In July 2015, Sandra Riley Tang, then 24, and Narelle Kheng, then 21, were the two women in The Sam Willows. They had a simple explanation for the Singapore quartet’s growing fanbase: the band did not hide who they were. Sandra said the four were the same people on screen and off. She described performing as a way to connect with audiences and share stories.
The band was made up of Narelle, her older brother Benjamin Kheng, and their friends Sandra and Jonathan Chua. By mid-2015 they had played major international music events, and a Grammy-winning producer had worked with them.
From covers to originals
YouTube made the band’s name. They began posting covers in 2012, and their first big hit was a mashup of Hey, Soul Sister and We Are Young, which went viral.
By mid-2015 the channel had passed 50,000 subscribers and three million views. Their most-watched upload at the time was a cover of Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass, with more than half a million views.
Narelle was keen to point out that covers were not the whole story. In 2015 she highlighted two original songs in their set, Nightlight and Glasshouse. Glasshouse was recorded in 2013 with Steve Lillywhite, a five-time Grammy winner known for his work with U2 and The Killers. He had heard the band during a visit to Singapore.
Taking the sound abroad
The band’s North American trip included South by Southwest in Texas and Canadian Music Week in Toronto. They also sold out concerts in Malaysia as well as at home in Singapore. After signing with Sony Music, they appeared on both international and local stages.
Reports differ on when the group started. Dates given range from December 2011 to 2012. Their self-titled debut EP came out on 27 October 2012, and the full-length album Take Heart followed in October 2015.
Two women, many roles
Sandra Riley Tang was born on 25 December 1990 in Singapore. She played keyboards and percussion and sang in the band. In 2012 she started RileyArt, which showed and sold her handmade accessories, art and calligraphy. In 2015 she co-founded a yoga studio.
Narelle Kheng was born on 24 September 1993. She played bass guitar and sang. She trained as a swimmer from the age of six and was a national youth swimmer. She studied at Methodist Girls’ School, Anglo-Chinese Junior College and Singapore Sports School.
In 2015 she was reading Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. Her screen work included cameo roles in the dramas Zero Calling and Against The Tide, and she starred in the Channel 5 show Do It Yourself.
What came next for The Sam Willows
All four members appeared in the 2016 local film Young & Fabulous. Narelle played Orange Tan and Sandra played Nadia Ang. Benjamin played Jay Lee and Jonathan played Bamboo Ng.
In May 2017 the band released Keep Me Jealous, the first single from their second album, I Know, But Where. They co-produced it with Fredrik Häggstam and Litens Anton Nilsson. They played day two of Jakarta’s We the Fest in 2018.
On 26 April 2019 they released a Mandarin version of their single Say So. On 27 May 2019 the band announced it was going on hiatus, and that break has now lasted seven years.
FAQ
– Are The Sam Willows still together?
The band announced a hiatus on 27 May 2019 and has not returned as a group since. Benjamin Kheng released his solo album A Sea That Never Stops in June 2020.
– What instruments did Narelle Kheng and Sandra Riley Tang play?
Narelle played bass guitar and sang. Sandra played keyboards and percussion and also sang.