Meet Singapore’s 11-year-old singing sensation
Renowned Taiwanese TV host Matilda Tao calls him "Singapore's pride" and "Singapore's child prodigy".
And 11-year-old singing sensation Jarrell Huang looks set to live up to the title.
Huang will be the sole Singaporean among the 10 finalists from Taiwan, China and U.S. in this Sunday's episode of Taiwanese reality singing competition "One Million Star".
The winner will snag a contract with a major record label and a cash prize of NT$3 million (S$150,000).
The weekly programme, which airs over E City on Starhub Ch 825, is now in its eighth season and has kicked off the musical careers of prominent Mandopop artists such as Yoga Lin and Jam Hsiao.
Homegrown songbirds Wong Jinglun and Sugie Phua, both in their 20s, also finished fifth and seventh respectively in the third season three years ago.
Since this year's competition began five months ago, Huang has won much praise and countless fans for his pristine vocals.
YouTube video clips of the rising star's performances on the show have also garnered over tens of thousands of views, with one of Huang singing and dancing to his idol Justin Bieber's hit 'Baby' amassing more than 77, 000 hits.
See videos of his performances:
According to The New Paper, Huang's journey to stardom started in January when his father first accompanied him to Taipei to give the first-round auditions a shot.
"I didn't expect myself to make it past the first audition round in January," admitted a humble Huang to the same paper. "I wasn't confident as there were a lot of other strong singers."
Since the televised studio rounds in Taipei began in June, Huang has been busy shuttling between both countries, flying over once every two weeks and staying up to five days each round.
Also accompanying father and son on the trips is Huang's vocal coach, producer-songwriter Terrence Ng.
Ng, who is in his late 20s, believes it is Huang's "determination and down-to-earth personality" that has allowed him to come this far.
"You can sense Jarrell's sincerity when he sings… plus, he really works very hard," he added.
His father, Lincoln Ng, 38, who works in the oil and gas industry, said that his son displayed a natural talent for singing from as young as two and a half years old.
"I remember we were watching the Taiwanese idol drama Meteor Garden and Jarrell would surprise us by singing the show's entire theme song, with accurate lyrics. He couldn't read and didn't know any words then," Ng was quoted by the paper as saying.
"Subsequently, we discovered that melodies came quite easily to him. At three years old, he could even sing Thai songs."
Not surprisingly, the child prodigy, who counts Show Luo, Jay Chou, Wilber Pan and Justin Bieber as his idols, aspires to be a singer one day.
But while his dream is not one too distant, the Primary Five pupil at Maha Bodhi School is in no hurry at all.
"I'm taking my PSLE next year, so I want to concentrate on my studies," he told TNP.
"On when I should become a singer, I think the older I am, the better."
