He was a nobody who became as famous as the pop band that produced some enduring hits of the 1960s and 70s.

Amazingly, the non-musician set everything on stage by ear – including tuning the guitar, balancing sound – and that meant the band just needed to go on stage, plug and play.

It was at a time when there were no remote audio engineer controls and everything was done on stage.

At concerts, one could see Tan setting the sound, then going into the audience area to check the balance between the various instruments and making sure the vocals were clear.

What was equally startling was that none of the members of The Strollers then had any formal music training and each composition was arranged, playing by ear.

Tan Soon Loke, who became manager of The Strollers at age 19, also had the uncanny ability to pen the lyrics of a song by putting his ear to the speaker.

The man, whom many regarded as the “fifth Stroller” of Malaysia’s first pop band, died in his sleep yesterday at his home here. The bachelor was 74.

Tan, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, had in a Facebook posting on July 8, written: “As a COPD patient and being breathless all the time is not easy.

“Sometimes, I wish I could afford to at least get a part-time helper because preparing my meals and the wash-up later is difficult.”

Four members of the band who were under Tan have passed on – lead guitarist Hassan Idris (last February), multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Nand Kumar (1991), guitarist Amrin Majid (2010) and drummer Ramli Yaakob (2019).

Guitar sensation, Terry Thaddeus, who briefly joined the group after Jap quit as manager before he turned 30, died in 2003.

Tan was called Jap because his friends referred to him as “yat pun chai” which in Cantonese means “Japanese boy”.

The 5ft 3in-tall “boy” was, however, always the grown-up in the room.

Hussein Idris, 70, who is still the drummer of the band with a different line-up, said without Tan’s vision, passion and hard work, The Strollers’ story would have been totally different.

“His energy matched that of the band’s, which allowed all of us to work well in the competitive music world,” he said.

Hussein said Tan learned the hard way and as the manager, he always had the interests of the band members at heart.

“His work was never done as the cheerleader, confidant, businessman and creative sounding board,” he said.

Original compositions

Hussein said Tan convinced the band members to leave their day jobs and become full-time musicians, pushed them to write their own material and helped secure a deal with CBS Records to produce English songs.

Inspired by Tan, The Strollers, had over the years, released nine singles, one EP, one album and 33 songs, of which 17 were original compositions.

Glowingly, the LP, “Waiting Is…” has the image of Tan on the cover of the album along with the band members.

Tan groomed the boys to make the transition from teen idols to accomplished entertainers.

He smartened the long-haired idols with suits and ties. He did the same.

As The Strollers unleashed teen screams, Tan became a face of the band as well, and got mobbed by fans along with the rest.

Freddie Fernandez, the former keyboardist of The Revolvers, said The Strollers and Tan were legends and popular culture should not forget them.

He said his first memory of Tan was as a schoolboy at Stadium Negara during a concert by The Strollers, the Grim Preachers and the Falcons in 1970.

“I saw this slightly built guy with long hair walking on stage carrying an amplifier and giving instructions to the crew.

“I thought he was a member of one of the bands, only to learn later that he was Jap Tan, manager of The Strollers.

“He was the manager of this great band, yet he was carrying amplifiers and arranging the set up.

“He must have been something special to take this band to such great heights,” Fernandez said.

“Rest In Peace Jap. I’m sure you’ll still be organising bands and concerts in heaven with all the friends we’ve lost,” he added.

Omar Ariff, the author of the band’s official biography, “The Strollers: Malaysian Pop Legends”, said Tan was a father figure to the band members and kept them going when early members like founder Amrin, Ramli and lead singer, Jimmy D’Oliveiro left just as the band turned professional.

“Without Jap’s extensive knowledge of the band, my book would not have been possible. He was immensely proud of his boys,” he said.

In an interview with FMT in February, Tan spoke about a vanished dream gig in the early 1970s in a Las Vegas nightclub that featured The Jackson Five.

The Strollers were to go there after their stints at the Golden Gate nightclub in Jakarta and at another club in Bandung, Indonesia.

It didn’t happen because hardly two weeks into their gig in Jakarta, one of the key band members, urged by his wife, wanted to return home.

Not long after that disappointment, Tan was horrified when he discovered drugs had sneaked into the band during their engagement at the Rasa Sayang Hotel in Penang.

He quit the music scene. He lived in Kuala Terengganu for 20 years selling motorcycles and on his return to Petaling Jaya in 1996, went into a short-lived T-shirt business, marketing the “Cicak” brand.

He did not have the money to venture into any other business and a return to the music industry was not an option.

“I did not make money as manager of The Strollers as we were a poor band and I spent what I earned to buy equipment for them,” Tan said in the interview.