You may not have heard of Jeffrey Chung but you would have seen his work.

The coffee-shop poster featuring a nude woman, breasts covered by her arm, next to a bottle of stout. Bikini-clad dancers who pulled your red-faced boss onto the stage at the annual dinner and dance and unbuttoned his shirt. The mini-skirted lass who gave you a leaflet at a computer show. The desk calendar featuring the pouty Daphne, her ample assets threatening to block out much of April.

All the girls come from Jeffrey Chung Models. Over the last 17 years, the agency, which has carved a niche in the grey area between fashion modelling and burlesque cabaret has become synonymous with sex.

And it is the 2009 calendar, featuring the charms of Daphne, Angel, Lulu, Candy and 10 other models, that will be on the minds of some clients at this time of the year.

Mr Chung says: 'The clients can look at the models 365 days of the year and think of my agency. For most events, guys are the decision-makers.'

From calendars to disco floor shows, the agency's girls give the guys what they want. The man behind the agency's name has practically cornered the market in made-in-Singapore cheesecake.

But walk by Mr Chung, 41, on the street and you would not think he is the co-owner of an agency linked with some of Singapore's steamiest promotional campaigns.

Looks like an accountant

When Life! meets him in his tiny sixth floor office in Midland House in Middle Road, his hair is short and gelled into spikes but it is undyed. His face is smooth and pale. When he talks, his tone is gentle, even soothing. His eyes are framed by a pair of simple black spectacles. He could be an accountant.

But his personal image makes sense. Part of his job is to calm parents and boyfriends jittery about girls going for rehearsals at all hours and having to tra- vel across Asia to give shows in casinos, discos and shopping malls. He needs all the trustworthiness he can muster.

His company does much more than just sell skin, he protests. His girls sing, emcee and put on cultural dances in full Asian costume. He blames the media for playing up the sex angle.

'Only 30 per cent of our bookings are for sexy costumes,' he insists. The rest are for family-friendly shopping mall stage work and product launches.

And almost in the next breath, he describes the stage shows he has packaged - Crazy Hot Butts Show, Fantasy Asia Bra Show and 3D (featuring Singapore D-Cup Show Girls).

But if one were to look past the labels, it is immediately apparent that the names of the shows are far racier than the shows themselves.

Take the launch party for his 2009 calendar, held earlier this month at the Arena disco in Clarke Quay. The retro- themed outfits and floor show were more campy cabaret than sleazy striptease. One sees more skin at a beach volleyball tournament. Yet hundreds of men paid $26 each to get in.

That his calendars and shows are actually tame by international standards - spreads in Singapore lad magazines and even women's titles are more revealing - say more about the psyche of the Singapore male than the morals of Mr Chung.

His talent is in convincing men that they have seen something more than they actually have.

There was nothing in his childhood to suggest he would turn out to be such a showman.

He is the youngest in a family of eight children. He has four sisters and three brothers, none of whom is in the entertainment business except for his sister and partner in Jeffrey Chung Models, Ms Helen Chung, 48.

His father, who died in 1979, was a chauffeur. His mother, Madam Yeo Yoke Cheng, was a construction worker who hauled bricks alongside the samsui wo- men, though she was not one herself.

The formidable woman celebrates her 80th birthday next month. The family plans a big celebration, with girls from Mr Chung's agency performing, of course.

He spent his early childhood in a house in Kampung San Teng. The children slept four to a bed, with another four on the floor. The kampung has made way for the Junction 8 mall in Bishan. The family moved to a two-bedroom HDB flat in Whampoa Drive in the 1970s.

'I have no complaints, it was quite okay,' he says of his childhood. He went to Lee Kuo Chuan Primary and Ang Mo Kio Secondary before taking up commerce at Catholic Junior College. His spare time was spent composing music on the guitar, singing or going to acting, modelling or singing auditions.

From his early teens till he graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Mr Chung knocked on the doors of the entertainment business.

His head filled with dreams of becoming like his idols actor-singer Andy Lau and singer Liu Wenzheng, he became a serial singing, dancing and songwriting contest participant.

A bid in the 1985 Chinese Talentime stalled in the semis but it did get him talent-spotted by a record producer. He went on to cut several albums with groups and one Mandarin solo album on cassette titled How Many Nights in 1989. Sales were modest, he says.

Back then, his now slightly round features were more chiselled and he modelled and acted. He splashed out on modelling courses from five different agencies. All he got for his time, trouble and expense were some modelling jobs and an occasional spot as a TV extra.

Eventually, he took a job at a small, now-defunct modelling agency, doing marketing. He came to see his flair for choreography, posing and singing could be put to good use in training others.

'It was just after my recording contract ended. I kept waiting and nothing happened. I had to be realistic. I was disappointed and thought maybe I would do better behind the stage. Maybe I just did not have the luck,' he says.

When friends offered him a chance to invest in a new agency in 1991, he took up the offer. They named it after him because he would be the frontman. By the end of that year, the partners had sold their shares to Mr Chung and his sister joined as partner the year after.

He knew his agency had to be different. He knew a start-up could never hope to recruit the typically giraffe-tall, skinny, delicate-featured types, so he focused on unpolished diamonds. Next, he simply had to be hungrier than anyone else. He would take the jobs other agencies turned up their noses at.

Fixing flaws

'I wanted to be different. If a girl is not tall, I can sell the face. If you are tall but not good-looking, we groom you to be a catwalk model,' he says.

He took on darker-skinned models, then unpopular in Asian markets and taught them how to maximise their other assets.

Back in 1991, his agency was like a low-cost carrier breaking into the clubby world of premium airlines. The other agencies looked down on him - and probably still do.

Asked if this bugs him, he says: 'I do not need respect from everyone. Respect from my clients, models and sponsors is more important.'

And his insight into the business has proven to be sound. His agency now has six administrative staff, 30 models on contract making upwards of $3,000 a month (after he takes his agency fee) and 100 more on the books as freelancers. The agency averages 1,000 shows a year.

The small office is where everything happens. The front end, about the size of a living room in an HDB flat, is lined with cupboards packed with props and costumes and the floor is where models learn posing, dancing and walking.

He declines to reveal his revenue but says he is doing well. For the last eight years, he has lived in a condominium in Seletar Springs with his sister Helen and mother. He drives a Hyundai Trajet MPV, which also serves as model bus and prop lorry.

He plans to grow his business by moving to a larger office in Ang Mo Kio next year. One area of growth will be in costume rental. Another is overseas jobs.

Early on, the Jeffrey Chung formula - do it at a low cost, never say no to a client and flaunt it if you got it - began taking the agency into the more risque side of the business.

In the 1990s, when tea-time bikini shows were the rage, he supplied the mo- dels, no matter that the shows were held in discos packed with beer-swilling men.

He learnt quickly about the finer points of Singapore's decency laws. He comes close to the line but has never crossed it.

His rates are based on several factors but a key one is state of undress. It is about $150 per girl per show for casual wear but it goes up to $250 for swimwear and bikini shows. Lingerie shows will set clients back between $350 and $500 a girl.

These rates are roughly on a par with agencies that use more expensive imported pan-Asian or Caucasian models.

But he says his selling point is he delivers more than just clotheshorses, he provides an entertainment package complete with music, costumes and every kind of posing imaginable at no extra cost.

Mr Watson Tan, owner of Upfront Models, who is in his 30s, knows Mr Chung mostly by reputation and says he deserves credit for being not just a pioneer, but also a very savvy one.

'He knows the law. He knows the fine line,' Mr Tan says.

He admires Mr Chung's chutzpah and business smarts.

'He is tapping into a market that no one has tapped into successfully. There have been copies but he is a survivor,' he says.

There are things Mr Chung's agency does that Upfront, a more traditional agency serving mainly the fashion industry, will not do, such as have girls in skimpy clothing mingle with guests at a party, says Mr Tan, but he adds that it is purely a business decision, not an ethical one.

Manjula Rajandran, 28, has been mo- delling full-time with Jeffrey Chung for seven years. She says: 'Asia is not open to dark-skinned models but he knows how to promote and market me.'

The 1.75m-tall woman has made a good living with the agency, emceeing as well as modelling. She is fine with the fact that she has to be bikini-clad on occasions. She says her husband and family approve and support her.

'It is what I choose,' she says. 'I could choose to be a secretary but I chose to be in entertainment.'

The nude in the stout poster, Angel Chua, has spent 12 years with the agency. Her previous job was a quality control inspector in an electronics factory.

'I have stayed with Jeffrey because he is a good manager and trainer,' says the 33-year-old. 'If you really want to be a model, you cannot survive in Singapore doing only fashion.'

It would seem like the man who sought fame for himself is now content with grooming others for the limelight.

A few weeks ago, a bit of his history resurfaced. He was in Ang Mo Kio Central when he saw his album How Many Nights on sale for 50 cents at a pasar malam. He bought the entire lot of 30 copies.

'I just want to make sure it is no longer in stock,' he says with a laugh.

He will autograph and give them away as mementoes. Ever the astute businessman, he wrangled a deal from the stall owner for the bulk purchase, paying only 20 cents a copy.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 29, 2008.