Monday, January 10, 2011
Image seated: Andy Lim (The Silver Strings), Riem de Wolff (The Blue Diamonds), Larry Lai (Rediffusion Broadcaster). Standing: Jap Chong, Vernon Cornelius (The Quests).
Vintage Brothers:
Shoppers screamed, Seniors extended their arms for a handshake when pop group The Vintage Brothers appeared for lunch, at one of the shopping malls in Singapore.
Questing For Diamonds:
Fans with CDs in hand jostled their way to the front of the queue and everyone wanted to have a picture (Image 2) taken with Jap Chong and Vernon Cornelius (The Quests), Riem de Wolff (The Blue Diamonds) and Larry Lai (Rediffusion Broadcaster). One fan even brought his Blue Diamonds vinyls for Riem's autograph.
Dream On:
So for those surfers in Singapore who missed the, "Dream On, You 60s Celebrities" gig, here's a picture for keep sake. By the way it's 2011 now, not 1965 but they had gigs in Singapore recently.
Riem De Wolff:
Seriously though, the du-wop duo from Holland, The Blue Diamonds' chart topper Ramona is still selling internationally and Riem is up to his neck in diamonds. Twenty-five million copies sold and counting... Riem has a successful solo career now but sings with his son too. Listen to Riem, with steel and slide guitarist Sarah Jory, on the sensitive duet-written, How I Love You in his 2005 Back On Track album (Image 1 ). He had appeared in some concerts in December 2010.
Vernon Cornelius:
Vernon (Quests) is busy with his gigs and has recently appeared with Reim as a duet, singing Blue Diamonds melodies of yesteryears. Vernon is much into archival activities and has a large collection of past goodies, much from Singapore. Vernon fronted the Quests from the 60s -70s and recorded with EMI.
Jap Chong:
Jap (Quests) is taking it easy and still plays when there are reQuests for him to appear. This gentleman looks very young for his age. He's used to the rhythm of local pop stardom. Jap Chong played rhythm guitar with the Quests from the 60s - 70s and recorded with EMI.
Larry Lai:
Larry co-ordinates the masses and is still the maestro, using his baton more as a magic-wand to make celebrities appear and disappear. The usual, "I-know-that-voice" phenomena still persists when he's around. Strangers pass him by and call his name when they hear him talking.
Larry was the most popular DJ and one of the top broadcasters in Singapore from the 60s - 90s at cable Rediffusion and the Singapore Broadcasting Company. He has since retired. There are about 9 postings about this gentleman on the blog (click Larry Lai below).
Image 1: http://www.bluediamonds.nl/
Image 2: Andy Lim Collection.
