musical storm brewing on the other side of he Atlantic. Then in 1964 it suddenly hit them. The British Invasion. All the music stars in the U.S. of A. took a back seat for a few years.
When all these happened and all these clean cut teen idols came along, the first generation rock and rollers got sidelined. Jerry Lee Lewis later when interviewed was quoted as saying, 'Suddenly there was a lotta Bobbys.'
Ha, ha. I love that quote." Of course if you want to include Bob Dylan, that's seven singers. Thanks very much Michael for your lighthearted but true story. Mike has an extension under the Comment page. Click at the end of this post.
Pix: A,B,C Here's a side projection. In Singapore many fans of pop music would include their own surname and use them to request for songs on Rediffusion. For example one could hear a, "Bobby Elvis Wong" asking for Jailhouse Rock to be played for a girl friend called, "Sandra Dee Cheong". Another called, "Bobby Rydell Tan requested a song for friend, "Rickie Nelson Cheng." And the list goes on. So here's a quiz. Except for two who had passed away, the others are still around and in their 70's. In the above pictures, do you know who the Bobbys are?
🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤
Pix #1: Bobby Vinton (1935 @ 81), had more Billboard #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis and Sinatra from 1962 - 1972. Billboard Magazine called him "the all-time most successful love singer of the Rock Era." Pix #2: Bobby Darin (1936-1973), will have a musical in his honour. In September 2016, The Bobby Darin Musical, had its world premiere at Sydney Lyric Theater, Australia, featuring this legendary singer, songwriter and actor with an 18 piece big band.
Pix: X, Y, Z Pix #3: Bobby Goldsboro
(1941 @ 75),
is well-known for his big hit Honey. It was the largest selling record in the world for 1968. With the hangover in the US after the British Invasion, it was one big feat. Pix #4: Bobby Rydell
(1942 @ 74),
a teen idol, was famous in Singapore for his big hit, Forget Him in 1964. With 34 Top 40 Hits, he received 5 Gold Disc Awards.
Thanks to the Music Enhancement Channel for this YouTube Video. Pix #6: Bobby Sherman
(1943 @ 73), teen idol released 107 songs, 23 singles and 7 albums. Tutored by actor and singer, Sal Mineo, he became such a hit with the young ladies in the audience, their screaming gave him hearing loss. He was at the tail end of the era i.e. late 60's.
The British Invasion:
Whatever the case may be all these teen idols made it in the pop music world. They had their fair share of the limelight for a while, hit after hit. Some evergreen classics are still vogue, until the British Invasion came along, headed by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Meantime there was this pop star sending musical shock waves across Britain, Europe, parts of Africa and Asia; it was Cliff Richard and his backing band, The Shadows.
Before the invasion their management sent them on a tour of the US where they were booed off stage. The press there accused Cliff Richard of trying to be a carbon copy of Elvis Presley. They did not make it in the US. Then the British Invasion hit them.
The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, The Who, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, Freddie andThe Dreamers and their likes came along. Later Cream, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis joined the game. They took over a huge portion of the world pop music scene for a long long time.
Popular music, as we knew it went through a tremendous change. In years to come the teen idols and their music became nostalgia acts. But we still enjoy them today.
(This article is a re-post from October, 2016.) Images: Google. You Tube Video: Bobby Goldsboro, Honey. Original article by Michael Bangar (pix: right). Many thanks to Mike, who took the trouble to write about local music because he believes that we should tell our stories openly on Singapore60sMusic. Andy's blog is free.
To read the extension of this post, click Comment below.
Stella Stevens with Elvis Presley
