Reggie Verghese was a well-known Singaporean musician and record producer, known as Singapore's first guitar hero of the 1960s. During the 1960s, he was a member of

The Quests The Quests was a Singaporean band. Some sources considered them the most successful Singapore band of the 1960s. History Formation and early years In 1960, Chong Chow Pin (referred to by his nickname "Jap"), Raymond Leong, Henry Chua and L ...

. He later moved into production, producing work for acts such as Matthew and the Mandarins, Frankie Cheah,

Anita Sarawak Ithnaini binti Mohamed Taib (born 23 March 1952), better known by her stage name Anita Sarawak, is a Singaporean singer, actress and talk show host. Early years Anita is the only child of actor and director S. Roomai Noor and actress Siput Saraw ...

, Western Union Band, Jennifer Yen and

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Career

Around 1963, while still in secondary school, he was a member of a group called The Checkmates. In 1964, the guitarist for

, Raymond Leong who had left the group to pursue studies. Verghese took his place. In a matter of months, the group had a no.1 hit with" Shanty". His guitar playing in the song attracted a lot of attention. Along with Jap Chong, sharing the vocals, he stayed with the group throughout all of the line up changes until the group's break up in 1971. He then moved into production.

Production

In 1977, he produced the debut album for The Western Union Band which had evolved out of a 1960s group called The Rubber Band. The album, a self-titled album contained the songs "Sausolito" and "Howzit". He produced the self-titled album for Matthew & The Mandarins which was released on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

and contained the song " Singapore Cowboy". The song would eventually become a big hit in Singapore, reaching no. 1. He also produced their next album ''II'' which was released in 1979, also on EMI.

Death

Having suffered had heart and liver problems for a few years, Verghese died of heart failure in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on Wednesday June 17, 2015.''Today'', Friday 27 April 2018
The Quests’ guitarist Reggie Verghese dies ''By'' Christopher Toh
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Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verghese, Reggie Singaporean guitarists Singaporean rock guitarists Singaporean musicians Singaporean songwriters Singaporean record producers 2015 deaths