The Sunday Mail - Ricky Yap (15th Sept 1996)

TIMELESS AND TALENTED
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Blind singer Alfred Ho may be a household name to many but he may be one of only a few success stories among the visually-impaired in Malaysia.

Ho has garnered a reputation as a pub singer, doing the Malaysian nightspot circuit but his gigs are few and far between, secured by word of mouth.

Anyhow, he does not comply with the basket-weaving or telephone-operating jobs normally associated with his lot. Ho has also stepped out of the realm of his peers found busking near the Puduraya bus terminal or outside department stores in Kuala Lumpur.

But Ho who is self-supported is not a happy man. He feels the government and the private sector should do more to improve the welfare of the blind, especially singers and musicians.

"I am appealing to the Ministry of Information and the private sector to charge a minimal fee, if not free, for advertising our musical works," said Ho.

He was speaking at a Press conference to promote his third english album "NOSTALGIC COUNTRY & EVERGREEN FAVOURITES. "When I first found out how expensive radio advertising rates were, I got the shock of my life. I simply couldn't afford them."

Despite his impairment, the 47 year old Ho still has a keen insight into the vital role advertising plays. "Strong advertising is a very important strategy in determining sales," said Ho, who is speaking from experience where his previous two english efforts, "SPECIAL GEMS" and "LOVE SONGS IN GOLD" managed to "break even" despite an absence of advertising.

"The 16 songs in NOSTALGIC COUNTRY & EVERGREEN FAVOURITES are my personal selections. The songs are rare and cannot be found in the market but as the title suggests, are timeless," said Ho, rattling off titles such as LITTLE DUTCH GIRL, VENUS IN BLUE JEANS, SWEET GYPSY ROSE, WITCH DOCTOR, THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE and I DON'T CARE IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES.

And opportunities are non-existent, Ho lamented, in the advertising jingles market. "It's a closed market which is monopolised by the same set of players. I tried to break into it a few times but was given the brush-off," said Ho, who became blind at the age of three after a bout of measles.

With music in his blood (I used to make music by pulling rubber bands on a tin drum), Ho started playing the guitar on his own at the age of eight after becoming inspired by a schoolmate's expertise on the instrument. Ho later became a guitar maestro and decided to test his singing and musical skills in the BAKAT TV contest in 1971, where he managed to reach the semi-finals.

"I sang my own compositions TRAIN TO TENNESSEE and WENDY'S LOVE SONG in that talentime contest and the two songs were later released as EPs," reminisced Ho, who later gave up his job as a telephone operator to become a full-time singer. He does not reject his decision but still finds his road to stardom littered by pitfalls and potholes.