The Boys (Singapore)

[Rythmn Boy]

The Boys from Singapore cut most of their records with the line-up:

Robert Suriya – lead guitar

Peter Thomas – rhythm guitar

Moses Tay – bass

Alphonso Soosay – drums

The band was best known for backing Naomi Suriya as Naomi & The Boys. The band also cut several records with Robert’s brother Henry Suriya. Lesser known are the two singles the band cut on their own. The first single appeared in early 1967 and contained the Robert Suriya-penned ‘You’ve Gone’ backed with Peter Thomas’ ‘Out Of Sight’ on the flipside. That record was comped in a 5CD set that appeared in 2009.

https://www.discogs.com/release/7183240-Various-Singapore-60s-The-Definitive-Collection-100-Greatest

Their second single come out later in 1967 and contains Robert Suriya singing his own composition ‘To Be A Woman’ on the A-side with Peter Thomas supplying some wailing harp, and Peter singing his song ‘Walk Back To Me’ on the B-side with Robert providing some pretty good sitar to spice it up a bit. ‘Walk Back To Me’ appeared on one of the Diggin’ For Gold comps in 2020.

‘To Be A Woman’ seems to have remained uncomped. The song has Robert Suriya telling an unnamed 16-year-old girl to ‘stop wasting her time’ walking the streets at night and just go home, because eventually she’s going to walk down an aisle dressed in white lace. Perhaps it’s all a bit too straight and conventional? Still a cool song.

The liner notes talk about future solo recordings by The Boys, but as far as I know that never happened.

To Be A Woman

https://app.box.com/s/lmxmbqr5mc1mh7ip5w4etwbue59h7fz2

Walk Back To Me

https://app.box.com/s/9wiht6g0bugy8cxwnzpuv6vsuxrcgnmt

Thanks to Bård