Dick Lee is a famous music icon in Singapore. In an interview conducted for the 938 LIVE's Bharati Jagdish that it took him some time to build the guts to say that the music he wrote is based on a Singaporean concept. Dick Lee is one of the finest music icons in Singapore. He is a singer and a songwriter. One of this famous songs is entitled Home. It was written and released twenty years back, but still it is being sung by most Singaporeans to this day. In fact, it has become among Singaporeans. He has been in the music industry for over forty years and to this day he is still significant in terms of composing the pop music, national songs and scores for musicals. To this day, he is also working in the fashion industry, he works for events management and advertising companies.
It is just that he says he is sorry for the upcoming projects and the musicians must do to succeed in a competitive global market. However, he started to relay about his background as an artist and how he started in the business. He added, for him, growing up has never been simple, it was not a bed roses. As a teen, penetrating the music world and pushing through the pop culture back then is still not allowed. There was a big hindrance with regards to the negative aspects of the Western culture. He added, if you want to pursue rock music, it wasn't possible, then, since it was linked with drugs. If you wanted to pursue the pop culture, you must also be involved in some heavy metal music along the way. Did you push through with it? He eagerly says yes. He did and his parents were suspicious of him them. Rock concerts were banned during those times and so do with long hair. These cool things back then are all unlawful.
But is it the challenge that made him push through with his career in music? Somehow yes, he uttered. There is just this rebellious feeling in his and it never stopped him from pushing through with the music that he likes the most, even if he must go through rough times. But why did he say that it was hard back then? Is it because of his parents? Is it because of the judgmental minds of the people? He simply answered yes without elaborating his answer. But how did he able to go through the times when his parents are suspicious of him and doesn't want him to go through those unlawful kinds of music trends then? He simply says that he just did what he must do in a secretive manner. That made interesting for him, he added. This was during 1970s. It was just after the big music boom in the 1960s. He added, to this day, you can still say that it is still the golden age of Singapore pop music genre. It was when the local bands are everywhere with fans screaming for their music, then it just disappeared through time. That must be because of the National Service.
What is the National Service and why did he think that it may be the reason for it? It was around 1970-1971 when he started to work on his compositions and there was nothing to start with. All of the bands are nowhere. They must have rounded up all of the kids, their hair might be cut short and they might be placed in the army. It is truly hard to find, out why they are all broke during those times. The recording industry might have died just like that. When he started to be in the big music world, he started to write some music. He may be perceived as weird or as a freak back then, people may start to ask why would anyone write songs if this is not trendy at all.
He started to recall how people were able to cover some of his songs and that started the age of the Talents. They were the only few methods for them to sing the songs they have made and then let them be heard by a lot of people. The Talent Time Contestants mostly sand the cover versions of the songs as well. The hardest things were, the more he pushed through in his career and his thrive to be heard. But apart from the rebellious urge, what does he say in his effort to write music and to be a performer. As he recalled things, when he was still in the 6th grade, he considers himself as a typical kid. However, when he reached grade 10-12, he started to be lured in pop music and he thought that that is where it all started. He enjoyed learning and playing the piano all at the same time, he was sure then that he will get into the pop music world.
When he was 17 years of age, he started to work at his mom's shop, he started designing for teen clothes and he also runs some fashion shows. But the question is, were he not scared to go off the beat from the path that he wanted to take. He said that he was just a kid back then. There were no responsibilities, yes, he was so fearless and is ready to embrace fear in particular. That is the difference of Dick Lee to some of the teens today, he was so fearless then, while the new generation today easily gives up on something. He started to send demo songs back then only to be rejected due to his lack of experience. However, why does he took the hard path when he came from a well off family. He eagerly says yes, he came from a well off family, but there are so many things to do in life than to just be merely fed on a silver spoon by the parents.