I’m like *HH Chew [connection below], chasing concerts and bands and singers! It's mainly due to my home, a building beside the Odeon Cinema in North Bridge Road, opposite Jubilee Theatre near the Capitol Cinema and walking distance to Cathay Cinema. The amusement centres in Singapore 60s were close to each other in this part of town where I lived.
And coincidentally, the girls-only school, the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus [CHIJ] was right smack in the middle of these movie theatres. And the young ladies would come out after school, at about one in the afternoon, in their white and hue blue pinafores.
On the other hand we had pop singers like, Johnny Lion and the Jumping Jewels from Holland performing at the Odeon. Remember them? He sang 'Let's Make a Habit of This', 'Judy', 'I Like It' and a host of other hits.
This cinema and others were all under the Cathay Organisation and the movie stars Hayley Mills and her father, John Mills came and appeared on stage before the shows. And they still keep coming today, the big stars like the Rolling Stones, Cpldplay, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
Then across the road at Jubilee Cinema, which screened mostly Chinese shows had the Canto [Cantonese] stars appearing, with the likes of Fong Po Po and Chan Poh Choo. Today it's the National Stadium, where groups like Black Pink, top K-Pop groups from South Korea come bob bob bopping along.
And over at the Cathay, a short distance away, Frank Sinatra, one of the best US 60s crooners, was there. He was truly my favourite and I managed to catch him in his room at the Cathay Hotel above the cinema and got his autograph too after school. I was studying nearby at St. Joseph's Institution.
Crossing to the East side of Singapore, at Guillemard Road. It was concerts galore when Cliff Richard and the original Shadows came. This group included Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Tony Meehan and Jet Harris.
There was Pat Boone and Debbie Boone. It was a wonderment with tickets costing Fifty Cents to One Dollar for hard step-like concrete seats at the Badminton Hall and at the Happy World Stadium.
Yes, yes!
"Those were the days my friend,
We thought it'd never end..."
But it did. Now in Singapore concerts cost so much more. A coming one will cost pop music enthusiasts more than a thousand dollars per ticket!
The best deal I experienced was a three-in-one concert for one dollar at the Badminton Hall where I witnessed the Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann and The Kinks. Now that was a record breaker indeed [pun intended].
And I managed to get all their autographs!
Many stars do a transit stop in Singapore here before heading Down Under in Kangaroo county, Australia. These pop stars included: Helen Shapiro, Millie Small, Blue Diamonds, Anneke Gronloh, The 3 Degrees, Stylistics, Manhattan Transfer, Herman’s Hermit and Gilbert O'Sullivan.
Written by: JK Lim.
