Fabian's Music Milestones In Rock n Roll Singapore

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Fabian Foo supports this blog for its cause and has commented on the postings about our local music in the 1960's. He is also an avid photographer and a movie-maker having recorded many videos on You Tube showing performances by our local 60's music boys and girls.

When I asked him if he could write an article about his experiences as a young man enjoying his rock and roll years, he responded immediately and positively.  As he starts the engine of his vintage beauty, let's ride with him and enjoy his music milestones.

Thank you very much Fabian for this nostalgic piece.


Dear Andy,

Music lover of the 60's

From my young days of a 10 year old, I have been listening to music when my paternal uncle would play his singles vinyls both in English and Chinese. I remember that he liked Rita Chao and Sakura songs both in Chinese and English. As a young teenager at 14, my parents subscribed to Rediffusion and I started to listen to programmes like Top Tunes of The Week, To Each His Own etc. 

Mike Ellery, Larry Lai, Joseph Goh and many others were answering requests on radio and Rediffusion throughout the weekend. On some occasions I also made requests on radio sending greetings to friends and classmates. Also I participated in some programmes sponsored by Hacks and Hudson sweets guessing the top 5 songs of the week ( in the order of merit) and managed to win token sums on some occasions.

However in the year before PSLE examination, there is a red mark in one of my result slips, my parents immediately took away the Rediffusion subscription. I brushed up and assured my parents that I would get into and be within the top 5 students in the class. My efforts paid off and in the next semester I was honoured to be in the top position in class. It was a great Rock n Roll feeling in those early years of 1962 to 1965 when we had the Beatlemania craze, Rolling Stones, Herman Hermits, Yardbirds, Peter & Gordon, Lulu, Petula Clarke, Cilla Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and many others. 

Those years in secondary education (1966 to 1968 ) were also exciting for me. I remember that a group of us ( cheeky boys ) will sit on the last row in class. We had pocket size transistor radios and when the subjects were not interesting, we listened to music and songs on the quiet. Also a few of us saved our pocket money (skip recess) and hit for Kwang Sia Record in Hill Street to buy our singles and EP. 

Those were the good old days when we saved and built up our vinyl record library and kept ourselves occupied by cleaning them every few months. The biggest regret is that the whole set of LPs ,EP's and singles were thrown away when we started our journey into married life and there is no space in our new home to store away those precious vinyls. What a pity as they are now worth every ounce. 

During the late 80's my passion for music continued and visiting Tower Records ( Pacific Plaza ) and other record shops had been a good pastime. I began to buy and keep some compact discs of the 60's music. The good time I had is knowing so many of the 60's musicians in the late 80's. We were then active members of the Lions Club movement and the club had some of the best 60's music makers in the local scene. Names like Veronica Young, Henry Chua, James Choa, Tony Kwek, Lawrence Lee, John Cher, Victor Lam and others. 


After each monthly meeting on Friday evening, the group of musicians would start to jam and we all enjoyed our fellowship and fun. The club did a great show for charity in September 1989 known as “Thanks for the Memories” and all the local bands performed to a full capacity audience at then The Neptune Theatre. We contributed our time and effort to help the needy but same time we enjoyed good music and long lasting friendship. That is the power and influence of music …

Fabian Foo 
Copyrights Reserved

               The Silver Strings Perform: Video by Fabian Foo December 2014

            Fabian Foo Videos on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jffoo289

These items below that were mentioned by Fabian Foo are still around and we can find them if we look hard enough but they are hardly used today. The mint sweet was popular with school children then.

If you have a story to tell about your experiences in the past please write in and it will be published.

Images: A Personal Collection; Google.

Mike Ellery: Passionate Promoter of Singapore Pop

Mike Ellery With Millie Small (My Boy Lollipop)

Mike Ellery passed away on 3rd February 2015.

About MIKE ELLERY, from VERNON CORNELIUS:

 It is with great heartfelt, and mournful grief, as I write this...

Mike Ellery was the greatest broadcaster Singapore has ever known.  There was, and still is no one who has such great instantaneous abilities - suddenly picking up records and presenting a most interesting 60 minutes show! He was a great add-libber.

He knew his music - always up to date with the latest hits, well-tuned and informed with classic standards, Jazz, Broadway, Operas, Classical   Music and more!

Here was an 'Ang Moh' who was very aggressive and very passionate promoting local music.  He very much loved The Quests and maybe that's why I was hired as a Deejay without even an audition, and he'd hope in March 1969, that I could be styled as the first local personality DJ.  Like those of Capitol Radio, London.

 To me he was a very difficult taskmaster, always demanding of me, and hard to please!  The kicks he gave me were worth it, as it made me the perfectionist I still try to be today.

Lucky the many DJs who went through the "Mike Ellery School of Broadcasting"  They were and are great and different.

Mike Ellery was also instrumental with impressario Donald Moore to bring scores of international pop acts like " The Yardbirds", "Walker Brothers", " Dave Clarke Five" and "Herman's Hermits" to name a few. In addition, some of the biggest names in Classical Music and Ballet World.

 Long after he was my boss I still call him "Mr. Ellery" because he was my teacher and I had great respect for him.

I last spoke to him on the phone a month ago; he was by this time on a wheelchair after a stroke, but he was cheerful as ever, business as usual. To him the 'Show Goes On'.

 Mike Ellery - Pop Pioneer, Founding Father and Giant of Local Broadcasting, Passionate Promoter of Singapore Pop.

Copyrighted: Acknowledge Writer and Blog Owner.

Thanks Vernon for a very sincere, moving and informative piece about Mike Ellery.

Regards,
 ANDY.

Rita Chao And Mike Ellery Have Both Passed Away!

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RITA CHAO PASSED AWAY IN JULY 2014.

ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE SINGAPORE 60s MUSIC WORLD MS CHAO LEFT A LEGACY THAT WILL BE REMEMBERED BY ALL WHO KNEW HER AND LOVED HER, BOTH AS A SINGER AND AN ENTERTAINER.

MAY SHE REST IN PEACE

When I posted the above news item a few readers wrote in to comment about Ms Chao. Writing to a few friends who had worked with her on stage, I received three replies, one each from Ronnie See of Ronnie and the Burns; Victor Koo, a blogger; Larry Lai, 60s DJ from Rediffusion and Danny Koh, pianist and leader of Danny and The Musicators.

From Ronnie See:

Rita Chao was popular during the 60s; she was singing a duet with Sakura Teng during the Musical Express Sunday Morning Show at the then Capitol Theatre. The duo was better known as the a-go-go singers. Rita has a sweeter voice than her partner Sakura.

Both of them are pretty good but Rita has a slight edge over Sakura because she sings both in English and Mandarin. During that time Henry, Soon Yin the Managing Director of local EMI was promoting them.

I was singing with The Stylers then and backed the girls and the late Soo Yin too during the morning show. Tan Swee Leong was the emcee. Rita's manager was none other than her elder sister Mimi Chao. I am not sure if Rita had emigrated but Sakura lives in WC, USA.

                                               The Stylers
From Larry Lai:

I remember Rita Chao as a sweetly innocent girl, but painfully shy and reticent. In all the times we worked together with Sakura, I hardly had more than a few polite words with her.  Her sister Mimi, who was her manager, was the one I negotiated with...  I wish her well.

From Danny Koh:

I did two records with Rita Chao but was not close to her at all. Tony Zee, the Trailers' drummer, had worked with her during recordings too. It has been a long time.

Rita Chao with the Chinese [Mandarin] version of  WOOLY BULLY. Thanks to YouTUBE and video enthusiast, 'stereocandies.' 

From Mr Rainbow

Rita Chao, aka Seow Mei-Mei, the A-Go-Go Queen of the 60's. Recorded her first EP with The Quests that included one of her greatest hits during that period, Shake, Shake, Shake or Yeow, Yeow, Yeow in Mandarin. 

Like Sakura, she sang in Mandarin, English and Japanese. Most of her recordings were accompanied by The Quests. Sixteen Candles was one of her most popular English songs.

From Victor Koo:

I remember being mesmerised by the young pretty faces, the sweet singing and the suave dance moves of the a-go-go duo Rita Chao and Sakura Teng when I was a kid in the 1960s. 

I was staying in a cramped 4-storey SIT flat in Cheng Yan Place with my parents and 4 growing siblings. Lying down on a bed, I watched their performances from a close distance via our very first black-and-white TV set mounted on the wall next to the bed, much like in the hospitals nowadays. I believe this could be a contributing factor to my developing high myopia from a very young age. 

*As for Mike Ellery, I remember him as a DJ. His voice came through the Rediffusion service which we also subscribed to at $5 per month in those days. 

Fortunately, there was a limit to how loud the Rediffusion set could be turned on. Hence my hearing was not badly affected by Mike Ellery's music. May Rita and Mike rest in peace.

From Kwee Eng YouTube (2016):

Further to my comments on the 2-2-15 on Rita Chao, I thought Rita's fans might like to know more  about Rita. Rita was a Singaporean, the youngest of six children. She had 3 brothers and 2 sisters and mother, aged 91, alive and well. Rita's family kept the sad news at low key.

They only disclosed the sad news when Rita's old pal, duet singer and Singapore TV show partner, Sakura came to Singapore in February 2015 and wanted to visit Rita.

Only then, Sakura learnt that Rita had passed away and so were the Singaporeans!. Rita's ashes were scattered into the sea. The above info was from one of Singapore's newspaper when I was in Singapore.

Image/Video from Google and YouTube.

MIKE ELLERY AT REDIFFUSION STUDIOS IN THE 60s SINGAPORE.

*SLIP-NOTE:

NOT SOMETHING I LIKE TO DO, ANNOUNCING THESE NEWS PIECES, BUT MIKE ELLERY HAS JUST PASSED AWAY ON 3rd FEBRUARY, 2015. 

TRAGEDIES ABOUND AS FATHER TIME COMES AROUND!