Over 1,400 records and rare Oasis gems: CNA938’s Melanie Oliveiro shares her 37-year vinyl journey

Stepping into CNA938 radio presenter Melanie Oliveiro’s apartment feels like walking into a collector’s dream. The walls are decked with band and movie posters, and the cabinets are brimming with records, figurines and books.

But the real showstopper? Her vinyl collection, which boasts a sprawling archive that tells the story of a lifelong obsession with music in all its formats and forms. She's even got an entire room devoted to her prized record collection — a true nerd cave in the best sense.

Since 1988, the 51-year-old has amassed a collection of 900 12-inch vinyl singles, which are extended or remixed versions of a song, and 500 long-playing (LP) albums, which she keeps in a separate apartment along with her collectibles.

And these don't even include her 7-inch and 10-inch singles, picture discs, as well as multiple box sets, which are collections of records and merchandise such as booklets, photos and cassette tapes packaged together in a single box. 

All in all, Oliveiro reckoned she has more than 1,400 records in her collection. And counting.

A fan of various genres from 1930s blues to 80s and 90s rock, Oliveiro’s love for music also extends to rare posters and memorabilia she’s collected over the years.

Mostly accumulated in the 90s, a majority of her collection are from artists she loves, including bands such as Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Suede, Manic Street Preachers and many more. 

“Because I'm a completist, I want to have all the singles, I want to have all their albums and their merch,” the radio anchor told CNA Lifestyle. “So they can be a one hit wonder, but I'll still buy the single because the music was sublime and it was beautifully crafted.”

OLIVEIRO'S PASSION FOR MUSIC

Oliveiro shared that her father and brother were the ones that influenced her taste and interest in music since young. 

“My father used to listen to a lot of 70s music – artists like The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Anne Murray, Abba and Bee Gees. So because I was born in the 70s, I was brought up on that most,” said the radio presenter, who anchors CNA938's weekday post-lunch shows Made In SG, Culture Club and Destination Anywhere.

“My older brother, in the 80s, was a disc jockey. He used to own a mobile disco company, and work as the main DJ of a travelling discotheque in his teens,” Oliveiro shared.

She explained that disc jockeys in the past bought vinyl and spun records for parties and discotheques. They would blend tracks by transitioning to the next song during a specific instrumental break in the current one playing.

“He used to play all these extended versions of 80s songs,” she said. “He would listen to it again and again to find the right groove and the right time, so that he could mix the next song in with two turntable decks. So when he kept playing them, that's when I started to like them too.”

But it wasn’t until the late 80s when Oliveiro’s own love for vinyl began to grow.

“As a child and a teenager then, I collected cassettes, but I wanted vinyl as well because I wanted a large picture of my idols that I could look at,” she told CNA Lifestyle. 

“It all started with this boy band from England, called Bros. They looked like Adonis gods, and they were gorgeous,” Oliveiro said, with a laugh.

“But I soon discovered with Bros vinyls that when it came to 12-inch single extended remixes, my favorite song could be extended by twice the length. So a three minute pop song could become six to seven minutes,” she explained. 

So in 1988, a 14-year-old Oliveiro bought her very first vinyl using money she and her sister had pooled together – an 18-minute extended remix of the song I Owe You Nothing for A$18, which she has kept till today. 

THE START OF HER COLLECTION

It wasn’t until Oliveiro was 19 and studying film at an Australian university that she had enough money saved up to start building her collection.

“I started seeking out all the record stores in Perth. I used to drive one to two hours away just to find a record store that I had heard of,” she explained. 

“Back then, there was no internet, so you had to ask people from record fairs, look up the directory, go to record stores where the advertisements will be, and then just drive to the places.”

Since then, Oliveiro’s record hunts have mostly taken place abroad – from Ipoh to New Zealand and Iceland. Scouting out local indie and mainstream record stores has become a must on every trip, often leading her to rare finds she’d never come across in Singapore.

Among the many gems she’s uncovered, one elusive record in particular holds a special place in her heart: A true collector’s item – a misprint of English singer-songwriter Morrissey’s 1988 album whose working title was Education In Reverse, but was changed to Viva Hate right before it was publicly released.

After the change, copies with the old title were quickly recalled. But some slipped away, and an Australian pressing of the old one ended up in Oliveiro’s hands.

But it’s not just rare pressings that make her collection stand out, some of her most prized vinyl bear personal touches from the artists themselves. 

One of which is English rock band The Smiths' first single Hand in Glove, which was signed by the late bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. Another is Manchester indie band The Stone Roses’ album, signed by lead singer Ian Brown and bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield.

SHE'S A HARDCORE OASIS FAN

But for Oliveiro, one band still stands out from the rest: Brit Rock icons Oasis, fronted by brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, best known for songs such as Wonderwall and Live Forever.

“Oasis is very uplifting,” she said. “They're not all happy songs, but it's all about living in the moment with your friends and the sheer magnetism of youth.” 

She explained that many members of 80s and 90s bands like Joy Division, The Smiths, The Stones Roses and Oasis also had to rise above hardship due to their poor backgrounds. 

“They were on the dole, had nonexistent fathers, left to their own devices, got in gangs, beaten up, that kind of thing. And music could come out of that,” she said. 

“But I guess sometimes you have to be so desperately unhappy in order to create something that sounds so beautiful.”

Oliveiro first discovered the band in 1995 through a music show on Mediacorp’s Channel Five hosted by presenters Vernetta Lopez, Emmanuel Bungaro and Glenn Ong. 

“They kept playing the television commercial for (What's The Story) Morning Glory? on rotation, which is the second album by Oasis and that's when I heard it,” she said. 

“I saw Liam and I said ‘Who is that beautiful man singing?’,” Oliveiro said, with a laugh. “And then it went beyond that, the music took over.”

Three years later, in 1998, luck was on her side when she managed to meet, and even have a conversation with the Gallagher brothers when she went to Australia for their concert. 

“I met Noel after I landed in Perth and booked a hotel in Fremantle. I heard a lot of cheering because they were singing Oasis songs at the bar downstairs,” she explained. 

“So I came downstairs, walked around and he was there, walking up and down the street, and no one was bothering him, only me,” she said. “I came up to him and I said ‘Noel, what are you doing here?’, he said ‘I’m just walking up and down getting to know this place’. So I took a picture with him and got him to sign the vinyls and tour program.”

“And then I'll never forget this – he said ‘hey, don't drink so much’,” Oliveiro said, adding that that left her confused. 

“A guy who at the time drank so much and had alcohol in his veins all the time said ‘hey, don't drink so much’,” she quipped. 

The same day, when Oasis’ label Sony Music allowed fans to go to the band members' hotel to meet them, Oliveiro decided to go early to the event and grab a drink at the bar. 

That was when Noel Gallagher recognised her. “I was drinking, then Noel came up to me and said ‘what are you doing here?’. I said ‘I just thought I'd meet you guys again’,” Oliveiro shared.

“He sat down with me for an hour, and we talked about music,” she said. “I asked him all sorts of questions about unreleased songs – ‘Is this song ever going to come out? What became of this song?’. And he said, no, no, they do exist, but you're never gonna hear them. I don't like it.”

The two bonded over their shared taste in music as well. “Noel likes the same music I do; he loves The Smiths, Sex Pistols, The Stone Roses, all of that.”

Similarly, Oliveiro said that she got a tip off that Liam Gallagher was having drinks at the hotel bar and wanted to get her single sign. 

“They are very respectful of their fans – they will talk to you and take pictures with you,” she said. “Liam kissed my hand. He was very gentlemanly, very sweet.” 

Eleven years later, it all came full circle when she had an interview opportunity with Noel Gallagher in 2009 as a journalist, just two months before the band disbanded.

The one record however, that Oliveiro has yet to find is a 7-inch single of Oasis’ Supersonic. 

“I've been trying since 1995, looking at record stores all around the world,” she said. “Anyone can get it on the internet and pay S$70 to S$100 for it but I'm not going to do that.

“I'm a crate digger, I want to find it myself.”

ORGANISING HER COLLECTION

To keep her records in peak condition, she ensures that her prized possessions get the TLC they need to last through the years. 

“All of them are alphabetised according to band names or the singers first name, so it's easy for me to find albums and singles,” she said. “They are stored in the coolest part of my apartment, and sometimes I put a dehumidifier there, just to decrease the amount of moisture.”

Oliveiro explained that her records need to be stacked vertically upright so that there’s minimal pressure placed on the plastic. 

Oliveiro also tries to take out as many vinyls from their packaging as often as possible, since she does not collect her vinyls for "re-seal" value. This refers to the act of attempting to make a used record look like it's new and factory sealed, often to sell it for a higher price.

“Vinyl is meant to be played,” she explained. “Even if you seal them in Singapore, it’s not a good idea, because the moisture will get inside and form brown patches on the cover.”

The radio presenter said that she tries to come by the apartment to clean at least twice a month. 

“That's when I put on my records and I listened to them,” she said, adding that her go-to album to play while cleaning is The Good Will Out by British band Embrace, which she also got autographed. 

“It's very warm,” Oliveiro said, about listening to a song played on a record player compared to audio streaming platforms like Apple Music or Spotify. 

“You hear the hiss crackle and pop of the needle bouncing on the vinyl record. It's a bit different from digital, which can be a little clinical and clean.”

VINYL’S RENAISSANCE IN SINGAPORE 

While the popularity of vinyl records has seen a resurgence in Singapore, especially among youths, the veteran collector fully understands the appeal to them. 

She said that most young people are buying reissued albums, which are new pressings of a previously released album or record, after the original release. 

“They're buying it because they want something tactile. Similar to buying vintage digital cameras and thrifting,” she said. “They want to hold onto something that has passed, and vinyl is like that as well.”

Oliveiro cited the example of pop singer Charli XCX’s iconic album Brat, whose cover art is just the word "Brat" against a neon green background. 

“It’s a very simple design, but people are grabbing it, because of the color, what it means, what it signifies, what she is all about,” she explained. “So they want to be associated with that, to hold and feel something that means something to them.”

“We've all been doing that for decades, so we understand why they want to do that.”

She added that Singapore record stores now also offer entry level record players and accompanying speakers at affordable prices of around S$150, making it more accessible. 

Some of her local record store go-tos include For The Record at Peninsula Shopping Complex, and Memory Lane at The Adelphi near City Hall. 

“But the record stores I go to are not selling the reissued records, which everyone is buying nowadays. I don't want that. I want the stuff that was produced in the '80s and '90s that I can get my extended songs in,” she said, adding that due to her busy schedule, she only goes vinyl shopping in Singapore once or twice a year.

WHERE HER COLLECTION WILL GO ONE DAY

After a lifetime of collecting, she hopes to one day pass her records on to those who share the same deep passion for the art.

“I would probably give it away to someone to sell them to people who want to buy it, via one of the record stores that I respect,” she said about where her collection might go when it's time to pass it on.

“The owners are my friends, so I can trust them to sell it at a good price to people who need it.”