Around 1963, while still in secondary school, he was a member of a group called The Checkmates.[6]
In 1964, the guitarist for The Quests, Raymond Leong, had left the group to pursue his studies. Verghese took his place. In a matter of months, the group had a no.1 hit with "Shanty". His guitar playing in the song attracted a lot of attention. Along with Jap Chong, sharing the vocals, he stayed with the group throughout all of the line up changes until the group's break up in 1971. He then moved into production.[7]
Production
In 1977, Verghese produced the debut self-titled album for The Western Union Band which had evolved out of a 1960s group called The Rubber Band and featured songs such as, "Sausolito" and "Howzit".[8] He produced the self-titled album for Matthew & The Mandarins which was released on EMI and contained the song "Singapore Cowboy".[9] The song would eventually become a big hit in Singapore, reaching no. 1.[10] Verghese also produced their next album, II, which was released in 1979 also on EMI.[11]
In 1984, together with Ken Lim and three other partners, Verghese formed Boogie Productions Pte Ltd and took over the recording studio and equipment from EMI Singapore Pte Ltd which had closed down.[12]
