Cliff Foenander

{{Short description|Sri Lankan musician}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2009}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} '''Cliff Foenander''' (1934 – 21 November 2000)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ranasinghe |first1=Patrick |title=Remembering Cliff Foenander |url=https://www.elanka.com.au/remembering-cliff-foenander-of-the-fabulous-echoes-by-patrick-ranasinghe/ |access-date=24 April 2023 |work=eLanka |date=17 November 2019}}</ref> was a Sri Lankan musician who performed in South East Asia and Las Vegas.<ref name="WorldMusic">{{cite web |title=Remembering Cliff Foenander of the Fabulous Echoes |publisher=World music Central |url=http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/remembering_cliff_foenander |accessdate=2 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921233624/http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/remembering_cliff_foenander |archivedate=21 September 2008}}</ref>

==Career== Foenander grew up in Colombo, and in the 1950s he started performing in clubs and dances around Ceylon.

South Asia's oldest radio station, Radio Ceylon (now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation) gave Foenander his first exposure inside Ceylon and across South Asia, including India. Broadcasters Vernon Corea, Jimmy Bharucha and Tim Horshington played his songs and interviewed him on their radio shows.<ref name="WorldMusic" />

Foenander later joined Hong Kong–based group The Fabulous Echoes and they built a fan base in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. The Fabulous Echoes gained international exposure playing in Las Vegas in the United States of America, also performing with rat pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr,<ref name="WorldMusic" /> with Ella Fitzgerald<ref name="WorldMusic" /> and the great "Satchmo", Louis Armstrong. The Fabulous Echoes performed on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''<ref name="WorldMusic" /> after Ed saw them in action in the Thunderbird Lounge.

Foenander continued his music career after The Fabulous Echoes. He settled in Melbourne, Australia. It was during his time that his voice really matured and he was a regular entertainer at many entertainment spots in Melbourne and elsewhere in Australia. {{When|date=February 2011}} He died in Australia on 21 November 2000, aged 66.<ref name="WorldMusic" />

==Family== Foenander's nephew, Robin Foenander, performs in Australia and has released several CDs and a country music song, "Further Down The Road", with the folk music artist Keith Potger, who was a founder member of the Seekers and the New Seekers.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/index.php?topic=General World Music Central: Robin Foenander and Keith Potger release Further Down The Road in Australia] * [http://top40-charts.com/news.php?nid=36334 Top40-charts.com Further Down The Road with Rob Foenander and Keith Potger] * [http://www.taosmusic.com/content/view/218/48/ J.R.Ransom's taomusic.com: Robin Foenander and Keith Potger Further Down The Road] * {{Cite web | last = YouTube | title = The Fabulous Echoes – The Early Years Part 1 of 3 | year = 2006 | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWhOvRF_Njg | accessdate =29 October 2007 |publisher=YouTube}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foenander, Cliff}} Category:1934 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Burgher musicians Category:Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia Category:20th-century Sri Lankan male singers Category:Sri Lankan songwriters