Today, we're privileged to sit down with a performer
whose career has been woven into the fabric of
Singapore's entertainment for decades. You may
have first known her as a television personality,
a beloved face from the foundational years of
local comedy, having starred in classic sitcoms
like Can I Help You? and The Landmark Under One
Roof. But over the years, she has carved out
a parallel path in music. captivating audiences
with her powerful vocals and an undeniable stage
presence. It's this vibrant energy that earned
her a powerful moniker, a nickname that has followed
her throughout her musical journey, Singapore's
Tina Turner. Tonight, we're going to go behind
the curtain to chronicle her remarkable journey
from sitcom pioneer to stage sensation, to uncover
the story behind the one and only Melissa Siddick.
Being a real true blue pranakan, my mother, We
play your shows. My shows. And my mom will watch
and listen. That's why I know that I realize
that you're doing this Puanakan performances.
And it's because of my mom that we play it and
then I realize that you're on it. And she watches
you quietly. You're making me cry, you know.
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start the show. Good job in the city. Working
for the men every night and day. And I never
lost one minute of sleep. And I worry about the
way that things might have been. I say, we keep
on turning. Brownberry keep on burning. And we're
rolling, rolling, rolling under the river In
another place in Memphis Pump a lot of chain
in New Orleans But I never saw the good side
of the city until The riverboat quit, I said.
Big wheels keep on turning. Thanks for watching!
Singapore's very own Tina Turner. My goodness
gracious me. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to
the Chris Hansen Conversation. This is the season
finale. And as you've seen the performance earlier
on, what a start to end a super long season.
We hope you guys have had fun. We certainly have
had a lot of fun. And this is a milestone season,
as you can see right in front of me. Yep, that's
our silver play button award from YouTube. Thank
you very much, YouTube. Thank you very much,
especially to all of our 104 ,000, so far, 104
,000 subscribers across Singapore, Indonesia,
Philippines, and Malaysia. Thank you so very
much for supporting the show. Please continue
to spread the word about this show of ours and
our channel, CCB TV Podcasts. Yep, we are a silver
play button. Silver Play Button Award winner,
and we are so proud that just after two years
and nine months, we finally made it. Wow. Hey.
And in studio with me, you heard us sing. She
did all the heavy lifting, man. I was just a
kippo in the background. It's Melissa Siddig.
Welcome to the studio. Hello. And welcome to
our season finale. What a fitting end. Thank
you so very much, man. Thank you for inviting.
This is wonderful. I feel so honored. Hello.
Our tribute to you, really. I mean, my goodness
gracious me. I mean, just watching you, singing
with you. I mean, I didn't really sing. I mean,
I did sing in the background, but singing with
you was a joy. Watching you perform, it's always
been a joy. I've seen you do this. A few times.
On stage. On stage. I've seen you, of course,
for the first few times on TV. And you know that
big concert that you won? Yes, I won the Rolling
Good Times. Where she won this. It's called the
Golden Reunion. She's a grand champion. 4, 1995.
Yeah, 94. The grand champion of Mediacorps. Back
then it was called TCS, Television Corporation
Singapore. The Rolling Good Times was a very,
very popular program on our TV show, on Channel
5, now Mediacorp, then TCS. And they used to
have people come on and if you're good at performing
as Elvis, they have the Elvis one. Then if you're
good at being Lionel Richie, you're the Lionel
Richie one. And then all of these people came
in to compete. And Melissa, all the winners came
in to compete. And she became the all -time champion
for rolling good times. She beat all that. How
many performers were there? There were about
40 contestants. Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. So,
you know, they ran Rolling Good Times since 1993
into 1994 till the end of 1994. It's like the
American Idol, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah.
But it was so good. It was so Singapore, right?
Yeah, it is. Like, all us Singaporeans It was
our own original production, yeah. And we love
all our songs, like, you know, the oldies. Like,
we have the Bee Gees. Yeah, yeah. BGs and then
we had Tom Jones week and then they had Carpenters
week and then they have every Lionel Richie Elvis
we will sit down we will go home and chuck a
bag and sit down in front of the TV and watch
Rolling Good Times the host Loretta Albon and
Douglas Olivero and Dougie with their hair their
hair very big hair And we will watch and watch.
And then they have Tina Turner. And then my mom
said, you, you should go on it. I said, yeah,
man, can we win money? I was thinking about kecing.
Of course. Then I, you know, I just practice
in the bathroom, put on somebody's wig and baju,
my auntie's baju and wig and wear the lipstick
over my lips. I look like Tina or not, mom? Then
I say, boleh, boleh. You try. Sekali, I beat
the... That week, I beat all the other girls.
There were about six contestants. And, you know,
they sang really well. And we had to sing with
the SBC Orchestra. TCS Orchestra. And then we
only have like guitarists there. And, you know,
Boom Chacha. You really need to sing. sing it
well, you know, and follow, you know, follow
their beat. It's really like raw music. We don't
have that anymore. No, but you came on, when
you came on to sing, we don't have that anymore.
Yeah, you're right. Yeah, we don't have that
anymore now. We don't have anything. Live music.
Sorry. No, live music on TV. Sorry, MediaCorp.
Sorry. MediaCorp, you got nothing like this anymore,
man. Come on, give me a fucking break. And Malfurdenance
is on my show. Was it last season or two seasons
ago, right, Kai? I love him. Mel was on the show.
Mel was also lamenting about this. And I'm going
to echo the same sentiments again. I mean, come
on, Media Corp. Bring back the old talent times.
Bring back the old rolling good times. And then,
you know, they made people like you, right? They
made people like Dick Lee. They made people like
Clement Chow. It was Jacinta. And along the way,
so many of you guys have come out from people
who are just common ordinary folk. Jacinta was
also in the Talent Time. Talent Time, yeah, yeah,
yeah, she was. KP, Kopo. Kopo, yeah. There's
so many. Every one of us had a bit of that. Rudy
Van Der Ven. oh Rudolph la apa Ruby okay Rudy
we call him Rudolph the 8 you know when he came
out as the what masquerade right cute cute cute
cute we all teenagers we all ran and then go
and watch hope that he'll win because he's our
favourite our favourite yeah shout out to you
Rudolph van de Ven Rudolph you got a big fan
here But it's true. I mean, back then, there's
so many things like this happening, right? Yeah,
yeah. People like you come out, you know, and
then we would not know who Melissa Siddiq is
if not for things like that, like the Rolling
Good Times. Yeah, I wanted my name out there.
I didn't want to be Tina Turner. I was a lot
more than just Tina Turner. But you are so Tina.
I can do so well. I was invited into Hong Kong
to sing as Tina. Bali, I was invited. to Melbourne
yeah I sang at the Palladium and I yeah I sang
in KL and Rampai Sari yeah That time, TCS and
RTS, the orchestra, they were together, you know.
We had our orchestra. There were 40 -piece orchestra.
Wow. So I was flown to Malaysia. And Daryl David
was the MC with Tiara Jacqueline. And now he
MP, not MC anymore. Hello, Daryl. MP of Haugang.
Actually, I work in Haugang also. Is it Haugang
or Mokyo? No, my workplace is in Haugang, actually.
Haugang is the other party. The other party.
Daryl. I don't know. Daryl. You wish party. You
wish party. Then we had this 40 -piece orchestra
behind us, okay? And I had to sing all the Tina
Turner songs. And it was so difficult because,
you know, they just met these musicians and then
they were trying to duplicate that song from
Tina Turner's song, River Deep Mountain High.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then I was standing there and
then they had their dancers and I had to sing
my song. You know, during rehearsal, it's like...
That's all I hear. I cannot hear the melody.
I don't know how to come in with the song. When
I was a little girl, I had a rag doll. The only
doll I ever owned. Behind me. That's all I could
hear. I was suffering. And the dancers were like
going. And then they come to me and say, Kakak,
so hard lah your song. Your song is so hard lah.
Kakak penat already, penat. I said, just dance
lah, just dance lah. My song is like that lah.
Got double beat one. Kedebak, kedebu, kedebak,
kedebu, kedebak, kedebu. They all kedebak, kedebu
all the way. Poor guys lah. Malaysian dancer.
Well lah, they all dance like that. They all
lingang kangkung, right? Yeah, I had Aisha on
the same stage, you know, wonderful. I got to
sing with her. Aisha, Mazura. Yeah, people from,
you know. Mazura also. Yeah, she was there. I
sang, one of the songs I sang was my favorite
song, which I still sing it. With the orchestra,
a Aneke Gronlo song. Madam Burung Kakak Tua.
Burung Kakak Tua. I get to meet her because she
was at the Golden Reunion. She was invited. Yeah,
yeah. The Golden Reunion, Aneke Gronlo was invited.
Sakura. Yo, wow. The Blue Diamonds. The Blue
Diamonds, yeah. And Anita Sarawak. You don't
play. Hello. How we miss Anita Sarawak. And she
sang, Sophisticated lady. She's one hell of a
performer, man. Fantastic. Yeah, she's fantastic.
She burns the stage. I gotta tell you, Melissa,
I watched the entire damn concert. Oh, you did?
I think there was even a CD on sale to some of
the songs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bought that CD
too, man. Yeah. I love rolling good times, mate.
I mean, I was at home watching the whole concert.
I watched you perform and I was freaking rooting
for you. Because I mean, my goodness, no one
comes close. No one came close. I had a double
week. You know, I got another week on top of
this week. Wait, wait, let me guess. But today
I cannot wear it. Can you put up that picture
of Melissa as Tina Turner, please? Kai? Not that
one. Oh my God. This is a double week. She's
always having this messy hair. Her hair is always
messy. But you know, I actually digitally treated
this picture too. And make sure it looks really,
really good, you know. Nicely cropped. Nicely
done. Cool, man. Yeah. And then I get to sing
a lot of shows on TCS that time. We did the POSB
show. You know the POSB show? Was it Larry Lai?
Ah, Larry Lai. Yeah. The host. And then I sang
the, you know. What's that song with a lot of
children? I like to teach the world to sing.
No, not that one. We are the children. Last generation.
We don't need another hero. Mad Max, Beyond the
Thunderdome. So I'm standing down there on the
podium. Wow, they put me on the podium so skinny.
I'm scared that I will fall. Skyler, all these
kids, I don't know where these kids come from.
Can you sing that line again for me? We don't
need another heat. My goodness, she's a humdinger,
man. A humdinger for Tina Turner, I swear. Really,
my goodness gracious me. I'm just listening to
you. Listening in my cans. Goodness, close your
eyes and it's Tina. Yeah, I should do it again.
Thanks. Fantastic. I've done this. It's 1994,
darling. Now it's like 19 not belum. Eh, not
19 even. Already 2000. Now it's 2000. 25 going
to be 26. I don't know. I'm still in a time warp.
Going to be 26 already. Now, I should be her.
Because this is her age when she was really big.
Tina, she became so big after she was 46. And
then after she got the best album, in her 50s,
she was hot. Yeah. And then she got a boyfriend
at that time. And she only got married to the
boyfriend at 76. Yeah. But it's amazing. I mean,
even at that age, she was moving around in stiletto
heels. Are you doing the same thing when you
go on stage? I should not stop. You know, I mean,
looking at her, she is my big idol. No, Melissa,
don't ever stop, man. I mean, look, the reason
why... I saw you again. It was serendipitous,
you know, at that place, in Mel's place, in Kato.
Then I was there as well to also have a good
time. You went up the jam. I went up the jam.
You went up the jam. Then I said, my God, wait,
hang on a second. Hang on. Then I asked around.
I said, who is this auntie? Wait, no. This auntie
singing? No, no. I pulled someone. I said, that's
Melissa Siddig, right? She said, yeah. I said,
holy crap. Straight away after you were done,
I went and looked for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
but I was like looking like one auntie right
Kai we have that footage can you play that footage
for me please oh my god that's the video I took
of you and no no no somebody else took of you
yeah Lawrence took of you then I asked him for
it this is you not looking like you now but that's
how I look like normally normal normal This is
a normal lady. Steven Francis. Reggie. Reggie,
yeah. And there's me up there. Oh, my God. Look.
Oh, everybody's out. Oh, wow. Like a big concert
I don't know where that voice come from Hello.
What are you talking about, man? I just heard
you sing. I think he's inside. My credit to Laurence
Pushpum. Thank you so much, Laurence Pushpum
and Mel's Place for that footage. You know, frankly,
I tell you, man, I heard you sing. I saw you
sing that night. I was sitting seated right in
front. You can see me just now in the video,
right? Yeah, man. And I went, I was so smacked.
I was like, oh, fuck. I saw your eyes. Melissa
Sine! And I had to come. I had to come and say
hello. And I had to ask you to come on this show.
I mean. So sweet. I don't know. I heard you sing
then. I was singing you here. And I swear there's
so much vibrance. Now you see me? No, even your
personality. You see? But you did also have a
time on TV, on sitcoms. Yes, yes. That's why
I'm just not doing Tina Turner. Only Tina Turner.
Yeah, let's talk about the other things then.
Other parts of me. There's so many things that
I do in my life. I don't know. I think I've got
nine lives. I'm a cat. Yeah. Like I do so many
things, you know. Could have fooled me. Look
at the outfit, man. So, you know, I was doing
sitcoms right after I won, you know, I was doing
theater. Yeah. Glenn Gwee liked me so much. He
thought I was really crazy. So we did mix. No,
I did Boeing, Boeing. I was starring with Lynette
Pang, Daisy Rennie and Coach. Oh, Grandma Daisy.
All three of us, four of us were doing this.
And I said, Glenn, you can act? He said, yeah,
yeah, I like to act. I said, okay. And TheatreWorks
called me and they said, you do mixed signals,
okay, for us. Oh, mixed signals. I was Ruby,
the girl who had the plastic surgery. I'm the
girl with the TV that fell on my head. I got
like chip in my head. And then every time that
I'm talking to someone, I... FAB. Gunakanlah
FAB. Malboro. Rothman International. In between
my, I'm going on a date with Benedict Goh. At
that time, it was my date. He was my doctor.
Yeah, I was performing with stars. You know,
I was like, for me, I never believed that I would
be performing with all these people. And it all
started from Rolling Good Times. Before that,
I won. And Tina Turner. Yeah. That time, before
Rolling Good Times, it was this competition at
the Boom Boom Room. Oh, my. Yes. For those of
you who don't know, give me some context. Boom
Boom Room is this place. It's a fantastic place.
It's a theater. It's entertainment. It's comedy.
It's like going to watch SNL, Saturday Night
Live, you know, in Bugis, in the old Bugis Village
in Kuma, coming on every night with Norlina.
Yes. And a whole lot of cast are involved. And
it's really fun. Really funny shows that happens
in that stage in Boom Boom Broom. So someone
said, hey, they're giving out money, you know,
it's like $5 ,000. And that time I need that
$5 ,000. Really need that $5 ,000 because I just
moved into this flat that I bought for my mom.
And she was not well that time. She had a coma
and was losing her eyesight. And I needed some
things in the house, you know, like railings.
and, you know, hot water. I need more money.
How to get money, man? They said, okay, okay.
Try, try. Yeah, I have to pay the APEC because
to do my flooring for my kitchen, man, the APEC
asked me for $5 ,000. Where I'm going to get
the $5 ,000? Okay lah, I try lah. This boom boom
room, Tina Turner. Okay, I'll do Tina Turner
there. So, I had my brother. He carried me on
his shoulder. I was heavier than this. Oh, my
sister, why are you so heavy? He got me on top
of the stage. Hi, y 'all. Are there boys in the
house? Are there girls in the house? And I was
doing a stand -up, you know, first in Boom Boom
Room. Wow. Yeah, I was like, oh, my God. And
I was talking to the people and asked Tina. I
come. way from usa upper serangoon avenue yeah
i got all these laughs and stuff like that and
then i sang my my my song a um what's love got
to do i got to do what So that song, I got the
$5 ,000. Even your phrasing, man. My goodness.
I got the $5 ,000. You got it? Okay. Then I thought
that's it. Once, Kenneth Liang called me. He
said, hey, you want to join this rolling good
time? How did Kenneth Liang get to know you?
He was the judge. Oh, he was the judge at the
Boom Boom Room. I think, yeah, yeah. Was he the
judge who was there? The judge was Lim Sik. Yeah,
Lim Sik, yeah. There was Ken. Ken Lim. Ken Lim.
I can't remember, but I think they were all there.
Alan, you know. Patty from Boom Boom Room. Who
else? Dick. I'm sure that Dick Lee was there.
I'm sure he was there. I'd be surprised if he
wasn't. Yeah. It was all. Then after that, you
know, music and movement. Yeah, Eminem. They
used me a lot. They put me on boats. I was performing
with Kuma. On the boat. Oh, my goodness. That
was such an experience. It was like a whirlwind.
So all this was before. No, no, no. We say it
was all before Rolling Good Times. No, no, no,
no. Right after that month, when I won, Zoom,
I went into TV. Yeah. So it's very close. Oh,
okay. I was discovered. And then after that,
I went into TV. To do what? You went to TV to
do what? For the Talent Time. For Talent Time
or Rolling Good Times? Rolling Good Times. Oh,
Rolling Good Times. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, from
Boomer Room, I won that. Then, okay, then, when
I won the Golden Reunion, I got $30 ,000. Wow.
I can pay so many, I'll pay for so many flooring.
Major renovation. Yeah, major. So, after Rolling
Good Times, how did you end up in the sitcoms?
Okay. And then the producers called me. Rose
Sivam was very interested in me. Okay. Rose Sivam.
And she's still a good friend of mine right now
too. And just did a show with her, DARE Festival,
just like a few weeks ago for people with disabilities.
And it was by SG Enable and Mediacorp. So we
did that big concert with people with disabilities.
They were singing and dancing and playing music.
That was so great. Yeah. So, Rose Sivan put me
in Ghermit's world first. And then, under one
roof, I was Nolina Salim's sister. You know,
I was her sister. And then, I was given this
role as Evita in Donny Lee's show with Hosen
Leong. Hosen, yeah. I was on the Donny Lee show
too. Oh, were you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was
like, you know, with Sheik Haikal, Irene Ang,
Beatrice Chia, us all, you know, we were all
on the same stage and doing this live. Yeah.
Live audience lah. Hello. The show was like one
take and that's it. You have four cameras from
every angle. And then you just have to do your
skits. Yeah, like you have to know your skin
very, very well. You cannot not know it at all.
And every week is a new dance. So we had to...
Challenging, challenging. Very challenging. That's
our training ground. They just put you in the
deep pool and you have to... Don't drown. Don't
drown. That's how it is. We were trained that
way. And that's what Boom Boom Room, all these
live shows and theatre, it really builds your
energy, your stamina, skills, improv and everything
else. So you ended up doing sitcom. And my question
I'm going to ask you, I'm going to go and rewind
back. You're obviously a fantastic singer. You're
not just a fantastic singer, you're a fantastic
performer. I mean, you're a life wire. How did
this all start for you? For me? You know, I've
always loved singing. Loved, loved singing. And
my father was a band member of the police. He
can play the trumpet, the bugle, the... Oh, you're
talking about the police force? Police force.
My mom likes to sing as well. So he taught all
the brothers how to play guitar. And then we
were staying in... Katong at that time. Jalan
Beringin. See, this is where all the talents
come from. All the people from Katong. So, the
people from Katong and Douglas Oliveira actually
was a friend of my brother's and he used to sing
at Beer Keller. Beer Keller, yeah. So, they...
So, the whole family will go and go watch the
brothers sing. And then, my brother said, Eh,
Lisa, you want to sing or not? No, no, no. Douglas
said, Eh, your sister can sing, right? Eh, let
her sing. Let her. I said, cannot. All these
girls, they all have to stay upstairs. You know,
we've got double story house. We stay in the
black and white terrace that time. Very nice
area. And then, oh, she can sing. I said, I want
to sing. I want to sing. Then, you know, they're
playing country music. Yeah, yeah. So we start
with country music and then there's just players.
What's your key? F -R, F -R. F -R, F -R. Then
they play. Delta don't. What's that? You have
long. Could it be? A fair world someday somehow.
Something like that. Sky Lee. Douglas said, hey,
you should put your sister, you know, as your
frontliner. No, no, no, no. The boys didn't let
us sing. But then I had this, you know, burning.
So no one taught you? No, no, no. I just wanted
to sing. You mean you discovered all of a sudden,
hey, I can sing. So you're born with a gift.
I always wanted to sing, but then I was doing
other things. No, but you're born with a gift.
I mean, my question is, is that how did you become
the singer? How did you become, how did you discover
that you can sing? Did you have to learn it somehow?
Did you watch someone else? Did someone mentor
you? Did someone, you know, teach you, groom
you? I didn't know. We listened to Radio Fusion
a lot. I see. Here we go again, Kai. Radio Fusion,
man. Everyone, practically everyone got the influence
from where? Really fusion. Really fusion. And
then we have this, you know, vinyls and we'll
listen to that. And my sisters, the three of
us, we like to stand in front of the big fan.
Last time, no aircon, only fan. Then we'll stand
there and then the three of us will sing ABBA
songs. In front of the fan. Yeah, in front of
the fan. Yeah. Yeah, reverb. Yeah, reverb. We
get the reverb. Dancing queen, feel the beat
unattended. That one also can ah. Happy ah. That
way also okay ah. So okay, I'm taking it then
that Melissa Siddique actually was born to sing.
Probably, yeah. I suppose so. I think I get it
from my parents. Both of them got beautiful voices.
So it's in the genes basically. Even though I
wasn't allowed to sing, my mom would let me sing.
I'm always like in the kitchen and then stirring
my rendang or I have to, you know the batu giling
last time? Yeah. six, you know, I have to gileng,
you know, gerbuk, gerbuk, gerbuk, gerbuk, gerbuk.
Then my mom said, eh, you sing a song lah, so
it'll make you happy a bit. Then I will sing
her favorite songs from Aneke Grono. Oh, bergini
rasanya, hatiku sensara, mengingat dia hatiku
loka, kena terkoda oleh cinta. So she'll ask
me to sing that song. that I'm singing it over
and over again right now because, you know, it
really brings a lot of memory. I met Aneke Gruner
at Golden Reunion. Yeah. Yeah, I met her and
I sang together with her too. That was really
special. So I'm still singing her song right
up till today with my group. I've got my Pranakan
group. Yeah. What's up with that? What's up with
the Pranakan? I'm surprised. Because, you know,
I also like culture and I like to, why I'm doing
so much of this Pranakan because I'm brought
up in Katong. That's the heart of Pranakan. Yes,
yes. My grandma is Chinese. Oh, is she? She can
speak Cantonese. I can only understand her schooling.
That's all I know. But, And we live like how
it was the Pranakans do. We don't call it Pranakan.
We are a mixture of people. My grandfather is
from India. He lives in Penang. That's what I
heard. Cheti Peranakan maybe? Cheti Melayu. So,
you know, the blood is there. So, I suppose maybe
I'll go into Peranakan culture and find out.
And it's so colourful. And so is my life. I grew
up in a wonderful black and white house and we've
got a mango tree and then my brothers will make
the, we have a tree house and then we go, you
know, we buy the, we go and get the tyres and
then we... That's our swing and we'll climb up
the tree house and we play in the rain, play
in the longgang and everything and, you know,
all in the dirt, come home with all mud all over
us and we never get sick. good we are like so
how to get sick we're outdoors all the time we
never get sick we were so good you know we really
live it up but Pratikant culture I mean you're
not Pratikant right I don't know. Maybe part.
Maybe the chatty malaccan part from your grandfather's
side. Grandmother's side. Grandmother's side,
sorry. Because she wears the kebaya. And my mom,
she sews all the kebaya for people around. Right,
right. In Amber Road. Amber Road, yeah. We had
a house there. So my mom, she takes in orders
and she makes, usually she makes the... lace
ones, the lace kebaya. My grandmother, she liked
the ketuk kebaya. We'll take, yeah, what is it?
That's the, it has holes, yeah, on the seams.
And we'll go to Juchat. We take the treasure
and then we go all the way to Jujia and there's
this, there's seamstress there and they'll do,
we'll see it on the spot, you know, the patterns
that they make and they're so beautiful. So I
grew up with all these and I see it with my own
eyes, you know, how things were made at that
time and how colourful and wonderful and I have
a picture of my grandmother, I'll show you. Her
kain so beautiful, tada lagi, no more. And we
used to cook a lot. We cook at home. It's nine
brothers and sisters. I'm always in the kitchen.
We'll make rendang, you know, outside our house.
And we'll make my mother's chicken buah keluar.
All these ayam buah keluar. Oh, the achar. My
mother's achar. We will bottle it. Everybody
loves my mother's achar. My mother is pure Peranakan.
She used to jahit kasut banik. kasut I've got
a lovely song with kasut manik so yeah so all
this song and baju panjang baju panjang baju
dulu oh okay why I love singing peranakan songs
because it's so melodious it's like it's I mean
it's such a change from the from the pop queen
Tina Turner songs. Then I see you, and I did
see you sing Pranakan songs. You're all over.
You know why I see you all the time? I say, hang
on. When I saw you the first time on YouTube,
I mean, hang on. It can't be, but that looks
like Melissa Siddique. You know why? My mom had
a stroke. Multiple strokes about two years back.
i'm so sorry it's all right uh she's kind she's
very not she's not able anymore i could barely
speak so being a real true blue pranagan my mother
we play on the tv for her so we play your shows
my shows We play... I've got a whole 30 -minute
show, you know, I did at Armenian Street last...
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know. All the songs
that I... I know. Yeah, I bring up all that song.
I know. And we play. And my mom will watch and
listen. That's why I know that I realized that
you're doing this Puranakan performances. And
it's because of my mom that we play it. And then
I realized that you're on it. and she watches
you quietly. You're making me cry, you know.
So, you know, so it's meaningful. I would tell
you that because for us, for me, my family, my
mother, because the resources that we want to
find on Pranakan performances, songs, or even
theatre, we can only find very little and most
of it that we can find has you in it you know
I'm in it a lot I'm so in love with it I really
want to do a lot more about the Pranakan culture
a lot about our culture it's just not about Pranakan
is Chinese? No, it's not. It's just not Chinese.
It's like all the elements, all the culture,
all the people around me. You see, everyone I
turn, okay, oh, this one is the Indian lady that
I know her for a long time. She speaks Malay.
And so I will sing her songs if she wants me
to sing. Okay, I can. Then I turn here. I've
got like really lovely Malay friends, wonderful
ladies that are, you know, who nurture me. Dr.
Sidiq was my neighbor. Dr. Siddiq, the gynecologist.
And the mother, I'm still talking to her. And
I will sing the songs to her also. Burung kakak
tua di Tanjung Katol. Airnya biru. We stay in
Tanjung Katol anyway. That's why we know all
the songs. Di situ tempatnya. Darah jelita. Duduk
sekampung. Lagikan rindu. Kononlah pulang. And
we love to watch Piramli also. All the Piramli
songs also, I would want to sing. I don't care.
I want to sing it. So that's why I'm in every
show, you know. Piramli song like, Bila larut
malam, Suasana sepi, Bori Morantika, Widuri.
We all grew up with all these, you know, shows,
you know, on TV. Yeah. Eh, Bori was married to
Anita at one time. I know, I know. First husband,
yeah. First, no, actually not. No, the first
one. Okay. That one I didn't know. You can do
Piramli. Your voice is very nice. That's what
everyone has been telling me. You should do.
My Malay friends have been telling me. But you
know, I find it so hard to learn these songs,
really. But I just can't find it so hard to remember
the words. Malay? Yeah. Lyrics. I must teach
you Malay is the easiest to learn. Any genres
when you were growing up, were there any genres
that caught you, captured you, that you would
say that influenced you in any way in your singing?
Definitely the 60s. The 60s, 70s. Like what kind
of genres are you talking about? Are you talking
about country? Are you talking about rock, pop,
jazz? Pop, pop, pop, pop, ABBA at that time and
all the 1970s songs. Okay, okay, okay. The car
wash, working at the car wash. Beep, beep. Yeah,
you know that song, right? Yeah, of course I
do. At the car wash, yeah. Yeah. So we grew up
with those songs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But
this, after all that, I mean, you've never stopped
performing, have you? I did. Okay. What happened?
I got married. Alamma, always a problem. So,
this one. See, this one. When I go, when I go
in, I never stop. I know. So, Picture the husband.
Picture of my husband. I say Masale. Masale.
Kiwi guy. So, this is the cricket club. Okay.
So, that's Chris. His name is also Chris. Good
name. Christopher. Nice name. Christopher Kilfoyle.
So, I was Mrs. Kilfoyle for a while. The two
children came. And, and that's it. My, my focus
were about the children. Yeah. So, we kind of
like moved in, moved to Australia, lived in Brisbane,
lived in Darwin. Wow. It's hot there. All places,
Darwin. Because my late husband. That's the outback,
man. My late husband, he's, he's passed on. I'm
sorry. Yeah. He, he was, he, he does the, conveyor
belts for airport. So he builds. Right, right,
right. The carousels. We get to go. to Darwin
and stay there for a bit and then we lived in
Melbourne and we ended up in Brisbane for a bit
but of course you know we go to New Zealand of
course Vanuatu and Fiji and yeah so my kids are
there my girl is there she's finished her degree
in computer science and she's decided to just
stay there for now and don't blame her yeah she's
23 and my son is Sean. Nadia is my daughter.
My son is Sean. He's 24. He wants to join the
sister. He's going to do marine science. I wouldn't
be surprised if he wants to join the sister.
I mean, come on. So what will you be doing then?
I will just visit them. Because I'm too... I
love Singapore. Cannot. I'm a singer, true blue
Singaporean. Okay. Got Chinese background, got
Indian background. My father is Arab. So my father
is Muhammad Sireh. Cannot. Cannot. I'm here.
I'm in the middle here. Don't ask me to go to
Outback. I cannot. I need my sambal belacan.
Sambal belacan. So you still tumbuk the sambal
belacan? Tumbuk. I still tumbuk the sambal belacan.
Don't bluff lah. You put it in blender lah. Must
tumbuk you know. Have you tried sambal belacan?
You tumbuk the sambal belacan and then after
that you korek the sambal belacan. Then you put
hot rice in the in the you know in the tumbuk
you know. And then you put ikan. Hot, hot, hot,
hot. I can't find it in New Zealand. Yeah, I
love to cook. No, you're right. I agree with
you. I mean, sambal belacan, the best form of
sambal belacan is what you actually put into
the pestle, right? And then you just tumbuk away
lah. Yes. You know, you're absolutely right.
I used to be the one. I also tumbuk belacan before
at my mother's house, okay? Kena torture lah
last time. I wear the sunglasses. I have to tumbuk.
That's it. You must have a good beat to it. I
just had a performance with him. I was working
with him in Kuching. We were flown to Kuching
to do his show about, you know, where he talks
about the matriarchs. So he was fantastic. actor
yeah and I was so honored you know I could sing
for him so I sang I was like the interval you
know and he told me about the tumbuk thing you
have to have a rhythm they can the people your
neighbors can hear you know this one is a very
cholo the way she tumbuk My mother never told
me that. My grandmother also never told me that.
Because you're not anak daerah. You bujang, you
know. It means girls must tumbuk dentally lah,
nicely. Boys, never mind lah. We let go ni. Chidi
will fly everywhere. Everywhere, right. I don't
know what. Sometimes I put she lah, tumbuk sambal
belacan. We love letters also. we made love lessons
everything we do is very lembut very nice and
gentle you know my mother used to make this kueh
nengko it's like the green pandan chiffon cake
is it kueh nengko she call it we have the beater
she make us use the coil that one and beat the
six eggs Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That
one, that one, that one. That one, you have to
do that. Like a pogo stick, a spring like spring.
She don't like the grrr. She don't like the end.
I also don't know why she don't like the texture.
That one also we kenal. And then we make the
kueh bangke. Santan lah. Santan. Coconut milk,
santan. We make our pineapple tarts with the
pineapple. We have to squeeze the teeth out also.
We parut. You know the parut, the one with a
lot of teeth, that one. So that you can get that
texture. My sister kenal that one. Yeah, that
one. Kueh tart. my sister yeah and then we have
to stir the kway tat and things like that actually
you know it's a lovely culture yeah it is a lovely
culture I agree with you we grew up with all
this food around us the food man it's the food
the same thing like you know people get bought
keluar they go to product and restaurant because
no I You pay so much, you get 4 BG you need.
Eh, work keluar ah, you must make it really special.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will coat it the thing and
then I put prawn and chicken meat and mix with
it and then stuff it back in. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
correct. And when you eat ah, wah. My mum, damn
shook. I mean, my mum bless her. I mean, for
many years before she got sick, we had the privilege
of her work keluar. Oh, wonderful. People get
few pieces in the restaurant. My goodness, we've
got like, my goodness. Wow. And then sometimes
she does a sambal bakula. You have to ketuk,
right? A sambal bakula. When it comes out, this
shell already, right? Then we just, sambal we
can culuk with bread. I'll tell you. But I'll
miss all that. I miss it. My mother did say one
day when you lose me, you will miss all this.
I will tell you right here, right now. I miss
it. Come to my house. You can talk for me in
the work. You put it for me. Anyways, so you
got married, you stopped performing. Yeah, but
I was also into my career being a teacher of
special needs. How did that happen? No, no. Teacher
of special needs. I've always been teaching.
Even before? Before Tina, before. I was actually,
I was only 17, 18. I was looking for a job. I
was working with Act 3. Act 3, yeah, yeah. Ruby,
Chandran, and Jasmine at that time. Shout out
to you guys. Yeah, that's, so that was my, like,
oh, that's where I learned about theatre and
everything else. I wasn't a performer. I was
doing backstage. I was doing costumes. I was
cutting sponge. I was cutting sponge. I was like
Edward Scissorhands. And then I can make a horse's
head. So they use the horse head for, you know,
to act on TV. I mean on stage. And then I do
this dragon. i can do this wow really is that
origami yeah no it's with sponge but you can't
yeah i cut the sponge and then shape it shape
it sculpt it sculpt it so i was a costumer I
called myself. Wow. And I could make big, big.
For the kids. Bridget Lachika was with me and
she said that, you know, you can make a lot of
money, you know, in the States. They need talents
like you. Bridget Lachika. Yeah. Any relation
to Gary Lachika? Yeah. Fernandez. Bridget on
TV. She's always on TV. Bridget. She's always
on TV. Okay. You don't know her. Well, she's
with Act 3. Okay. And I was doing that quietly.
And then one day, one day I was doing a ticketing
or something at drama center. And someone fell.
She had a concussion. We were doing a lightning
god. the kitchen lightning rod. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, man. By Catherine Lim. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's her story. Oh, yes. What's the name? I was
supposed to become this asshole, okay, in colors.
They put me in colors and said, go and act. The
actress is off and then gave me a cigarette.
Okay, I don't know my lines. So I was doing this
and said, okay, what I'm supposed to say? No,
this is your son. This is the part that you say.
You hit him I hantam him Like anything Because
I don't know What to say And then he said Why
ah You so naughty huh Huh Huh Every time ah They
all give you angpao You must press Press Press
the angpao Who teach you that This guy. And I
was smoking. So that was my first debut on stage.
He cannot concussion. Yeah, he cannot concussion
after that. But that was my first debut on stage.
I was only a teenager. That was the first time
that, oh, this lady can perform also. Just not
doing costumes and backstage. But how did you
then end up as a special needs teacher? Okay,
and then... Because I get, you know, acting job.
So I was acting at the Singapore Zoo for children
with special needs from Chao Yang. So they were
all there and I was singing, you know, Singapore,
Singapore, our hearts are big and wide. Next
time, these kids were up and they were so happy
that I sang. And then they sang again to me all
in unison. And they were giving me big hugs and
said, hey, I want to work with them. And actually,
Chow Yang was very close to Act 3 where we were.
And then there's Spastic Children's Association
School as well. So I went there and asked for
a job. So they gave me the job and then said,
okay, you have to be qualified first. I went
to the teacher's college down the road and then
got qualified. Continued working with children
with disabilities, adult with disabilities when
I stayed in Brisbane. I worked with people who
had autism and cerebral palsy. I continued when
I came back to Singapore in 2008 with Ewa. I
worked with babies, children under six years
old in early intervention. Right now, I'm specialized
working with babies with severe medical needs.
Wow. And they come from KKH. And I go to KK to
learn how to handle the children and learn how
to read the monitors and the SPOs and the breathing
apparatus. And I go to homes. This is my day
job. This is auntie. Sorry. This is the auntie
day job. I go to homes around here. There's a
student here. His name is Salim. I will go to
his house. And, you know, these children... We
take them as early as three months old. Wow.
Five months, they start with us. And I'll go
to the house and usually they are very young
moms. And I have been a mother myself. So I know
how it feels when you have a newborn in the house.
And especially if your child is a child with
a disability, born with blindness, with hearing
impairment or breathing. They can't breathe and
they're premature babies. They can't drink milk
and they're drinking milk from the tube or some
of them from eating from the pack here. So, you
know, the parents are really fall on. They feel
lost. So our team, me, a physiotherapist, a speech
therapist, an occupational therapist, we'll visit
the family every week. And then we'll start,
you know, taking the baby. Don't put your baby
in the crib. Come, come. take the baby out and
then we put the baby uh you know and uh in the
living room and then we'll say okay sit the baby
up and this is how you carry the baby so it's
like a baby handling you know we'll teach the
the parents how to do that and uh especially
dads dads are afraid to to carry their babies
because they feel that they're so fragile so
um i would do a hand uh you know uh hand over
hand you know this is how you carry your baby
put him on the lap okay let him rest on you okay
rock the baby so when you are moving the baby
okay keep your baby moving when you move the
baby all the little muscles are working on the
baby you know on the uh we were working at okay
what is this like we're working for the torso,
the core. You're working on the core when the
child goes this way, this way, the core muscles
are activated. So that's the first thing that
I will teach the parents when I meet them. You're
remarkable. For me, we started the show and Melissa
Siddick, we all know, is this vibrant, live wire
singer, you know, full of life. fun, full of
jokes, like you've been throughout, since we,
from the get -go of this shoot, you know? And
then now you're telling me all this. It's this
tender part of you, man, that people don't know.
Yeah, I don't usually talk about this work that
I'm doing because... It's because of PDPA. I
cannot show or talk about them. Yeah, I understand.
Or flash them, you know. But your work, but you
doing, just being, you know, doing what you do
is so remarkably different from what people know
you as. Yeah, so you see? Ah, I see. There's
so many parts of me. No, it's not an asshole
part of you, man. I'm not so asshole. No, but
it's really, it's kudos to you. I mean, It's
amazing that there's so many facets to a person.
You're a fine example of that. I just did some
work with APS and Chao Yang. The Chao Yang kids
were performing as well. And I used to do lots
of charity shows for Spastic Children's Association
and Mines. For many years, long time ago. Spastic
Children's Association is now CPAS, you know,
the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Oh, is that right?
Okay. I used to do so many for them. Because
I make it a point to do charity shows, you know,
as often as I can. I was working there for 10
years, you know, in Bassist Children's Association
School. Then I saw you here and there and then
I saw you doing our D &D for it. Yeah, I did,
yeah. And then you sang Elvis Presley. Yeah,
yeah. Elvis Presley of Singapore. Yeah, I never
entered the Rolling Good Times competition. Yeah.
I didn't want to because I was being paid to
do so. And at the moment, if I lose, then nobody
wants me anymore. I die. Not a good move. Strategically,
not a good move for me. What was his name? Rico.
Rito. Rito Caviezel. Handsome. Handsome. Wow,
Rito. That time. Yeah, that time. I don't know
how he looks like. Oh, that's handsome that time.
I don't know how he looks like now. Oh, he needs
to wear a wig. Okay, never mind. Hi, Rito, if
you're listening. Yeah, I have not seen him in
a long time anyway. Romito, I still know. He's
still around. Romito Mendoza. Hi, Romito. Shout
out to you too. Okay. What advice would you give
to, say, today's context to a young artist who
is just starting their journey in music, singing?
performing you know um you get disheartened and
and and then you're always questioning yourself
why are you doing this and is this the right
career and well what what is it for me and all
this will you know really drag you down but the
thing is you know yourself that you are gifted
you know this is a gift for you and and that
you have this talent and that you can perform
and you really you know you touch lives you know
around you and everybody's listening to you and
watching your creation and get inspired by you
and and you should see the positive side And,
you know, there's all these ups and downs when
you are performing this. Oh, the money is not
enough. Should I do this for the money or the
love or things like that? Actually, I'm telling
you guys, just do it. Like Nike said. Last question,
Melissa, before we wrap this season finale episode.
If you could go back in time and give your younger
self one piece, one piece of advice, what would
that be? If I go, back in time, advice to myself?
I don't know what I'll tell myself. I think next
time, oh, you know what I wish? I had a really
good handphone back then so that I could document
my life. There's so much to say. I wish this
was born. So you wish there was a smartphone
way back when. So we could record everything.
Everything. now I just started you know you're
just seeing the new me but actually there's so
much of me that you have missed out that's like
90 % of me that you've missed out yeah I mean
so much so many things about you I mean first
of all of course naturally Tina Turner then we
have the Peranakan the person who loves Peranakan
culture goes out so much to do so much work on
stage with the Peranakan shows and the cooking
yeah and then your work as a special needs teacher,
you know, for people who really need help, families
need help. There's so many parts to you. It's
amazing. This show, you're on my season finale.
I'm glad I have you on my season finale. It's
a blessing, I think. It's a big blessing. And
it's our tribute to you. And I want to say to
you, Melissa Siddick, don't stop singing. Don't
stop performing. I won't. And always be who you
are. You're remarkable. Thank you so much. Thank
you. It's been such a pleasure talking to you.
You're such a sweetheart. Thank you for also...
Entertaining my mom without you even knowing.
You know what? I should have a Spotify. This
is my next move. Then I can sing all the beautiful
songs. And then, you know, and make it beautiful.
It's easily done, by the way. Is it? I don't
know. I wish there's Spotify last time. I sang
all over the world. You can record your own album
and you can upload it. Yeah, you can. I don't
know what to do. You know, the youngsters down
there, you want to help auntie? You come and
help me. The auntie is still strutting around
with her little heels on stage, man, and the
mini skirts coming. Come on. Thank you so very
much once again for being on the show. I really
appreciate you. Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen,
thank you so very much for, first of all, again,
making the season six a real milestone for the
Chris Hansen conversation and for CCB TV podcasts.
Please continue to support us. I will say it
right here, right now, unashamedly, unlike some
other podcasts that they've got as many, if not
more, subscribers coming out of Singapore. This,
and funded by big names, this is a little place
in Tampines, Newtown, in a home, my home, and
it's... built with our bare hands we have no
backers we have no funding we have nothing like
that but it's passion it's love the love for
our guests the love for the conversations that
we love we want to bring what we have been bringing
to you and you know enjoying every single minute
of it and we hope you've been enjoying with us
as well so please uh please Help us out by sharing
and commenting and also continue to support us.
Season 7 will come on, likely in April 2026.
We're going to take a break. Well, as I always
say, every time we go on a season break, it's
not really a break. We're prepping production
for the next season. But until then, please do...
Go back and enjoy the rest of our episodes over
the last six seasons that we've had put up on
YouTube and on Spotify. And it's the festive
season. On behalf of Kai and myself and, of course,
Melissa, have yourselves a fantastic new year,
a fantastic 2026. As you're watching this video
right now, I'm sure we're in January already.
So thank you, everybody, once again. We'll see
you very soon in April for Season 7. Until then,
take care, stay safe. Bye -bye.