Singapore's music history has enormous musicians and bands who presented remarkable shows to entertain people. Every artist was a bundle of qualities, which used to bring smile on audience face. The era of 1960's gain popularity for live music and events. In that scenario a band was formed by Victor Woo and Eric Tan in 1964, which was named as “The Trailers”. The band was famous for presenting original compositions even they successfully commercialized their numerous releases.
The original and best compositions of band which became famous were ‘Do It Right and Don't Laugh (You'll Cry)'. There were few top numbers, which were considered as selected Discography compositions. The list starts from “Do It Right” presented in 1966 and lasts till “I'm Ready now (Oct 1968)”. The band was reformed multiple times.
The formation of band took place in September 1964, where Victor Woo played lead guitar. The bass guitar was handled by Eric Tan and later Tony Zee and Suppiah joined the band as rhythm guitarist and drummer. The band's first line up never remained for long; it eventually changed time to time. The first change occurred with the removal of Suppiah from drums. Tony Zee took his place and the space of rhythm guitarist was filled by Edmund Tan. The band gave an invitation to Vernon Cornelius in late 1963 to become the lead vocalist of band. There again replacement occurred for betterment as Benny Koh who was introduced on the place of Cornelius became a popular name in fans. The replacements and introductions went on from Michael Teo to Jimmy Chan and Patrick Foo on Keyboard.
The band didn't remain same at all with many replacements and introductions. The style and sound of band took vibrant changes for better performance. The members of band gave a try to instrument music. The flamboyant style of Cornelius gave a professional look to band with it they added showmanship to their profile. The young audience had a craze for Koh's vocal style and the contemporary formation presented by Teo on keyboard made audience freaky. The band never stopped from experimenting and making changes to their colleagues even some also joined other famous bands of Singapore like as ‘The Quest'. The main two who joined The Quest were Cornelius and Chan. The last updation in the style of band was featuring Woo and Tan with saxophone. They got appreciation for that addition and it was the last change also.
There was no stable venue of band as their inception defines. The band performed on different events like as tea dances, night clubs, radio and even television. The popularity graph of band inclined, they were busy in performing numerous live shows. In September 1965, band formed a company named as ‘The Trailers Enterprise'. The company started offering fully woven stage acts and the name given to it was “Trailers Spectacular”. The band appeared on various special events as Singapore Badminton Hall's Pop Favorite'65 and “Shindig-T” was part of Pop Stars on Parade '66 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A presentation of regular stint was there by band at New Penangway. The band attended a Sunday Tea dance at Golden Palace also with it they gave the Early Bird Show at Odeon Theatre. Hotel Malaysia now called as Marco Polo Hotel, Goodwood Park Hotel and Barbarella at Ming Court Hotel were common places where band did their performances.
The Trailers got commercial success and recommendation in 1960s' which was available to few at that time. The record released by the band was a blockbuster and remained in music top charts for 14 consecutive weeks without any competition. The bands of that era were making regional versions of famous American and British songs. Their second release was also a chart topper; the main reason behind their successful rating was originality. They also have a plus point that they were having both music formations Western and Asian. Phoenix Theme track of band is still popular as it became Chinese New Year song.
After a decade long recognition, the band started imparting. The lead guitarist and co-founder of band Victor Woo left band in December 1970 to make career in computers. His replacement was Derrick Danker, but band left recordings till 1972. The recordings had lost its charm till that time. The band performed firmly till mid-1970s' at public places. Another co-founder of band Eric tan did work for The Straits Times and other sectors. He specifically won award for his song ‘I AM What I AM'. He played with different famous bands even at night clubs and hotels. The reunion of band occurred occasionally for nostalgia and charity concerts.