Veteran pop band The Silver Strings back again

SINGAPORE — “We want to bring back the memories of yesteryear. It’s going to be an exciting show, even though we are all seniors!” said an enthusiastic Audie Ng over the phone.

“Especially since I’ve laid off playing for over 40 years — but I still can play!”

The founder of one of Singapore’s most versatile bands of the 1960s, The Silver Strings, is understandably excited. Ng and some of his former bandmates will be getting together to perform two shows: A sold-out charity concert for Boys’ Town this weekend and a gig at a club next weekend.

For these shows, The Silver Strings’ two original singers, Veronica Young and Andy Young, will be fronting the band as they perform not only their past hits but also songs by other Singapore groups from that era.

While there have been other get-togethers in the past, Ng said this year’s reunion is a bit more of a landmark as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of The Silver Strings.

But Ng wasn’t keen to play that up. “To be honest, only three of us are from the original group from 1963/64: Myself, Andy and Veronica. The rest are the so-called second or third generation members of the band,” he explained. “And one or two more are from other bands who were around back in the 1960s.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate to call it our 50th anniversary show because I couldn’t get all the people back in. I would have to get all the singers and musicians, all seven of them. But it’s difficult to do that.”

Nevertheless, it’s obvious that Ng is proud of what he achieved with the band during their tenure from 1963 to 1971. While bands like The Crescendos, The Trailers and The Quests were making a name for themselves with their own hits and being ostensibly self-contained units, The Silver Strings took a slightly different route.

While they also wrote their own songs, The Silver Strings were likewise seen as the band that could play with anybody, backing everyone from Shirley Nair (who was their longest-serving singer, from 1964 to 1967) to Mike & Herb to Anita Sarawak to Paul Cheong.

“We were quite a versatile band, we could back any musicians,” said Ng. “It wasn’t cari makan (“just to make a quick buck”) — we did it for fun and for passion, and played to the best of our abilities. We were young. We just loved to play music.”

The band’s genesis came after Ng saw British instrumental band The Shadows perform in Singapore. “Our influences were The Shadows, especially when they came to Singapore in November 1961. That’s what got me started,” he recalled. “When I first saw them I went crazy! I was so inspired. I went to get music tuition and formed the band in 1963.”

The original Silver Strings adopted The Shadows’ set-up, with Ng on bass, David Chan on lead guitar, Merlin Lim on rhythm guitar and Danny Boy on drums. That line-up wouldn’t last long.

“David left, and I got Dicky Tan — the late Dicky Tan — to replace him and play on our records,” said Ng. With his astute guitar-playing and song-writing skills, Tan would be one of the key contributors to the band’s sound. But Ng also realised they needed a lead vocalist. Not only did they find a good one, they found two: Veronica and Andy.

And their surnames — Young — were just a fun thing to do. Having stage names was a norm for many artistes at that time.

“I actually gave them the surname Young. He was Andy Lim and she was Veronica Soon,” explained Ng. “Everybody thought they were brother and sister, but they’re not. It was just a fun gimmick.”

In the wake of successes by The Crescendos and The Quests, The Silver Strings made much headway in those early years. They had regular club gigs and was one of the bands who opened for The Rolling Stones at the Singapore Badminton Hall in 1965. By the end of that year, however, both Andy and Veronica had left the band.

“Andy was a teacher, so he was told by his principal to either choose music or his teaching career,” said Ng. “At the time, if you were a civil servant, you couldn’t be in a band.”

Veronica had already left the band the previous year. “Her mother actually discouraged her from joining us! Later, she had an offer to do some shows in Kuching. But at the time, we had day jobs and only playing part-time. We couldn’t join her, so she left the group in 1964.

“That’s how Shirley Nair came into the group and recorded with us. Veronica didn’t record with us, although she was our first singer.”

Despite parental objections (“They used to say, ‘study first, music later’ — in those days the parents were very strict”), the band forged ahead. “We never thought of success and fame. We liked it but we just worked very hard, took every chance to get some exposure and hoped people accepted us for what we were.”

And they were good. Nair’s deft vocals proved to be the gilded touch The Silver Strings were looking for. From then on the band went from strength to strength. One of their biggest shows was in Malaysia.

“We played for the Miss Universe pageant at the Stadium Negara in front of 20,000 people,” said Ng. That was the first time I ever played in front of that kind of crowd. I was 23. Can you imagine that?”

But everything has an ending. As the heady days of the ’60s came to a close, so did the band. After playing a successful stint in Hong Kong, Ng decided to disband The Silver Strings. “I decided to go into the business side of show business. I knew there was no prospect for musicians here. I went to Hong Kong for two reasons: To play with the band and to get business connections.”

These days, Ng is the managing director for Supreme Musical Connections, which means that even though he doesn’t plug in his bass that often, he is still in touch with the music scene.

“I’ve never played in any band before or after The Silver Strings. I formed the band and I split the band. That was it. I’m quite proud of that fact. It was a different ball game for me.

“Is there anything I’d like to change? I would to change the name from Silver Strings to Golden Strings!” he joked.

What: The Silver Strings Live

When: Nov 15, 8pm

Where: Platinum Music World Disco Bar, #03-16/18 Lucky Plaza

Tickets: S$30 (inclusive of 1st drink)