Charles Godfrey Lazaroo was synonymous with the composing, arranging and playing of music in Singapore for the majority of his 60 years. He was a pioneer in blending musical influences from the four major cultures in Singapore, and was instrumental in establishing and guiding many music education programmes, including those of the Young Musicians' Society. Having served long and significant careers in music education and entertainment, Lazaroo received the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa) [Public Administration Medal (Bronze)] in 1973 and the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star) in 1980.

Born in 1923 in Singapore, Charles Lazaroo grew up as the only one among a household of five children who was sent for piano lessons by his mother. This proved to be very fortuitous as Lazaroo would come to be a hugely significant contributor to the development of Singapore music, who wrote thousands of music arrangements for radio and television. He was described as a music genius who was both efficient and reliable.

Lazaroo's piano lessons revealed him to be an immensely talented pianist, and he went on to play the piano in many settings and ensembles in his early years, including in the instrumental trio Tiga Sakawan, where he and his bandmates played popular Malayan and Indonesian tunes in a Western style.

In the ‘60s he was continually in the public eye and popular with vocalists and bands who consulted him about musical arrangements for the popular Talentime series and many other radio and television shows. In 1972, he was a founding member of the National Dance Company, and served as its music director, touring with the company internationally to countries such as USA, Russia, Australia and Hong Kong.

Later, he served as chairman of the Music for Everyone Advisory Committee from 1975 to 1979, and he served as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Instrumental Music from 1979 until his passing. His advisory roles extended to many organisations, including being the president of the Singapore Youth Festival Committee, and he remained actively involved with the Ministry of Culture's programmes for many years.

Although he retired as a specialist inspector of music and as director of the Extra-Curricular Services Centre (Music) at the Ministry of Education in 1980, Lazaroo continued his involvement with the arts and music in Singapore. The same year, Lazaroo contributed to the organising of the Singapore Festival of Arts, and composed the music for Temasek in Dance, a dance drama covering 700 years of Singapore's history. In 1981, wanting to preserve some of his musical output, Lazaroo released a jazz album The Exotic Touch Goes East with fellow pianist David Ng, featuring traditional Asian tunes interpreted through jazz.

In 1982, he again was a contributor to the Singapore Festival of Arts, and he worked on the music for Samseng and the Chettiar's Daughter, an adaptation of The Beggar's Opera. 1982 would also see the creation of probably his most widely heard composition— the National Productivity Campaign's theme song Good, Better, Best, which was regularly played over the radio and television.

The next year, in January 1983, after many years of being an arranger and composer of music for Radio Television Singapore, Lazaroo decided to come out of his official retirement and joined the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation as a director of music. By then, his musical reputation and legacy had already been firmly forged, and his influence on Singapore music was felt widely.

For his lifelong and significant service and contributions to music education and music in Singapore, Lazaroo received the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa) [Public Administration Medal(Bronze)] in 1973 and the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star) in 1980.

In March 1983, shortly after completing a day of rehearsals with the Singapore Broadcasting Company Orchestra, Lazaroo suffered a fatal heart attack. In honour of his life’s work and passion, his family requested that all donations made towards his passing be made to the Singapore Cultural Foundation Fund.