Joseph Chin - A Michaelian and Musician RIP

The late Joe Chin ..through the years 

 I received a message yesterday from a friend that Joe Chin had passed away. I enquired if this Joe Chin was the organist that regularly provided the music at our annual St Michaels Institution OMA (Old Michaelian Association) dinner.

I got an affirmative reply and a photograph of a younger Joe Chin with a guitar in his hand saying he was a founder member of the Fabulous Falcons.

That was news to me. I had heard of the band, that they

Joe as a teenager 

were famous but had never seen nor heard them perform.

I Googled Joe Chin and discovered he had a blog named “thefabulousfalcons.blogspot.com” where he describes himself as ….  “a musician and has been one since the sixties when I was a teenager. Though I play the keyboards, the guitar will always be my first love..”

He goes on to relate how he got into music … from the St Michaels TALENTIME …….”when I gave up playing hockey, I found a new interest in music. It all began with the school talentime. …In my school, St. Michaels Institution, Ipoh, the talentime was held every year featuring the Hawaiian Rythmaires as the backing band for every hopeful contestant. The band consisted of the school teachers like the late Albert Teh, Lee Peng Han and Kee Ying Wah, Of course the other equally important band member was Louis Rodriguez.”

All that he wrote on his blog was about Ipoh and interesting …the  Talentime , Hawaiian Rythmaires, his learning the guitar, how the Falcons got their name, the Falcons early gigs and his gigs post Falcons at the various local joints like Tiger Bar and Miners Arms. His writings were memories of a time gone by but nostalgic.

The Fabulous Falcons. (l-r) Thomas Ham (rhythm) Tommy Ong (bass) Christopher Choong (drums) and Joe Chin (lead guitar)

Joe left us on the 1st June 2021 after a short illness. He was in Kuala Lumpur but he came home to Ipoh and then left us. He was 74.  

Gone but not forgotten. RIP Joe.

Condolences to the family.

JAG