Can you guess who the pop stars on the left are before you read this article?
When eight international pop stars agreed to perform here in the late 1970s nobody wanted to sponsor them. According to a newspaper report these event companies in Singapore were not familiar with the western pop music world and refused to bring them in.
Apparently none of the show promoters knew who these stars were when the list was provided as a reference. It is surprising because the singers and groups were the biggest names in show-biz and included: Elvis Costello, Linda Rondstadt, Manhatten Transfer, David Gates, Bread and imagine, even Eagles and Rod Stewart. Still don't know who's who, or do you?These stars had concerts around the region in 1978 and were scheduled to appear in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan but some nightclubs and local promoters remarked that they had never heard of these most sought-after artistes. Others on the list were Shaun Cassidy, Bette Midler, country and western singers England Dan and John Fort Coley.
But some event companies denied the allegation explaining that they would not engage these stars because of problems with the local authorities.According to them some of these artistes would be denied entry because of their hair length, considering past instances when top-notch super groups like the Bee Gees, Middle of the Road and Led Zeppelin were asked to leave immediately unless they had their manes cropped at Paya Lebar Airport itself.
Countering this argument a spokesman from a record company mentioned that groups like Manhatten Transfer were clean-cut, neat and wore the best suits in town.
Furthermore most of the artistes mentioned had record releases in Singapore and would charge less than S$20,000 for a show that included back-up singers, a full band and sound-system. It was business sense to engage them. (Today it would probably cost half a million Sing dollars!)
Whatever the reason we will never know. Perhaps these show promoters were familiar only with our local stars and those from Malaysia and Hong Kong? Anyone with an answer?
Images: providec by Google except the picture on the right which is from a private collection.
Information: from The Straits Times, Singapore.
If you still don't know, here are the answers: Manhatten Transfer (Pic 1), David Gates, Bread (Pic 2), Rod Stewart (Pic 3), Eagles (Pic 4) Linda Rondstadt (Pic 5), Heather and Thunderbirds (Pic 6).
If you enjoyed reading this article click to this one: http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2009/03/blog-post_24.html
