Mr Blue Diamond Riem de Wolff, Quests, DJ Larry Lai: 60s Music Meet In Singapore Shopping Mall

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.

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Rediffusion Request Programs in the 60s - The Larry Lai Interviews (Part IV)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Nasi Goreng and Ox-Tail Stew:

(Image of Larry in his disco suit on the left.) It will take a myriad of postings to document Larry Lai's tales and adventures as a broadcaster, so I have decided to write snippets of what he told me in the past weeks while we were busy enjoying our nasi-goreng, ox-tail stew and mango-ice cream. These postings will never do justice to his varied and interesting career at Rediffusion and his expertise as a broadcaster in Singapore, but here goes.

Rediffusion Requesters:
My chat with Larry in the 3rd interview ended when I asked him about Rediffusion requesters. Many Singapore youths who lived in the early 60s knew that it was fashionable among pop song requesters to have their lengthy, western names announced over the air. Cheap thrill if you call it, but it was youth culture then.

These ego-maniacs found it exciting to hear their names on the airwaves. When I discussed with Larry about Rediffusion 'friends' like, Elvis Jonathan Wee, Cliff Ricardo Tan and Cilla Debbie Soon, he explained that besides having unique names, they also had strange habits.

"When they found out where my future wife lived and where I parked my car during my visits to her home, they used my windscreen as a postbox, slipping their heavily decorated, request postcards between the wipers. Every morning it was extra work for me, as I had to clear the tons of mail accumulated. And if it rained the night before..."

He took his listeners seriously and made sure he answered every postcard and request for songs on air. Woe betide Larry Lai if he failed to do so because there would be repercussions. He would be in trouble... The requesters would write him nasty letters.

Larry remarked that oddities like these came with his work. But it made the only cable station in Singapore a hit with our 60s youths. The exceptionally popular request programme stretched from one to four hours daily.

(Only music and personalities from the 50s to the 70s are posted on this blog. This article is the fourth posting about Larry Lai. For 3 previous interviews Click Larry Lai under labels below.)

Image: Larry Lai Collection. (All rights reserved)

Original article: Andy Lim

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'Oh Moby Dick Was So Big And Slick' - The Larry Lai Interviews (Part V)

*Moby Dick:

An idea cropped up in late 1967 when record hops became popular and the Singapore live music scene began to wane.

With local bands becoming more expensive and Phillipino bands taking over the night clubs, Larry thought it would be an ideal opportunity to start a mobile disco which made some business sense.

What was needed was a good sound system, lighting effects, a vehicle and a few a-go-go ladies. At the end of 1969, he partnered with a friend to set up the mobile discotheque. With quality speakers, custom-made power amplifiers, turn-tables, mixers and music sources, the business venture was set up.

Like the already popular Larry Lai branding, Moby Dick quickly became another household name. By the early 70s, the go-go girls were gyrating and patrons were:

"Prayin' for this moment to last,/Livin' on the music so fine,/Borne on the wind,/Makin' it mine, /Night fever, night fever... (Composers/Singers: Gibb Brothers)."

An agreement with the popular Kelong Restaurant at the Cathay Cinema to have Moby Dick's presence there, resulted in another successful venture by Larry.

And as the shimmering disco balls twirled in the strobe lights and the adrenalin was pumping in every disco-maniac's body, cash was flowing in. "Oh Moby Dick was so big and slick, There was never such a whale... (Frankie Laine)"

*Larry's favourite literary fiction by Herman Melville. Name 'Moby Dick' comes from 'Mob-ile Disco-theque'.

(This is the final posting on Larry Lai. For 4 previous interviews Click Larry Lai under labels below.)

Image: Larry Lai Collection. (All rights reserved)

Original article: Andy Lim

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Mr Cool: Under 21 Show, Rediffusion Discoveries, Rado Show. The Larry Lai Interviews (Part III)

Monday, July 12, 2010

Her faults are fewer, her lips are truer, my China doll - Slim Whitman:

Put him on stage and he swoons the crowd with his bass baritone voice, perfect diction and immaculately tailored, Six Million Dollar Man suits from *Danny's. But off stage, Larry Lai was so shy when he first met his wife that he did not have enough courage to ask for her telephone number.

The Rosee D'or was the place where he first set eyes on his pretty "China doll." In the 60s this night club was above the old Lido Cinema at Orchard Road and veteran singer Ahmad Daud with the late Saloma were both performing then. Larry Lai and Tan Swee Leong were in charge of a live recording of the show for Rediffusion.

After he was formally introduced to the young lady by a friend they were together for 5 years before Larry married her in 1965. So this year, as Singapore celebrates its 45th National Day, they celebrate their wedding anniversary too!

There's no people like show people, like no people I know - Ethel Merman:

It was my third meeting with Larry as he reminisced his years at Rediffusion . "I was with the broadcast station from 1960 to 1978 and remember the first few weeks. It was my first show at the auditorium called Under 21 and as I approached the microphone, my knees were shaking so badly, I had to hold them. Actually there was an audience of only 300 people."

There was another occasion when his boss had an accident and Larry, at the very last minute, had to host Rediffusion Discoveries at the Odeon Cinema in town. Although he was ill-prepared, the show went on smoothly as he faced an audience of about 1,500 people. "There was hardly any entertainment in the 60s and people were just flocking to these shows."

Comparatively, Larry considered Rado Show (image) his most challenging as it was his television debut. He had agreed to do the show after he left Rediffusion in 1978. It was a quiz and entertainment programme recorded live. The show was a success but he recalled an occasion, when the programme exceeded its transmission time by three minutes because of a technical glitch.

So that evening, through no fault of theirs, when The Trailers, a pop guitar group, was closing the programme with an instrumental number, it played into news-time i.e. beyond its 9 pm schedule. Larry managed to save what could have been a disastrous situation. He exclaimed: "Nobody goes beyond the 9 o'clock news!" He's not called Mr. Cool for nothing.

Music man play your song for me, Music man play my soul, Music man play a melody, Music man take control - Chaka Khan:

Larry added that adequate preparation was the key to being a confident and good compere. But there was no guarantee that every show or broadcast would be a success and felt that he was fortunate he faced no major problem during his own career.

Larry remembers that his work as a DJ was just as interesting. He has a very good memory and this ability has allowed him to remember the many songs, singers, composers and bands in the music scene. They may well run into the thousands and Larry enjoyed sharing the music and trivia with listeners who had either written to him or telephoned him during his tenure at Rediffusion.

As the interview became more interesting and I started asking him about regular Rediffusion requesters in the 60s with names like: Elvis Augustine Neo, Ursula Katerina Ong and Cliff Alphonso Beng, he suggested a mee-siam break at Ang Moh Kio...

More about MR COOL in future postings. Would you like to share your thoughts about him?

*Popular with Singapore celebrities in the 60s & 70s.

Image: Rado Show/Larry Lai Collection.

Original article: Andy Lim.

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Leggy Fashion Models, Drooling Band Boys

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A long time ago in the 60s and 70s, way before Jade Seah and Nadya Hutagalung appeared on our local catwalk, Singapore had its share of beautiful, leggy and sexy fashion models. One of the more popular modelling agencies that had these damsels was Joan Booty's.

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Annual dinner and dance events held by business organisations had top bands, pop artistes, comedians and variety shows to entertain the staff but they were incomplete without these agencies providing models to strut the stage of the hotels, theatres and nightclubs in Singapore. So wherever the get-together was held, these ladies provided the oomph and glamour and the more revealing the girls were, the larger the members in the audience and louder the wolf whistles.

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When I spoke to the 60s band boys about such events and the live music they provided as the models appeared on stage, one comment was, "We try to play the simplest tunes with the simplest chords because we'd rather drool over the girls and their swimming costume changes than think of our guitar chord changes." The statement is meant more as a joke because the bands take their music accompaniment of models on stage seriously, so woe betide those bands that are frivolous or non-professional because they will not get another contract the next time around.

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[Note: Spelling of 'boutique' to 'Bootigue' understandable but why 'gue' and not 'que'? The above advertisement appeared in a souvenir magazine for White And Blue Nite at the Victoria Memorial Hall on Saturday, 28th February, 1970. The dance was to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the P.I.E.U. Bridgestone Branch and sponsored by Bridgestone Singapore Company (Private) Ltd. Anyone attended this function?]

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The band in attendance was The Stylers and the compere was Larry Lai. Hey LL, you remember this one?

Original article: Andy Lim

Image: Randy Lee Collection.

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