Wednesday, May 25, 2011

SUKIYAKI (Kong Ling)

From Questing Bandstand:
Kong Ling is known as “Singing sweetheart of Hong Kong”. She won an inter-school competition in 1951. By 1954, she was singing in Singapore, an engagment which lasted for nine months. When she returned to H.K., her popularity only continued to grow. She was in such high demand that she was singing in three separate nightclubs every evening. In the beginning, Kong Ling was singing mostly Mandarin covers of popular English songs. She recorded her first LP in English in 1960 on Diamond label called “Hong Kong presents the Off-beat Cha Cha” (Off-beat was first popularized in Manila). In her second LP, “Theme from a Dream”, Diamond wanted the best so they got The Fabulous Echoes to back Kong Ling.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

FOR YOU (The Fabulous Echoes)

From QUESTING BANDSTAND:
The Fabulous Echoes were based in Hong Kong in the early 60′s. The early lineup of The Fabulous Echoes consisted of Tony Ruivivar (leader, guitar), Terry Lucido (keyboards), Stan Robertson (bass), Bert Sagum (vocals, percussions), Cliff Foenander (lead vocals) and Danny Ruivivar (drums, xylophone). Tony, Danny, Bert and Terry were from the Philippines. Cliff and Stan were from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Scotland respectively. Their first hit, “A little bit of soap”, stayed No. 1 for several weeks in H.K. in 1964. They secured a contract to play in Las Vegas and were later invited to appear in The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1968, they changed their name to Society of Seven and moved to Honolulu where they stayed. They have been a very successful act for over 30 years. In 2001, a second troupe by the name of Society of Seven LV was formed. This group alternates with the original, allowing the original group to perform outside Hawaii while they continue the engagement in Hawaii.

Monday, May 9, 2011

REMEMBER ME (Cliff Foenander and the Fabulous Echoes)

From Wikipedia:
Cliff Foenander was a Sri Lankan musician (born in Colombo) who performed in South East Asia and Las Vegas. Cliff died in Australia on the 21st November 2000.
Cliff grew up in Colombo, and in the 1950s he started performing in clubs and dances around Ceylon. South Asia's oldest radio station, Radio Ceylon (now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation) gave Cliff his first exposure inside Ceylon and across South Asia, including India. Broadcasters Vernon Corea, Jimmy Bharucha and Tim Horshington played his songs and interviewed him on their radio shows.
Cliff later joined Hong Kong based group 'The Fabulous Echoes.' and they built a fan base in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. The Fabulous Echoes gained international exposure playing in Las Vegas in the United States of America, also performing with rat pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, with Ella Fitzgerald and the great 'Satchmo,' Louis Armstrong. The Fabulous Echoes performed on the Ed Sullivan Show after Ed saw them in action in the Thunderbird Lounge.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

LOVE WITHOUT END (Frances Yip)

From MrRainbow64:
The title song from the very popular 1961 Mandarin movie - "Love Without End", starring 60s' Movie Queen Ms Lin Dai, so well delivered by Frances Yip in both Mandarin & English languages.