Jimmy Fong: Penang Boy In Australia: By Majorie Chiew

Majorie Chiew is a good friend and a journalist from Malaysia.  She recently wrote about a singer whose songs I enjoyed listening to on YouTube. He is Jimmy Fong who is now a resident of Melbourne, Australia. He was from Penang. Below is Majorie's article. I thank her for it.

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When Penang-born Jimmy Fong Chin Chew first heard Country Roads by the late John Denver on the radio in 1969, he listened attentively.  Then a young boy, Fong did not speak English; Chinese was his mother tongue. Gradually, his English improved when he was in high school.

“Although I didn’t understand a lot of the lyrics then, I learnt the tune first and lyrics later,” said Fong, now in his 50s.

Currently, Fong is a singer, songwriter and performer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is back in Malaysia to perform two shows, on June 2 and 9, in Penang and Kuala Lumpur respectively.

In 1994 Fong met his idol, the American singer-songwriter Denver when he toured Malaysia on the invitation of the then Sultan of Kedah, who was also a big fan. Denver performed Country Roads and requested a local artist (Fong) to perform with him.  (Denver passed away on Oct 12, 1997, in an aeroplane crash. He was 54.)

Fong has released four albums – Just When You Thought (2013), My Time With John Denver (2015), Down Memory Lane (live album) and Dancing Fireflies. The last two were released this month.

Some of his popular original songs include Balancing Act, Build That Bridge, Jonker Street, Helang Langkawi and Just When You Thought, which was a debut album), which are his personal favourites too. His latest song Memories Of Penang (April 2018) can be found in his latest album

In 2011, Fong was one of the top 10 finalists, out of 3,500 entries, in a national songwriting competition aired live on Malaysian television, TV2. In 2013, Fong got together with some fellow musicians in Melbourne to produce his own musical show, My Time With John Denver. 

Then in October 2015, Fong was invited to perform in Aspen, Colorado, for the John Denver annual festival. Later that month, he performed in New Mexico (Denver’s birthplace), the United States, in a fundraising concert.

Jimmy Fong with the late John Denver, when they performed privately for the Sultan of Kedah in 1994.

Fong was invited back to perform again at the annual John Denver Festival in October 2017 and he was given the Soaring Eagle Award by the Rocky Mountain Foundation For The Performing Arts for his outstanding musical talents and accomplishments.

Fong studied in Penang’s Union Institution (primary school) and Chung Ling High School. At age five, he started playing the harmonica and, at nine, he taught himself to play the acoustic guitar.

Fong likes listening to all types of music. “I even gave death metal a go but I hated it. I play many types of guitar,” said Fong, who owns 17 guitars.

In the mid-70s, after Form Five, Fong became a full-time musician and performed in pubs, clubs and hotels in Penang. It was after one of his gigs in Penang that he met the love of his life, Julie Wear, whom he married in 1981.

Fong has a three-piece band and a home recording studio in Melbourne. In February, he formed another band, Jimmy Fong & The Baby Boomers, in Penang. Fong plans to develop his show Down Memory Lane and turn it into a platform to raise money for charity.


Last year, he raised RM20,000 in two Down Memory Lane shows in Penang, Malaysia.

Written by Majorie Chiew (above).

Majorie hosted me when I was in KL, Malaysia a few years ago. Till today I have not returned her hospitality. Anytime you're in Singapore...
Thanks, Majorie.

Published by Star2.com:

https://www.star2.com/people/2018/05/29/memory-lane-penang-boy-jimmy-fong/#4Pgl17DqULbToo6Q.99

A Letter To All My Friends, Contributors, Readers

Why This Blog:

My profile page explains it all. 

"This blog is written to (a) relive my missing music years, (b) keep interested seniors posted about our local music scene, (c) encourage music stories from them and (d) keep our younger generation, especially my *3J's, aware of our pop music heritage. 

Although I have lived the age and participated in the music I am neither a music guru nor historian. No showing off past glories."

Today is November 22nd and this blog will be into its eighth year. My eldest grandson First Jay is nine and I remember he was two years young when I first thought about writing a blog. And it all started at Vivo City.

That was when I went on stage to offer a non-professional voice backing to the Silver Strings on 8th November 2008 and First Jay was there with my folks. Although he was still so young, I felt he was enthralled by the event, definitely by the loud guitar noise.

Friends And Readers Who Assisted With Blog:

Here is my list of friends who started me off with the blog:

1. Roger Poh
2. Victor Koo
3. Friends of Yesteryear (FOYERS) Group, Singapore
4. Larry Lai

Very kind blog readers contributed their stories to help boost its authenticity. The list includes writers, photographers and their country of residence:

1.   Allan Thompson: Norfolk England UK

2.   Barry Walker: England UK

3.   John Harper: York England UK
4.   Dino Martin Peters: USA

5.   Happy Tay: Vancouver BC Canada

6.   Matt Tan: Montreal Quebec Canada   

7.   Byrt Mallanyk: Sydney Australia

8.   Mag Jnne: Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

9.   Peter Chan: Singapore

10. CYLin: Singapore

11. Mun Chor Seng: Singapore

12. John Cher: Singapore. 
13. Michael Bangar 
14. Stephen Han
15. Horace Wee
16. Henri Gann
17. SPYeo
18. Dr Steven Farram 
19. Winston Koh
20. Richard Seah 
21. Charlie Yap  
22. Joe Woon 
And many more...

Regular Commentators from Singapore include:

1.   FL 
2.   Ronnie See 
3.   Rickie Chng
4.   Audie Ng
5.   Jerry Fernandez
6.   Merlin Lim 
7.   Dato Dr YS Lee: Penang  Malaysia.
8.   Jimmy Chng
9.   Randy Lee
10. Erwin Maisch
11. James Seah
12. Dino Martin Peters: USA
13. BC Teoh: KL Malaysia
14. Dr Steven Farram: Charles Darwin University, Darwin Australia.

Translators for Mandarin:
1. Lim Kuan Min 
2. SPYeo.

Observations on Pop Yeh Yeh and Malay cultural matters:
1. Yusnor Ef.

Media for introducing the blog:
1. Majorie Chiew: STAR newspaper Malaysia
2. Brigitte Rozario: 3age Malaysia Website
3. Christopher Toh: TODAY newspaper
4. Singapore Chinese newspapers

Media Corp Singapore for telecast documentaries about blog and local pops:
1. Channel News Asia
2. Channel 5
3. Octo Channel

There are many regular contributors, so excuse me if I have not included your name. It is a long list and more will be added as the days go by. Apologies.

Helping Tertiary Students And Lost Friends:

Glad this blog has kept its pace and, most importantly, helped students at tertiary level who need to write papers about our 1960's music heritage for their media studies. Still meeting them at a Mall for interviews.

This blog has also got long lost band members and friends together. Some of them have either migrated to far off lands or had never been in touch since their last band practice :-) Glad this blog has put some folks together again.

With other books, blogs available in the market and websites, our youth have easier access to information about Singapore's Golden Years of Music and its western influence.

Thank you all for support.

Yours Sincerely,

Andy.

*3 grandchildren.

Images: Google.

Majorie Chiew STAR News Writes From Malaysia

Majorie Chiew (below right) from Star Newspaper in Malaysia contacted me for an email interview regarding this blog. She's in charge of the column on seniors. I agreed since good friend Roger, who recommended me, had an article written for this newspaper.

Here is the partial write-up. To read the full interview please click the connection at the end of this posting. It was published on the 21st of August, 2013. Thank you Majorie and Star News for helping to spread my stories:

A fresh take on golden oldies

One need not take an energy drink to gyrate one's hips like Elvis Presley. The mind is an incredible playground. Take it from John Lennon: Imagine!  In jest, Andy Lim, an Elvis fan, gave Elvis’ song, All Shook Up, recorded in 1957, a new interpretation.

As a youth, he would have interpreted the lyrics differently. Now, as a senior, he thought it would be fun to give the lyrics new meaning. For him, watching “the King” on YouTube these days can elicit “a different feel to the lyrics!”

“We love the way he (Elvis) interprets his rock ’n’ roll songs. His natural rhythm and the way he bounces them make us eager beavers to listen to him repeatedly.” writes Lim, a Singaporean, in his blog.

Article Page from STAR newspapers.

Fun-filled years
Lim grew up in an environment rich with music. His music preference was influenced by various sources.  “They came from the radio at home and the vinyl records I bought. There were also home sing-a-longs with my neighbours,” says Lim in an e-mail interview.

Well, he could hum, sing and store songs in his head, so to speak. He took delight in songs heard at Chinese wayang, Malay bangsawan or those frequently played by the British military bands. “I guess the melodies, rhythms and lyrics were simple and related to that era,” he says.

Lim’s blog is so engaging and interesting, even for someone (like yours truly) who is not into music. These days, Lim “jams and goes for rehearsals before a performance”. Karaoke is not for him – “it’s too stiff and controlled for my liking”.

Music connection
“Blogging is a way to keep my motor running. It also allows me to read and write about the local music scene of yesteryear,” he says. He used to post short items a few times a week but nowadays, he blogs weekly but writes longer pieces. Other than the music scene, he also recaptures the night-clubbing and food scene of those days. Whatever Lim blogs about has, “a music connection”. 

He says, "I have guest bloggers from Britain and Australia (surfers I met on my blog) who write about their past experiences in Singapore, for example, the Royal Air Force (RAF).  I also have readers who contribute concert programmes from 60s Singapore and many, many personal photographs. They are very kind and generous people..." Blogging has enabled him to meet old and new friends who are pop music lovers.

“I also help youths who are interested in local music from the past,” says Lim, who deems that “writing about our own heritage (pop music scene) is important for our future generation. Without the past, there is no present.”

The full interview:


http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2013/08/21/Fresh-take-on-golden-oldies.aspx

Images from STAR Newspaper, Malaysia.