Dorothy And Vampires - All-Girl Group (Pt II)

The image on the right, taken from a souvenir magazine, shows The Vampires. From the vinyls recorded and publicity given, the girls were very popular and had appeared in a number of variety shows and private functions.

The description and position of each member in the magazine image is clear. From Dinner & Dance Magazine - 2nd October, 1965, "standing (left to right): Connie Fong is 18 and is a student at the Nanyang Academy of Arts. She plays the rhythm guitar and took up music some six months ago.

Rebecca Fong (with moon-glasses) is 18 and the lead guitarist and leader of the group. She is a student of the Sacred Heart School and took up music a year ago.

Front row (left to right): shows Gladys Ang, 17 years and is a student of Geylang Methodist School. She took up music nine months ago. Cynthia Fong is in the centre and attends Fairfield Methodist School. She took up the drums a year ago. Montaz Akib is the 2nd lead guitarist, is 16 and student of Geylang Methodist School. She took up music a year ago.

They had all gone for a TV audition and were accepted to appear on the small screen, so be on the lookout for this sensational teenage group. They are under the able hands of *Harry Martinez, Singapore's well-known music tutor."

The left image shows a Philips (438302 QE) recording of the same group. It features the same members (I think?) accompanying a vocalist called Dorothy. They pressed four Chinese (Mandarin) songs. These girls are unique within the Singapore 60s music circuit because I cannot think of another all-girl guitar group that plays Chinese music. Can you?

The band is known as Du Le Di in Chinese and the four songs translated into English are: Love Is Like A Balloon, Singing A Never Ending Song For You, Ah Lah Nah (Alanah) and Lian Hen (another Chinese name?)

*(Harry Martinez lived at Siglap in the East Coast and was a popular music tutor in the 60s who talent scouted his own students and grouped them into successful pop bands. The Silver Strings was such a group.)

Were you one of the band members? Is this the same group that were with Satellite Records? Do write in to tell us.

Image/Original article: Andy Lim Collection.