Olivia Live in Singapore !

Last night, I had the chance to watch my long-time musical idol Olivia Newton-John perform at the Esplanade Theatre, Singapore.

One of the best concerts I've experienced in a long time ... she did a wide variety of songs from her repertoire NON-STOP for almost two hours .... the songs from Xanadu .... Physical .... the Country numbers .... the classics from Grease (complete with shoo-bob-sha-wadda-wadda-yippity-boom-de-boom) ..even a great rendition of "Send in the Clowns".... and she ended with her signature "I Honestly Love You" to a standing ovation.

The lady is 63, but looks not a day older than 40 (at least from where I sat :)

Brilliant.

Olivia Newton-John: One Night Only in Singapore

I learnt today that Grease star and multi-time Grammy Award winner, Olivia Newton-John, will be having a concert at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore on 27th March 2012.

If you liked her music, you might want to check this out ...

Here are some useful details ...

When: Mar 27, 8pm
How much: $125.00-300.00 from booking agent SISTIC (www.sistic.com.sg)
Where: Esplanade Theatre, 1 Esplanade Drive, Singapore
Area: Marina Bay
Nearest train station: Esplanade


Hmmm, I wonder if she'll bring along John Travolta  ... :-)


Anyway, here are some of my favourite Olivia albums from over the years  ...

Enjoy ...

Musical Interlude: Old Songs I'd Almost Forgotten

This posting simply pulls together a few old, nice-sounding songs I liked during the 70s. I haven't heard them for a long time and it's really nostalgic to listen to them again after such a long time ...So sit back, turn up the volume and enjoy !

The first song "Funny, Funny" is one I heard countless times from the radio, but I didn't imagine the band members of  Sweet looked like this. No MTV channel back then lah ....





This next hit from the Bay City Rollers came out during 1974 when I was in Form 3 ... now where are my old tartan pants?




I never thought of it back then, but this next song from the early 70s is all about desertion ... Have a listen and tell me if you agree with me  :)




I am willing to bet that you won't be able to listen to this next song without thinking of a certain brand of softdrink. Any takers?




Although the Seventies was three decades ago, it still seems like Only Yesterday ...




And that of course was the incomparable voice of the late  Karen Carpenter.

Hope this little selection transported you back to the Swinging 70s for a while ...

Musical Interlude from the 70s

Time for some music. Turn up the volume and enjoy these cool hits from the 70s ...

This one has some cute animations ...





This next one was big too ... hmmm, I suddenly feel like having an Iced Lemon Tea ...





And who could forget the Bay City Rollers? Bring out your tartan outfits ...





I don't think I ever saw this cartoon version, but the song was certainly a favourite at St Mike's ...





Well, hope you enjoyed those. Any other songs you remember from those days?

Learning Geography from Songs

Do you remember this catchy number? It was one of my favourites back in school in the early 70s. Turn up the volume on your computer and swing along ....





The song "Is this the Way to Amarillo?" was a big hit for Tony Christie and Peter Kay in 1971. It was originally written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, if I'm not mistaken. Well, you must have heard it umpteen times ....but do you know where in the world is Amarillo? Well, it's a city in Texas, USA. Here's a picture of the city ...

Who says this blog is not educational. LOL.

We also learnt about many other interesting places in the world from songs we grew up with. Some of these places are modern ones, others are historical ...  I'm talking about songs like "Back in the USSR" (Beatles), "By the Rivers of Babylon" (Boney M), "Streets of London" (Ralph McTell) and "London Calling" (The Clash), "Mexican Girl" (Smokie), "New York, New York" (Sinatra & Minelli), "Scarborough Fair" (Simon & Garfunkel), "Waterloo" (Abba) and so on ...  Even Elvis Presley in his heyday had "You Can't Say No in Acapulco".

Let me leave you with another video clip of a more mature Tony Christie with his hit number ... enjoy.

Golden Oldies of Local Music Scene

This has already appeared on my Facebook page, but sharing with others who may not have seen it.

I was in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for a conference this week, and had a chance to catch up with Peter F, a cousin of mine. At his home, he shared with me his collection of old vinyls from the Golden Age of Malaysia & Singapore Music.

He has more ... this is only a small sample. I wish I kept the few I had as a teenager.

I am sure many of you will recognise the artistes and bands. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Rose, Naomi, Shirley, Rocky & others - if you are reading this, can you say "hello" to your long-time fans here ... :-)

Musical Interlude: Easy Listening from the 70s

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Here's a selection of musical numbers from the 1970s. I'm quite sure most of you will remember them. Turn up the volume, sit back and enjoy ...

Yes, that was of course "Una Paloma Blanca" by the George Baker Selection.  Back in the mid 70s, it was a very popular electone organ piece that was performed a lot at concerts and shows. If my memory doesn't fail me, one Form 6 class even danced to this number at the St Joe concert.

Then there was "Feelings" which was sung by seemingly every single aspiring songbird. There was a period in1975 or 76 when we would roll our eyes and lament "not again!" whenever this was performed. The version you just heard is an instrumental version re-done by Richard Clayderman. I must admit that after not being subjected to this song for so many years, it does sound kinda relaxing ...

Awwwww so sweet ... "Save Your Kisses For Me" won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 for British group Brotherhood of Man.  I also love the cute footwork!

Olivia Newton-John is one of the classiest, prettiest and most talented singers in my view. This was one of her signature numbers  "I Honestly Love You". Delivered here via a collage of different performances over the years 1974-2004, this is testimony to Olicia's longevity as a musical performer.

And finally a great song by the Carpenters ...  "Please Mister Postman" ... so relevant in the "pre e-mail" era. How many of you remember waiting for your local postman to bring that letter or package from that special someone? Youngsters these days don't know what they missed - with their emails, IM, Facebook statuses and Tweets ... ha ha ha !

Hope this selection of easy listening numbers brought back some fond memories for you ...
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Musical Interlude: I'm Not in Love

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Remember the band 10CC ? They were a talented bunch and one of my favorite songs for the seventies was this masterpiece of theirs ...

Turn up the volume and enjoy ...

10CC were an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians — Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme — who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name in 1972.
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Musical Interlude: A Christmas Classic

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It's December 1st today ... just twenty-four more days to Christmas. I think it's time for another musical interlude. If I had to choose just one song which immediately brings to me the mood of Christmas, it has to be this one. 


Thirty-four years ago, in December 1976, I left St Joe and sunny Sarawak for ultra-chilly UK to continue my A-Levels there. It was that same December that Johnny Mathis' "When A Child is Born"  made #1 on the UK Pop Charts and remained there for what seemed like forever ... a number of you were also there in the UK (you know who you are!) and I'm sure you watched it week after week on "Top of the Pops" on BBC TV.


It's a very beautiful song (although with all over-played songs, it attracts its share of cynics). The lyrics are meaningful and I'd guess many specially remember the part where he says "black, white, yellow ... no one knows ..."


'Nuff said ... now turn up the volume and let this videoclip bring back the memories ...

A little bit of info about Johnny Mathis that you might not have known since there was no Google or Wikipedia in the swinging 70s ...Born John Royce Mathis on September 30, 1935, this American singer of popular music concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience through the 1980s. Starting his career with singles of standards, Mathis became more popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts.According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Mathis has had sales of over 27 million just in the US. According to one report, he has recorded over 130 albums and sold more than 350 million records worldwide.

Not bad for a kid from Gilmer, Texas, where he was born fourth of seven children. Their family moved to San Francisco, California, where he grew up. Mathis's father worked in vaudeville, and when he saw his son's talent, he bought an old piano and encouraged his efforts. Johnny started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school and church functions. When he was 13, a voice teacher accepted him as a student in exchange for work around her house. He studied with her for six years, learning vocal techniques, voice production, classical and even operatic skills.

Johnny Mathis was also a star athlete in high school, where he was a high jumper, hurdler and played on the basketball team.. He was actually enrolled at San Francisco State University on a scholarship, intending to become an English and physical education teacher when he was talent spotted at a San Francisco club. To cut a long story short, there came a point when Johnny had to decide whether to go to the Olympic tryouts, to which he had been invited, or to keep an appointment in New York to make his first recordings, which were subsequently released in 1956. He opted for the recording ... and as they say, the rest is history.

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Musical Interlude: ANAK

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I'm sure most of us have heard this song "Anak" (meaning "Child"). The original was written and first performed by Filipino musician Freddie Aguilar. I have always loved its haunting melody, even though I never fully understood the Tagalog lyrics, which are supposed to reflect Filipino values.


So here's the original  for your enjoyment ...






Next the same song in English, also by Freddie A. Maybe some of you will like it better. I must say I still prefer the original.

If you were to Google it, you'd find that this song has also been translated into Malay, Japanese and dozens of other languages.


"Anak" became a finalist at a Manila song festival in 1977. It went on to become very popular in the Philippines and eventually abroad. The song has sold 30 million copies. Billboard magazine reported that the song was the number two world hit of the 1980s. I believe it is still unsurpassed as the all-time highest-selling record of Philippine music.
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