gala dinner? One, a CD is a more
tangible product with a longer shelf
lifespan and two, well, he gets to
strike off an item on his bucket list.
And although Richard is not the first
prominent hobbyist musician to cut
a record, he is certainly one of the
rare few to tackle the project with
such gusto and passion. Richard flew
to Paris to record 66 with French
producer Bruno Le Flanchec and had
over a dozen session musicians swing
by the studio to lay down backing
instrumentals for seven of the nine
tracks.
On the album sleeve, Richard
dedicates the album to his “father
and late mother, who didn’t disown
me when I thought the point of
studying in London during the
Swinging Sixties was to be like
Mick Jagger”.
Music is certainly a subject Richard
is fond of and something he clearly
is knowledgeable in. An off-the-cuff
remark about The Rolling Stones
being a rock band turned into a short
lecture about the evolution of jazz
and rock and roll. “A large part of
jazz and rock actually started from
blues music! Then, it branched out
to become jazz on one side and rock
on the other side. Following that,
rock music became the modern rock
that you know today through bands
such as Led Zeppelin. Everything
that happens today is a result of
what happened in the past before us.
Ultimately, you have to acknowledge
your roots,” says Richard.
The past is something Richard
is keenly aware of. The grandson
of one of Singapore’s most iconic
historical figures, Eu Tong Sen,
has built a memory lane of sorts on
the first floor of Eu Yan Sang’s new
offices within the Tai Seng industrial
estate. Old photos of significant
family members are plastered on the
walls and share space with a large,
imposing grandfather clock that once
chimed the hours in the hallway of
Eu Villa, situated at Adis Road, Mount
Sophia. A picture of a road sign, Eu
Tong Sen Street, pays homage to
Richard’s grandfather, the one who
started the ball rolling.
You could say the past has moulded
Richard into the man he is today.
The eldest son grew up in a world
of privilege within the whitewashed
walls of Eu Villa, kept clean by a
crew of amahs. The 2.2 ha estate
was home to several Eu families and
was, at that time, one of Singapore’s
largest private houses. However,
Richard never allowed the display of
wealth around him to lull him into a
sense of com