Time Off Magazine - Errol De Cruz (Oct 1996)

TIME OFF MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 1996

by ERROL DE CRUZ


HATS OFF TO ALFRED HO
====================

You have to give Alfred Ho credit for his guts. The man doesn't give a hoot about being blind or any disadvantage that may come with it. Once he's got his mind made up, there's no stopping him. And if he isn't able to get anyone to help him achieve what he wants, he'll just go ahead and do it himself.

The 47 year old singer has been in the business for more than 20 years, having begun with the 1971 Bakat TV competition. And for a long, long time, he had been wanting to record his own albums but luck just wasn't on his side. None of the recording companies were too keen on giving him much hope in this aspect of his career.

So in 1993, pretty fed up with the negative responses he was getting, Alfred went ahead and did it himself, playing all the instruments and singing the songs too and voila, there it was - his first album "Special Gems", which sold more than 600 units on CD and 2,000 on cassette.

This wouldn't be a terribly impressive sales figure; until you discover that he did the marketing and distribution himself, too. "As far as I am concerned, it is my own product and I have no qualms peddling them at my shows and concerts."

The response then was good enough to justify another musical venture and this time he called it LOVE SONGS IN GOLD. And the response to this? - "Well about the same, really, because I was still doing the distribution myself." Both special gems and love songs in gold were also financed entirely by Alfred. But like they say, if you really believe in something and slog at it, something is bound to come through. Yes, even fate relents to the persistent peddler and eventually something did come through.

Now we're into October 1996 and Alfred Ho has just released a new album entitled NOSTALGIC COUNTRY & EVERGREEN FAVOURITES, which comprises 16 songs sold at budget price. This time around there is a big difference. Alfred finally found someone to finance the production and release the album; a local recording company called Kingstar Enterprise, which will also be responsible for marketing and distributing the album. The songs are rare and difficult to find in the market; but as the title suggests, "they are all timeless pieces," says Alfred.

The songs in the compilation include "MY SHOES KEEP WALKING BACK TO YOU, BUTTERFLY, LITTLE DUTCH GIRL, GREAT BIG WORLD, THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE, TEN THOUSAND MILES, SIXTEEN CUBES OF SUGAR and I WILL LOVE YOU ALL MY LIFE."

Having heard all his recording efforts on the three albums, one thing is certain, Alfred Ho has improved by leaps and bounds. His earlier efforts has presented the singer as one who did cover versions in the same vocal style as the originals. But on this album, Alfred has come a long way, with his own guitar-picking style and a voice all his own, regardless of the songs he covers.

Alfred hosts a sunday morning show on time highway radio (8am) on which he also spins songs from his own albums. Besides this, he can often be found making guest appearances at various nightspots in and around the city; like the little-publicised gig at Radio City in 1 utama (Bandar Utama, KL) late last month. The event had been publicised by word-of-mouth and several of his fans turned up from far and near to be entertained.

The response he received was impressive, to put it mildly, and even the management was surprised at his popularity, especially when he belted out the old favourites, using several self-arranged medleys, only stopping between segments to make special dedications and introduce his songs.

"We were only planning to have him here just this once to help promote his album but with this kind of response, maybe we'll have him more often" said owner Patrick Teoh.