When Andy 60s Music Goes Roaming In Singapore Meeting Friends.

It's March 2025 and there's been delays in posting 

photographs on this blog. Here are a few taken 

near the end months of 2024.

No showing off; just camaraderie!

"Old friends, old friends

Sat on their park bench like bookends

A newspaper blown through the grass

Falls on the round toes

Of the high shoes of the old friends..."

[Simon n Garfunkel]

The guitar champ.

With Ivor Lesslar, lead guitarist, black cap. 

We were @ Novena Square. August 2024.

The Pop Pianist n Singing Wife.

With Mr. Sammin Ang and his wife Esther, two very accomplished musicians. 

Of course there's Mr. Everywhere Jimmy Yap in the flowered shirt.

It's at a Singapore HDB coffee shop neighbourhood.

September 2024

The Elvis of Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Tall Happy Tay, the Vancouver Elvis and James Kwok 

after a coffee session at Clementi Mall in 

Singapore when Happy visited our island.

August 2024

I saw this sign in another country. Can't remember where. 

Could be Thailand or Japan. Not a bad idea but I don't drink.

Singapore Recording artiste Tony Goh

With the very talented recording artiste Tony Goh who owns 

a huge recording studio himself near the business district 

around Shenton Way. Tony was from the pop 70s group, 

TONY, TERRY and SPENCER. The vinyl costs some today.

Jean Granger/France and the Late Alfred Wong

With Jean [John] Granger from France and the late 

Alfred Wong who passed away in late 2024. We

were at a music pub in the Novena area. Alfred used

to provide free jam sessions at his apartment 

with coffee, milk and a huge spread.

'Old Friends': Simon and Garfunkel

YouTube Video by: kylecrazyford.

Which song are these lines from? 

Have a guess.

Mr Tan's Mystery Singer n Dancer

Tan Soo Khoon's [left] garden party guests in February, 2025.

One lady was a well-known singer, the other a dancer.

Know them?

Another verse of lyrics from a well-known song. 

Can you guess the title? Roaming in the desert?

"Riwayat mu-ini..."

We met by the Bengawan Solo River near

Serangoon Gardens in February, 2025.

                With Jimmy Yap, Larry Lai, Andy, Trevor Nerva and Terry Nair.

When Ricky n Rickie Meet

Fun jamming at Ricky Wong's [far right] home with friends 

that included Ricky Chng [checked shirt] and others. Meals were provided. 

Comments are always welcome.

And Alphonso Soosay 

sums it up on 3.3.25:

"Buddy Andy Young. Missing our 60’s days and catching up with our Ole friends fills our hearts with bittersweet nostalgia as our memories linger on as You have always shared with keeping closeness even though we are a distance away. Cheers."

Images: A Private Collection. Copyrights Reserved.

Singapore Musician Ivor Lesslar Compared To Scotty Moore & James Burton

UP TO 400 VIEWS

I thought it important that our Singapore artistes be highlighted on this blog, so when accolades poured in after Ivor's performance I thought it best to post these comments.

REFERENCE: 

Hilary Francis Concert Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, 20th May, 2022.

SUBJECT: 

IVOR LESSLAR, SINGAPOREAN GUITARIST - A GIANT!

[1] ANONYMOUS:

I saw Hilary Francis and the SINGAPEACE band yesterday at the esplanade. Never seen any of the band before. I was blown away by Ivor's tone... Brilliant tone that clearly was down from fingers and not pedals. Economical but swinging guitar lines that clearly had drunk from the well of *SCOTTY MOORE.

I had to look him up and search for him... thank you for this background.

[2] UNKNOWN:

Thanks Mr Bangar for the write up of Mr Lasslar. I came to music very late but glad to know that he was from Cell Unlimited Unlimited. Mr Lasslar a very humble man, but when he is on the guitar, he becomes a giant, yes, truly professional, made me feel very comfortable when singing with him playing lead, hope to meet you again Mr Lasslar, cheers n God bless 🙏👏👏

ANDY:

Thank you both for writing to make your comments. I have already sent your mail to them. Also the comments are on Facebook under SG pianist, Mr Jalani Mohd's postings.

I try to promote our local musicians and music. The world will listen if we make our voices heard. So sing louder in a more melodious voice. And like IVOR LESSLAR, play like the great masters. But he's original too.

Cheers to Ivor and Michael.

Then the third letter came...

[3] JIMMY PRESLEE:

Thank you Mr. Michael Bangar for your true to life persona of Mr. Ivor Lesslar and thank you for the details of his younger days and I didn't know he was a member of the popular CELLS UNLIMITED. He is humble and lets his 'fingers do the talking'. You too Mr. Bangar share the humble and friendly character.

Yes, Mr. Lesslar reminds me of *JAMES BURTON backing Elvis and Ricky Nelson. I have the honour and pleasure to jam and share with Mr. Lesslar on stage twice.

Thoroughly enjoyed them. All the best to you both Mr. Lesslar and Mr. Bangar.

Cheers and God Bless.

And a fourth...

[4] FRED CHING (Facebook):

I can’t describe how lucky I feel because I have had the opportunity of a lifetime: seeing and hearing James Burton and Ivor Lesslar perform in Singapore. Incidentally Burton was here with all the original band members and singers to perform “Elvis The Concert” at the Indoor Stadium and Ivor, when he performed with The Quest Band at Queenstown Community Centre Auditorium during My Queenstown Festival. I had goosebumps pretty much during the whole show and Ivor makes anything look sexy with that hot red guitar. Here’s the homegrown band that once knocked The Beatles off the charts👍❤️🥰…

More about Ivor: 

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2020/09/ivor-lesslar-tall-dark-handsome-sg.html

NB:

It's good to know that at least now our local audiences and music fans have a platform to comment. We never had one...

 

*Scotty Moore and James Burton:

They were both powerhouses with the guitar, the former was with Elvis Presley most of the way during the King's career and performances. 

James Burton too, like Moore was one of the leading pop guitarists those years, backing Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash and even Frank Sinatra.

Here's an article on Scotty Moore written by Henri Gann from California.

Click below:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2016/08/scotty-moore-influenced-me-henri-gann.html

Both guitarists: one a lead, the other the rhythmist: 

Ivor is on the left, Michael on the right.

Images: belong to Ivor Lesslar's and Michael Bangar's Collection.

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.

Guitarist Donald Thaver Of 'The Moonglows'

Donald Thaver from The Moonglows

 UP TO 2,400 VIEWS 

     20 COMMENTS     

Mr Donald Thaver has passed away this on 17th of October, 2016, according to John Cher.  May Mr Thaver Rest In Peace.

The golden era of Singapore's music history has to be the 60's.  It was a vibrant and exciting scene even though in the same period, Singapore was struggling to survive economically and as a nation.

Many bands were conceived and born in the 60's.  Some should have been aborted in the first place.  But there were some good notable ones, such as The Quests, The Thunderbirds, The Silver Strings, The Checkmates, The Dukes, The Hi-Lites (later to become The Mandarins) and others.  

Among these well accepted and good bands was *Sonny Bala and The Moonglows (Donald Thaver centre back).  Sonny, was respected for his rendition of numbers by The Platters as well as other pop genres. The band were recording artistes as well and did a number of vinyl, with reasonable success under the Philips Records international label (Universal Music today). 

One of the guitarists for the band was a young, tall, slim gentleman by the name of Donald Thaver.  He played both the lead, the rhythm guitar and would sing when the need arose.

After The Moonglows, Donald formed his own band.  It was an interesting, attention grabbing name, 4 Plus 1. Donald's forte was Country Music as well as Standards.  

Such music at that time were well liked and indeed sought after by the expatriate communities, hungry for such music, probably to remind them of home.  A good place to showcase such music would naturally be the Orchard Road area where most of the expatriates lived.  Shaw House was one venue where the band played at. They did their tour of the Japanese Clubs circuit as well.   

After  4 plus 1,  Donald joined a country outfit known as The Outlaws. Very aptly named as they were performing in a club known as the Boots n Saddle Club, located at Sembawang Road, opposite the present Sembawang Shopping Centre.  Charlie Anchant was on the vocals, Ricky Tan (Bass), Syed Murati (Drums), Ivor Lesslar (Lead) and Donald Thaver (2nd guitar).

Donald Thaver flanked by Jerry Murad (left) 

and Gina Vadham. Ivor Lesslar with hat.

Towards the later years, Donald played with various bands.  Two outstanding ones were The Neu Notes as well as Transit. In 2015, Transit did four concerts at both The Recital Studio and the outdoor theatre of The Esplanade.  

When asked why the group was called Transit, band member Jerry Murad explained, with much laughter from the audience, that the band was of a certain age and were certainly in transit to somewhere else.

*Read about Sonny Bala here: 

http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2010/11/sonny-bala-well-respected-musician.html

Article written by John Cher. All rights reserved.

Images: Ivor Lesslar.
You Tube Video: cjyeo.

                                       Transit @ the Esplanade                                                   

NB
John and I had been thinking of writing shorter articles about our band boys and girls who are still active in today's music scene. This article is a start.  He made the arrangement to meet Ivor Lesslar (lead guitar with Cells Unlimited) and a close friend of Donald Thaver.  Just some coffee and a friendly chat, John got this latest story.  Again thanks to both for their willingness to help with information on this blog.

                                   Ivor Lesslar, John Cher, Andy 

                            Donald Thaver sings Things @ Esplanade.

Performance by Transit @ The Esplanade. 60's Band Members from: Adapters, Cells Unlimited, Dukes, Moonglows, Wagon Wheels.

Ronnie Ong: Black Hills Of Dakota, 10,000 Miles, Vinyl Recording Sessions

Handsome and a hit with the ladies, he used to play with a band (picture below) in the 60s and 70s. Ronnie Ong also recorded Buttons And Bows, together with 10,000 Miles on Side One and on Side Two: The Black Hill Of Dakota and Dear Heart And Gentle People.

Recorded in Singapore: TNA TEP 213 EP. (image), the selection is 1950s cowboy songs.

Do you remember Ronnie Ong? He was known as Singapore's Trini Lopez. Is that him far left in the picture? Would you like to tell us about him? Do share with us your memories as Ronnie Ong was popular in the 60s too. He is also a crooner and sings jazz standards. Where is Ronnie Ong now?

Updated on 2nd February, 2025

Photo from left to right: 

Arthur Phua, Ronnie Ong, Albert Ventura, Yusof and Alphonso Soosay. Known as The Top Cats, they performed in the early 70s at The Pink Pussycat, located at Prince Hotel Garni at Orchard Road.

Horace Wee and Vinyl Recordings:

Famed legendary guitarist Horace Wee was in action during the recording. It was the first time a new guitar effect was used locally. There have been some discussions so comments are always welcome but keep them positive please. According to Mr Wee income was good then and he had gone through many such sessions but unable to remember specific ones. 

Horace Wee

Author

Alphonso Soosay and Pink Pussy Cat:

I remember Ronnie Ong was popularly known as the Trini Lopez of Singapore then. He was our lead Singer with “Top Cats” and also very popular with the ladies.

The Pink Pussycat Nightclub was formerly known as Prince’s Garni Hotel on Orchard Road, it began rebranding itself as a “Popular Music Club” with two resident bands nightly to draw the crowd and it was packed almost every night.

Ronnie’s nightly popular by request songs were: La Bamba, Lemon Tree, I Am Coming Home Cindy, If I Had A Hammer, Jeanie Marie, Sally Was A Good Ole Girl and many other popular hit songs of the charts then.

Alphonso Soosay

Author.

Some pieces of information were provided by Horace Wee, Jerry Fernandez, Alphonso Soosay, Michael Bangar and Ivor Lesslar. Thank you gentlemen. Appreciate corrections, if any.

Images: Google. 

Horace Wee (c).

Alphonso Soosay (c).