Showing posts with label Checkmates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Checkmates. Show all posts
Danny Koh: Fishermen, Candidates (Part III)
Friday, July 9, 2010
In my search for Singapore's 60s instrumental group members, I remember the Cathay restaurant where sea-food was as popular as the bands that performed there. Danny Koh provided the answer that I posted a year and a half ago on the blog when I asked him about this restaurant.*Pianist, tutor and musical director Danny formed two very popular bands, The Fishermen and The Candidates that played to a packed restaurant called The Kelong in the 1970s. (Notes from a letter to Andy on Sunday, 6th June, 2010):
He was with The Trailers for 3 years. The band had a number of **pianists - or keyboardists - before he joined them. The first in the group was Michael, followed by Patrick Foo, then Danny himself and Benson Goh. There were others too but it had been many years since and there was difficulty remembering specific names.
When Danny left The Trailers, he formed The Fishermen and they performed regularly at the Kelong Niteclub which was the old Cathay Restaurant. The original musicians in the group included Benny Chan (guitar) and Amir Samsudin (drummer), both from the Checkmates and Robert Suriya (guitar), who is now residing in Guam. Robert, of course, was from Naomi and The Boys.
After the group disbanded, Danny formed another band called, The Candidates. The musicians were Ramon Rahmat from the BlackJacks, Sanip Ismail, who had since passed away, Leon Lim, who now resides in Vietnam and Leo Fernando, a saxaphonist of stature and renown. This professional band of men performed at the Kelong, Singapore and at the Fortuna Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for some time.
Danny added that when they were at the peak of their popularity, they signed under the RCA label and recorded some songs, but the record was never released for reasons known to the group themselves.
**Danny is a 'pianist' rather than a 'keyboardist', the distinction being clear that he has a Licentiate from the Royal School of Music (LRSM).
*Thursday, January 08, 2009:
Cathay Building, The Kelong, The Flybaits, The Fishermen
Cathay Building, The Kelong, The Flybaits, The Fishermen
Original article: Andy Lim.
Checkmates, Flamingos, Stylers, Robert Song
Monday, June 1, 2009
Shirley Nair left the *Checkmates, to join the Silver Strings in the mid-60s. Robert Song, who was percussionist with The Flamingos Combo Band (check out posting on James Choa), replaced Nair. Although Song fronted the Checkmates as vocalist he was still playing with the Combo band for some time. He was also with The Stylers (check out previous posting under 'Stylers').Song was the Johnny Ray - Cry - of Singapore and already in the music scene since the mid 50s. He also produced the Paul Anka Competition at the Rex Cinema in 1959 and other stage shows, since he was with Shaw Brothers then. He was best with jazz standards but could sing rock and roll. Just Walkin' In The Rain, was one of the standards he did.
Robert Song and The Checkmates performed at the Cellar and other venues that included the Golden Venus and the Celestial Room. Golden Venus was a rendezvous for British servicemen stationed in Singapore then. Song, always with a personal touch, distributed postcards of the band while he was with the group. As a graphic artist and an excellent one at that, he designed the above card. Many of the huge cinema posters in the 60s, fronting the Capitol Cinema at North Bridge Road, were created by Robert Song.
The card (image) was a gift from the talented singer. Song had since migrated to the Philippines.
*The Checkmates comprised, Benny Chan (lead), Lanky Lawrence Lee (bass), Hans Hussein (rhythm) and Amir (drums). They were one of the top guitar groups in the 60s.
Checkmates, Trailers, Golden Venus, Palace
It was Saturday night on the 12th of December, 1964 and obviously about 2 weeks before Christmas. Nightclubs were full and so were the spirits of youths in Singapore. The above advertisement (image) from the Straits Times Press, Singapore, shows the Golden Venus at Orchard Road and the Grand Palace theatre at East Coast Road doing brisk business. And on Sunday, bands were in full swing with Robert Song and the Checkmates and The Trailers fronted by Vernon having the rockingest time ever.
Although admission was free, patrons paid for their drinks. Usually they bought one drink for the whole afternoon, well sometimes two. But nobody bothered because each couple was trying to show the rest on the floor that the cha-cha-cha, twist, shake and rock would rule the T-Dances that day. After all it was the Dave Clark Five & The Animals Twist & Shake Special.
(Image from: Straits Times Press, Singapore/National Library Board, Singapore.)
The above idea was initiated by Dennis Tan.
Stylers (Chinese Pop), Robert Song (Baba Pop)
Friday, January 2, 2009
You cannot discuss Singapore Chinese Pop without The Stylers. Like most local bands, this group started at home parties.They had since made it big accompanying Chinese singers, comedians, appearing on Singapore tele and recording instrumentals that became very popular.
The recordings were similar to James Last non-stop ballroom music only the local versions used Cha-Cha & A-Go-G0 music. One that I like is their version of 'Stupid Cupid'.
Robert Song (far left) who was a baba and Singapore's Johnny Ray, sang with them. In the early 60s they played at a home party where I was MC. Song had sinced passed away and as a friend he was always humble and pleasant. I will never forget Robert Song for his kindness and goodness.
Original article: Andy Lim.
YouTube: Key in: the stylers
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