Participants & Supporters Of Local 60s Music

Friday, November 20, 2009

From Left: Jerry Fernandez is vocalist of the Neu Faces and has an events company, Veronica Young is Singapore's Millie Small, Ronnie See is leader, vocalist and rhythm guitarist from The Burns, Audie Ng is leader and bassist of The Silver Strings.

Back Row: Paul and Maria are back-up singers, Andy is a bystander, Victor Lam is percussionist with The Burns and Ging plays lead guitar.
Image: From Veronica Young Collection/Venue: Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore, 2009.

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(E) From Mysterian To New Burns 60s Music

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Mysterians Today:
The various members of the group carried on with their individual careers when the band finally broke up in the late 70s. Most members felt that it was the right decision not to become professional musicians.

Mike passed away a few years ago. He was the only one who stayed in the music scene and even went on to become the manager of one of Malaysia's most popular singers.

A few members were together again and formed a group with another popular 60s band. They played at a place in Changi from 1984 to 1988. Presently, tracing one Mysterian, Victor Lam (drums/image) has joined Ronnie See (vocals, rhythm) and formed the New Burns with George Chew (lead) and Simon Tay (bass).

*It has recently been discovered that a Mandarin version of Forget The Time is available and sung by a lady called Honey.

Image/Original article: Andy Lim Collection.

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(D) Jamaican Jive, Combo Band, Not Belafonte

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Mysterians only single on Cosdel with My Girl Les and *Forget The Time sold quite well even though there was not much airplay on Radio Singapore or Rediffusion. Even today people still remember Forget The Time. Singer Mike left the band after the record was released.

There were two more releases afterwards, a single, You've Got To Move On and Searching, and an EP, Forever, They Lied, Is Everything Alright and Down In The Valley. But this time around the band had Leroy Lindsay (image) from the U.K. fronting them. And Searching had shades of Jamaican jive and combo backing. I love the exceptional presence of the harmonica (mouth-organ) in Is Everything Alright?

There were also changes in the band line-up when Michael Gan and Charles Koh replaced Mike and Jeffrey Tan. From 1970 to 1979, James Choa (check previous postings) from The Flamingos Combo and Gaylads vocal group, joined the Mysterians. James Choa is one of the best keyboardist in Singapore.

With new members came a new policy and although they retained the group name, they identified themselves during their performances. They had nothing to hide. The third record (image) shows the very distinguished studious looking gentlemen with their glasses.

Image: from EBay. Original article: Andy Lim

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Cliff Richard Please Don't Tease Ronnie & Burns

Friday, July 31, 2009

Ronnie & The New Burns appeared on the Orchid CC stage, neat, stylish and resplendent. Singing and strumming the top hits of the 60s Ronnie (leader, vocalist, rhythm), accompanied by Victor (drums), George (lead) and Simon (bass), entertained the audience.

He went on through the evening, with his faultless singing and perfect rhythm. On the first night of the show, Jerry Fernandez' introduced that "Ronnie was once with The Stylers" (popular 60s guitar group).

With a wide repertoire, they sang and played, Travelling Man (Ricky Nelson), Please Don't Tease. The Young Ones (Cliff Richard) and Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison). They brought the house down with Hey, Paula (Paul & Paula) when Ronnie sang a duet with beautiful Filipino singer Maria. It was a class act indeed!

Image: Roger Poh Collection.

Original article: Andy Lim.

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60s Rock Music Concert Souvenir Programme

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

In case you missed the show, the above image is the programme booklet for the two nights, where details of the artistes that participated are documented. It is well designed and worth the while to collect as a souvenir. There are many people who keep programmes, magazine pages, newspaper cuttings, posters and advertisements as memorabilia to remind them of past events.

This blogger has a good friend who keeps such bric-a-brac. Singapore 60s band members and singers were surprised at the amount of photographs he keeps and the signatures he collected, when he showed them his files and albums during the local gigs in town. This gentleman and many other pop 60s enthusiasts have been collecting them since.

Don't throw them away. Could prove priceless some day. The National Heritage Board has an interesting collection of these programmes and souvenirs. Well, in case you need one...

Image/Article: Andy Lim

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