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. He later moved into production, producing work for acts such as

Matthew and the Mandarins Matthew and the Mandarins are a country music band from Singapore, active since the 1960s. Among their singles were "Singapore Cowboy" (1978) and "Let's Put the Sing in Singapore" (1979). Background Mathew Tan is the leader of the group. The gro ...

, 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 Sara ...

Western Union Band Western Union Band was a band from Singapore in the 1970s. They had major hits in Singapore and Malaysia with "Driving Me Crazy", "I've Found My Freedom" and "Sausalito". Background The band was a made of men from Indian, Chinese and Malay origi ...

, Jennifer Yen and

Tracy Huang Tracy Huang (; born 29 August 1951) is a Taiwanese singer. Huang began her career in music with the Thunderbird Choir, alongside Su Rui. After she left the group, Huang spent two years in Taichung, at an American military base, where she lear ...

Career

Around 1963, while still in secondary school, he was a member of a group called The Checkmates. In 1964, the guitarist for The Quests, 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 ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word " Japanese". Today, it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur. In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term very offensive, even when used as an abbreviation. Prior t ...

, 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 Western Union Band was a band from Singapore in the 1970s. They had major hits in Singapore and Malaysia with "Driving Me Crazy", " I've Found My Freedom" and "Sausalito". Background The band was a made of men from Indian, Chinese and Malay orig ...

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 Matthew and the Mandarins are a country music band from Singapore, active since the 1960s. Among their singles were "Singapore Cowboy" (1978) and "Let's Put the Sing in Singapore" (1979). Background Mathew Tan is the leader of the group. The gr ...

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 2012, ...

and contained the song "

Singapore Cowboy "Singapore Cowboy" is a song by Singaporean country band Matthew and the Mandarins, released in 1978. Background Following Matthew Tan's move to Nashville, Tennessee in 1975, he composed "Singapore Cowboy" there. He returned to Singapore in 1977 ...

". 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