Vernetta Lopez - Memoirs of a DJ

2012 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited

Many thanks to:
Photography for cover: Bernard Teo, Avenue 8
Makeup for cover: Red Ngoh, redngoh.blogspot.com
Photographs on p118 & 206: Marcus Mok, www.marcusmok.com
New Man Magazine for cover on p84
Wee Khim for New Man Magazine cover photo
MediaCorp for all incidental photos of past productions and publications

Published in 2012 by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65) 6213 9300, Fax: (65) 6285 4871. E-mail:

The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no events be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Other Marshall Cavendish Offices: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited

National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Lopez, Vernetta.
Memoirs of a dj / Vernetta Lopez. Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2012.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-981-4408-81-3 (pbk.)

1. Lopez, VernettaBiography. 2. Disc jockeysSingaporeBiography.
I. Title. II. Title: Memoirs of a disc jockey

PN1991.4
791.44028092 dc23 OCN800546404

Printed in Singapore by Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd

Thank you to the amazing Catherine Lim who inspired me to approach the book in a different way and gave me confidence to be myself! You gave me such valuable advice, and your effervescent and luminous personality was a joy to revel in and a catalyst to kick-starting my own writing adventure!

Thank you to Florence Lian for honoring me with a beautiful foreword! You have inadvertently been a part of my professional career since even before I knew you, and from admiring you from afar as a starry-eyed teen, to working for and with you as a colleagueits been an honor and it makes me feel like Ive accomplished something priceless. Thank you for always opening my eyes and being a shining inspiration of strength, integrity and determination.

To the team at Marshall Cavendish, especially Tammy, Stephanie, Chris, Mei Lin, Violet and Wee, who endured the endless changes and delays that I put you through! Even your graphics team was wonderfully creative and patient! Youve been encouraging and supportive in so many ways. I am humbled by your professionalism and patience. Thank you for having faith in me in the first place!

And last but not least, to my sister and manager, thank you for the amazing and unrelenting support! I had every inconceivable excuse to shy away from this monumental task of writing a book but you had unwavering confidence in me. You were and always have been a mountainous wall of support and you constantly amaze me with your unconditional and voluminous love! Your strength through sorrow, your resilience through tribulations and discipline in the eye of fatigue have been an invaluable guide to how I should conduct myself and I love you for that! Love you so very much!

Vernetta

August 2012

I wanted to be the first, I really didthe first DJ to have a published memoir. But Vernetta beat me to it, and I could not wish for it to have been someone else.

When I first met her with Bernard Lim, her co-host on the TV programme NiteRage, Vernetta was a burst of kinetic light in the hues of every colour imaginable. She had a special something I could not put my finger on. My first thoughts were quite simplyis she for real? One can only sparkle from an iridescence glowing from within or a slapped-on dash of media-phony.

Almost two decades later, I can vouch that she is the real deal. Vernetta has a sense of humour that casts a quirky quick-witted glance at any situation, and you are easily persuaded to laugh along with her. She never makes a meeting an awkward one and I have seen strangers take easily to her. That is her gift of interaction.

But Vernetta isnt all about the lighter side of life. She cares deeplyfrom writing a long email beseeching the office to save the environment by going paperless, to being part of a global movement to help eliminate poverty, she makes the world a better place. That is her gift of humanity.

Divorce is never easy, especially for a celebrity who is younger and under the public spotlight. I bore witness to the private trauma she went through that makes her strength a quality to reckon with.

Many personalities walk through the doors at MediaCorp and amidst the glitterati of stars is one special Vernetta Lopez. I do not need to warn you to watch out for her, as she is the sister you know from Under One Roof and the gal-pal you listen to every morning on Class 95FM, but I believe she will be an enduring force in our media landscape and with any luck, an even stronger voice for the community.

Vernetta, my congratulations on this book and my love and best wishes with you, always.

Florence Lian

Managing Director

MediaCorp Radio

How did it all start? Well, my parents met because my uncles best friend thought, Whoa! Hot sister! No? Too far back? OK, a quick brief.

I was born on the cusp of Cancer and Leo, which is why I can never decide what food to eat; I adore animals, which I suspect is the root cause of my sinus problems; and I like chilli a lot, which helps to clear the sinuses, but also rice, which apparently makes my eczema act up.

I have Eurasian and Peranakan parents, one older sister and, in the past, many pets. Im a radio DJ, actress, host, wedding planner, President of One (SINGAPORE), and a lover of laksa and Maggi Mee Assam Laksa, my favourite instant noodles.

I was the younger kid with hairy arms, which I wanted to trim by taking a pair of scissors to them, except they yelped back, We will grow back hairier! Step away from the scissors!

I know my parents worried for our futures because my sister and I sucked at our second languages. My mother also discovered something rather morbid in my room one day. When I was about nine years old, I had a scrapbook filled with newspaper cuttings of accidents, with pictures, all glued meticulously in a little exercise book. She freaked out when she found it. She flapped the book in front of me and scolded, Only crazy people do this! Stop it now, ah! My mother is a gentle woman who is, bar none, the best mother in the world. She cooked for us almost every day when we were kids, fed us water in the middle of the night when we were running fevers and, along with our father, gave us advice when we needed guidance. So when she towered over me, telling me not to collect these stories with gory pictures of mangled vehicles and equally mangled bodies, I thought, Oh crap. Id better stop. Actually, I was only doing a statistical experiment to see how many accidents happen in a month, or how many horrific pictures they can print in one newspaper in a month, or how a body gets mangled when hit by a vehicle at high speed. But perhaps its a good thing my mother stopped me, or I might be writing to you from a maximum-security prisonand writing a very different book.