Asian Songbirds of the 1970s (Part 1)

.
We grew up in an age of music records (or LPs as they are sometimes called) and later of cassette tapes. Not so easy to find them nowadays, although some of us still swear that the sound quality from LPs cannot be matched by most CDs. In fact just a few months ago, Pip and I went hunting for turntables in KL, in a sudden nostalgic desire to want to listen to some of our old record collections.

In today's post, I want to recall some of the popular Asian songbirds, i.e. female singers, whom we may have grown up with. In the 70s, they were young and attracted an impressive fan base. Today some of them are still performing, though they are no longer that young and their fan base may have dwindled somewhat. Others have taken up new careers and challenges.

Let me begin with my personal favourite, Agnes Chan Mei Ling from Hong Kong. She came onto the scene in the early 70s with her rendition of songs like "Circle Game", "Nobody's Child" and "Devoted to You". She also had a role in some Shaw Brothers' movies like "The Generation Gap". Later she became very popular in Japan and had a string of Japanese numbers.

Well, I hope the sweet voice of this sixteen year old will rekindle your musical memories ...

This lady was obviously an over-achiever. Not only was she a singer and television personality, she also went on to earn a PhD (in Education), became a professor at some Japanese universities, an essayist, a novelist, a wife, a mother of two boys, and ... since 1988, Agnes Chan was the UNICEF goodwill ambassador for Japan. Impressive, huh?

Here's another classic one from her ...

The next singer I'd like to feature is Frances Yip. Remember her? I still have her "Discovery" album, the one where she sings a selection of songs from different Asian countries.

Another musical talent from Hong Kong, Frances Yip was especially well known for singing this Cantonese theme song "Shanghai Beach" from a popular TVB series "The Bund". This was also the series that catapulted Chow Yun Fatt to fame. In a recent interview, Yip reckons she has sung this signature song more than 10,000 times. But she still brings down the house whenever she belts it out.

Frances Yip came into the music scene through winning a Hong Kong television singing contest in 1969 with her rendition of Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me". Her career has spanned 35 years and more than 80 albums.

Here's me and my albums ...

I think I'll stop here for this posting. However this is only the first part. In subsequent parts of this posting, we can have glimpses of your other favourite Asian songbirds. So do put in your comments and recommendations ...
.