SINGAPORE: TAXI DRIVER USES KARAOKE SINGING TO ENTERTAIN PASSENGERS

Record ID: 714186

  • Title: SINGAPORE: TAXI DRIVER USES KARAOKE SINGING TO ENTERTAIN PASSENGERS
  • Date: 26th June 2001
  • Summary: SV TANDRIVING MCU OF PASSENGERS DI YEE AND JOYCE KING SINGING IN TAXI (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SINGAPORE
  • Country: Singapore
  • Topics: Entertainment,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVADXH17FOZZEENRQ411KKQV8AWQ
  • Story Text: A taxi driver in Singapore uses karaoke singing to entertain passengers while on the road. He says its designed to alleviate his clients' stress levels and so far, its been a big hit.
    With more than 20,000 taxis on the streets of Singapore, this is the taxi you want to hire while you are on the road.
    Country and Western tune "Achy Breaky Heart" is Jeffrey Tan's favourite song while driving around the island all day long.
    After spending most of his adult life in the Singapore Armed Forces as a Sergeant-Major, he took an early retirement, changed his army uniform to a suit, and became a taxi driver.
    Three years ago, he installed a karaoke system worth 2,500 Singapore dollars (1,374 US dollars). He says he's never regretted spending so much money. Its a great investment.
    Jeffrey Tan is seriously committed to entertaining his clients. He learned to sing in about a dozen languages including English, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin. He also memorised lots jokes for clients who are not so keen on singing as they cruise in the streets of Singapore.
    If his passengers can't sing, he tells them not to worry because for him, its all about relaxing.
    "I set up this system to release stress. We are living in a very fast paced world, and very stressful. So, very good form of releasing stress is by singing. So I set up this system for myself and for my clients, so that they can de-stress," said Tan.
    Today's singers are Di (pronounced Dai as in Diana) and Joyce. Di Yee is a visiting film director from Australia and Joyce King is a US resident in Singapore for many years.
    Their choices are American Oldies and they can't get enough of the singing taxi.
    Di has recently arrived from Sydney for business, and said it was her lucky day when Tan picked her up at the airport.
    Sitting in that taxi was out of this world she said.
    "Bizarre, wild. It's like being encased in a supersonic kind of bubble where you are just letting go all of your cares and all of your normal life, like an escapism on the road as you are traveling," said Di Yee.
    Joyce King has used Tan and his taxi service several times to take her family and friends to sing around the city.
    She has been living in Singapore for a long time and loves karaoke.
    She was first introduced to it by a friend who took her for a ride with Tan.
    "Jeffrey is loads of fun. He loves to sing probably as much as I love to sing. He tells jokes, he is very entertaining, very pleasant, always punctual, and just a pleasure to deal with. (Would you recommend him to your friends?) Absolutely, I have already," said Joyce King.
    Tan says his customers come from all over the world and that in general they like the special limousine service.
    "You can play a music video, you can watch a movie, you can play a music comedy, you can even sing karaoke with it. So they (passengers) ask me to demonstrate and when I start singing they keep on laughing and laughing. They said this is unique. And after my singing, I crack some jokes to them, they say Jeffrey you are unique, this is amazing, we have never seen anything like that," Tan said.
    Tan has stored about 500 songs in his karaoke taxi and, because, they are in different languages, he feels he can satisfy most people's tastes.
    And its not just fun for the passengers - Tan loves it too and as the first and only karaoke taxi driver in Singapore he says he's got the best job in the world.
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