Matthew Tan
Matthew Tan is a Singaporean country musician and bandleader. Born in 1945, he has led the band Matthew and the Mandarins since 1961. The group started with hotel gigs in the 1960s and grew to international fame. He was the first Asian to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1975, he went to Nashville for 18 months, performed at the Grand Ole Opry, and sang a duet with Skeeter Davis before returning to Singapore.
In the late 1970s, the Mandarins signed with EMI Singapore and played in Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States. He co-wrote “Singapore Cowboy” with Bristow Hopper; it was a Singapore number-one hit on the 1978 album. He also co-wrote “Let’s Put The Sing In Singapore” with Hopper, on the 1979 album.
A 2012 documentary called Singapore Country highlighted Tan and his music. On November 8, 2013, he served as musical director for a concert where the Mandarins were the house band. In 2014 he performed at the Canberra Country Blues & Roots Festival and received the Asia-Pacific Lifetime Achievement Award.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:55 (CET).