He was the drummer boy of Orchard Road for three years, until he moved to Guangzhou, China, with his family when his father was posted there for work. This might ring true for 18-year- old Ethan Ong, who made headlines here when he started off as a drummer on Orchard Road when he was five. I see many buskers who give up after a while." "Even though I'm sometimes too tired from school to busk, I make it a point to go down anyway," says Wesley. Having busked for about a year, he treats it like a job. After he chanced upon a busking juggler, he decided to become one too and applied for a permit. His interest in juggling started at the age of 12, when his mother bought him a set of juggling balls.įrom then, he was hooked on mastering the skill. "I like to share my art with audiences and hopefully, it brings more attention to the juggling community," says the St Hilda's Secondary School student. Performing three evenings a week at Clarke Quay, at the riverside entrance of shopping mall Clarke Quay Central, Wesley says busking is an avenue for him to display his skills. The Secondary 3 student is starting off on the streets here as a busker - displaying his deftness at juggling coloured balls, lightsticks and even knives. Peers his age want to be lawyers or doctors when they grow up, but 15-year-old Wesley Mok dreams of becoming a circus performer. "After I turn 12, I'll be in secondary school, so I'll probably need to catch up on my learning." His busking career has just begun, but it may be a short-lived one.Īlan says he might "retire" from busking when he turns 12, a decision he made on his own. After all, it's an area that I really love as well." "Of course, if he can become a singer, I will be very glad too. She is however, supportive of her son's dream of becoming a singer. She says his school grades, while still acceptable, are not up to her standards. But he's been learning for so long and he loves it so much, we can't just give it up now," says Mrs Fong An Li, 49, Alan's mother. "I worry that he spends too much time on them and it affects his studies. However, all the time spent on these extra-curricular activities may come at a cost.
"But I'm not going to dance on the streets.
I was so jealous," says Alan, who thinks that the presence of a crowd affirms one's skills. "I saw a person dancing hip-hop on the street and there was such a big crowd. When not busy with singing and guitar-playing, the boy enjoys hip-hop dancing, a newfound passion.
His father, 55-year-old taxi driver Alvin Fong, also provides "important comments" on his singing, says Alan. "When performers sing and talk on shows, they'll give out their secrets, so I'll take note of that," he says, adding that he jots down these notes in a notebook. He also learns from watching YouTube videos of other singers performing. He later decided to pick up the guitar because his idol, British singer Ed Sheeran, plays it while singing.Īt home, Alan, who has two older sisters aged 16 and 29 - both of whom are not musically inclined - spends 11/2 to three hours every day singing and practising on the guitar. Within the next two days, his housewife mother had engaged a private singing teacher for him. Then, he accompanied his mother to a karaoke session at a community centre near his home.Īfter seeing how onlookers had cheered his mother on during her performance, he asked to take up singing lessons. The boy's interest in music was piqued when he was six years old.