Never Too Old: This musician and former girls' band singer began modelling at age 70

SINGAPORE: When most people her age might consider themselves too old to model, Madam Deborah Choi turned a traffic intersection along Orchard Road into a catwalk for a photoshoot last year.

Her shoes were too big. It was a typical blazing hot day. This was her maiden modelling experience. But did that put her off? Not at all.

“It was so hard to walk but I tried my best,” she told CNA candidly during an interview at her Farrer Park flat.

“I grit my teeth, and after I finished that session, I tell you, for two or three days, I suffered … the next time if I have another chance, (I must) make sure the shoes are the right size!”

The vivacious 71-year-old Singaporean is no stranger to cameras and the public eye. Born in South Korea, Mdm Choi left the country in the early 1970s as the lead singer of a popular girls’ band called Gigi Girls, drawing large crowds at performances around Asia and receiving “a lot of flowers” at their hotel rooms.

Half a century after her glory days, Mdm Choi still keeps as active as she was back then, though the glitzy clubs and concert venues have made way for church and a nursing home.

Not satisfied with that, she signed a modelling contract with Platinum Angels Management about a year ago.

Why start a career that is not usually reserved for those with wrinkles and salt-and-pepper hair?

In Mdm Choi’s words: “If you don’t activate your mind, it will be terrible. You have to grow old gracefully.”

BEING IN THE SPOTLIGHT

At the tender age of 17, Mdm Choi joined Gigi Girls with four other young women. She was already a singer then and took up a friend’s recommendation to go for auditions for the band, which she saw as a way for her to finally travel overseas.

South Korea was “very conservative” and “very poor” at the time, she said, with its people still suffering through the effects of the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. While her parents were unhappy with her decision to travel and cautioned her to be careful, she was delighted to leave.

Her first destination – Hong Kong – was an eye-opener. She was fascinated with everything, even the cockroaches crawling around food centres. 

She and her band members were on the receiving end of fascination as well, given that girls’ groups were not common at the time.

“It was really interesting … We played at the Playboy Club and all those waitresses, they were naked, that kind of thing,” Mdm Choi recounted with a laugh. 

“We worked there and a lot of rich handsome boys, after we finished our performance, they’re waiting for us. Almost every morning, I get up and I see there are a lot of flowers in my room.”

The entire tour took about three years and also spanned Southeast Asia, including countries like Thailand and Laos. 

One experience in Indonesia is still clear as day to Mdm Choi – an actor who “wanted to have a scandal” got her to take a photograph with him, then alleged to a newspaper that something was going on between them.

The band’s manager eventually settled the matter and they continued performing in other countries, though their plans to tour Europe fell apart after other members "grew wild" and one girl became pregnant.

Mdm Choi also got to know her boyfriend, who later became her husband, through Gigi Girls. He had been a fan and approached her after their performance at the now-defunct Imperial Hotel at River Valley.

While she was initially shy, they exchanged letters and became a couple. In 1975, after Gigi Girls had disbanded, she moved to Singapore to be with him and they got married the following year.

SETTLING DOWN IN SINGAPORE

Mdm Choi began leading a new life away from the spotlight upon settling down in Singapore and gaining citizenship.

In 1977, she gave birth to her only son. She then worked in the civil service for about 13 years before joining the passenger relations department of Singapore Airlines, where she made announcements and helped Korean passengers.

She quit this job when she was 52 and it grew too dangerous for her liking. Her shifts could last until 2am if there were flight delays, which meant she occasionally had to drive home late in a sleepy state.

It was then that she found religion and enrolled in Bible college. She began singing every week in church, even recording several gospel CDs under the name Deborah Mae, and honed her musical skills by taking guitar lessons.

Shortly after, she decided to take her talent to a nursing home. Her weekly routine for the past 15 years includes her singing and playing the guitar for elderly residents.

Growing old has also hit home for Mdm Choi recently. Her husband, who is four years older, died of cancer last year. Her son is an F-16 fighter pilot with the Republic of Singapore Air Force and has a family of his own.

Mdm Choi now lives with her close friend in a Housing Board flat. But that is not the only change – she booked her first modelling gigs last year when a friend from Platinum Angels Management, which exclusively manages talent aged 50 or above, asked if she was interested in doing something new.

She thought to herself, why not? “I’ve been told I’m very photogenic too,” she added laughingly.

MODELLING AS AN OLDER WOMAN

Mdm Choi’s Orchard Road experience was part of a campaign by the Agency of Integrated Care to showcase older Singaporeans who are leading an active life.

“I really enjoyed it; I felt thrilled when I walked at the empty road. I walked alone and the cameraman followed me – wow, this is something very exciting,” she recounted.

While it was not a perfect experience, she grew enthusiastic at the prospect of being able to do it again. She has also appeared in a ScamShield app advertisement, leading her grandson to proudly point her out at a bus stop where it was prominently displayed.

In fact, he had inspired her wide smile in the ad. She was told to sit down and “smile naturally” but this proved more difficult than she thought, so she whipped out her mobile phone and pulled up a video of the boy. That became the money shot.

She confessed to enjoying life even more as a 71-year-old, saying she does not have to care so much about what people think.

Her weekly sojourns to church and the nursing home allow her to continue singing and performing, and she has a set daily routine that includes exercise and practising her musical set pieces. Of all the rooms in her flat, she spends the most time in her music room with her guitar, flute and voice.

To those who are also getting on in years, Mdm Choi has this to say: Exercise regularly, don’t expect people to love you and be busy every day.

“I have to develop myself ... When your mind is deteriorating, your looks will also be the same,” she added.

“If you are confident, develop yourself to be confident, then people will come.”