During the late 60s and early 70s, The October Cherries were one of the most innovative local groups in Singapore and Malaysia. They have about 20 albums to their credit. They started their recording career as The Surfers, and branched out on their own as the October Cherries and Jade & Pepper in the later years.
On the recommendation of the band leader of the Surfers, the group signed with Baal Records. Their first record was distributed by EMI with "Hooray for Hazel" reaching No.1 in Singapore and Malaysia. Not happy with EMI and to avoid legal hassels, the group decided to change its name to October Cherries with recording, production and distribution moving to Baal Records in 1968.The virgin release on Baal of Cucucu Choo and Coffee Toffee Squares hit No. 1 in Brazil, Singapore and Malaysia consecutively. The Vietnam war was coming down and Bangkok was booming. Psychedelic clubs become a wave in the U.S. The Montein Hotel Group in Bangkok opens its state of the art mind-blowing disco, The An-an featuring the October Cherries. The Cherries packed in thousands to the disco.
A compilation of some of their previous hits were released on CD in 1995. It included titles like Something I Like About You, Coffee Toffee Squares, Don't Tell It To Jane, Far Away Now, Cu Cu Cu Choo, I'll Wait, All Alone Like The Deep & Lonely Sea, Felicia-Flowers For Your Grave, I Love Suzie, All Things Work Together For Good To Them That Love God, Butterfly, Please Love Me, Beautiful Sunday, Chingay, Can't Stand The Pace, I Wanna Be Loved By You, This Is A Love Song and Bad Trip. A "must-buy" for all their fans.
According to the October Cherries website, it seems that the song "Far Away Now" was later adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber to become the song "Don’t Cry for Me Argentina" in the musical "Evita"! Now how’s that for far reaching?
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