Hong Kong-based beat group Danny Diaz and The Checkmates comprised Filipino brothers Danny Diaz (aged 19), Romeo Diaz (20) and Rudi Diaz (21), and Domingo Tantengco.
They enjoyed a number of local hits with the singles Wonderful World (1965), a cover version of The Easybeats‘ It’s So Easy (1966) and Up, Up and Away (1968)
In 1969, the band won a $10,000 recording contract and appearances on radio and television in Britain and the Continent as first prize in Hong Kong’s major Battle of the Sound competition. Their first British single, a cover of The Foundations‘ Solomon Grundy, was released in 1969.
Danny Diaz and The Checkmates disbanded in 1982 but Danny continued as a successful solo performer while Romeo became a composer and the musical director for EMI Records in Hong Kong.
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