It was a humid and windy evening when I drove my car to a friend’s wedding dinner a week ago.
As I alighted from my driver's seat and stepped into the hall, I heard a familiar voice calling out my name from a distance. I turned my head and saw Jason Teh, the founder of Superband Entertainment, and also someone who has inspired me a lot in my singing life.
We were thrilled when we bumped into each other again after so long, but I wasn’t surprised that he appeared on that occasion as he plays gigs for wedding receptions as a living. Just within 5 years, he’s able to brisk up his live band’s business with impressive growth and revenue, which has not occurred in the local music industry so far.
We hadn’t seen each other for years after I started my degree. Reuniting with him has brought me back to the good memories. With my mixed feelings now, I’ve decided to write about his story and inspire more people who aim to be outstanding, or greater, become a singer-entrepreneur in the future.
There’s so much to talk about Jason. He is an exceptional singer, an emcee (host), an entrepreneur who owns a live band, a versatile singer who’s proficient in different languages, a renowned international Hokkien song singer, a vegan, and most importantly…a cynophilist who, just like me, loves animals for life.
Growing up like other typical boys where he was exposed to martial arts and academic studies, he never thought of himself as a professional singer at a very young age despite his love of singing. His conservative parents used to think that singing on stage wasn’t ideal for a guy. This has caused him to participate in numerous competitions quietly just to showcase his talent, and avoid himself from getting caught by his family concurrently.
Nonetheless, “ the fish which nibbles at every bait will be caught”, such an attempt wasn’t successful until he entered a television program- Astro Talent Quest 2003. Knowing that his parents will figure it out soon, he reluctantly came clean to them. To his surprise, his parents supported his decision as they understand that singing itself is healthy, and it makes him happy somehow. This was the incident that paved the way for his singing journey until today.
As a singer who joins singing competitions myself, I trembled a lot whenever I saw his name on the contestant's list. Jason Teh is one of the prestigious singers who always stands out in the Top-3 honors in most of the competitions out there.
Although being a male singer itself is a huge hindrance from winning prizes in the Chinese singing industry as females are usually defined as ‘more presentable’, Jason is able to break this stereotype and strike trophies from competitions with his performances. With that, he has won my utmost admiration.
Throughout years of knowing Jason, I can assure you that he is living an absolute healthy lifestyle to keep himself away from sicknesses. Apart from eating and sleeping well, he works out at the gym almost everyday and plays sports just to get sweaty a lot. “Sweating is a kind of detoxification and it helps you to stay healthy all the time,” he told me once when we’re on our way back to his house.
Jason graduated from the field of Business Administration. With all the business knowledge that he acquired, he worked in an MNC right after graduation. However, the years spent in a routine-based job made him conceive his plan of starting his own business while he is still alive!
Since he was a part-time wedding singer and has been singing on different occasions for many years, he started his own business venture by forming a professional wedding live band along with other singers in 2014. As someone who aspires to be as invincible as Superman, he named his band- Superband with the aim of providing a superb performance to all customers.
I was utterly amazed by what he has achieved even today. An English ed individual who can sing in Chinese and now venturing into building his own live band as his core career. It’s a dream life for everyone! Despite all the challenges, he is obviously a living testimony of ‘nothing is impossible’.
“I had to do something different for myself instead of living up to people’s expectations because life is too short and it doesn’t belong to you if you don’t set your goals straight,” claimed Jason.
When being asked about how his business is successful within a short period of time, he put a brilliant smile on his face and said, “Just enjoy what you’re able to do and be hardworking as your efforts will pay off soon.”
As mentioned above, Jason Teh won numerous awards and recognition throughout his singing life for more than two decades. That includes huge competitions such as The National Chinese Oldies Contest, Astro Hua Hee Karaoke (Hokkien television singing program in Malaysia), International Hokkien Singing Competition (Based in Taiwan), and more.
Just a year ago, he participated in another television singing program (Astro Hua Hee Mega Star 2017) and has swept away the honor of the international championship. I dropped my jaw when I heard about the result that night. How on earth could someone multitask with a job as a business owner and still have time to win an international competition that requires tremendous efforts, especially when he doesn’t read Chinese at all?
The adventure of winning this championship as a great breakthrough wasn’t an easy path at all. In order to juggle well for different commitments at a time, crucial management on the schedule was essential to avoid disorganization. Other than keeping his healthy lifestyle, Jason had to endure vast back-end preparations which were tough and challenging throughout the entire journey.
As someone who always strives vigorously to improve himself, Jason never thought of just singing for the next ten years. Instead, he picked up the side skills as an emcee, or a presenter to cater to the ever-changing industry.
Looking up to him as my senior, I’ve learned that everyone has the ability to succeed as long as we pay more hard work in whatever things we do (We can be just like him).
If you are having a party, wedding, or celebration and you need a host to help bring the crowd to life, feel free to hit him up at jason.superband@gmail.com or contact the work cell at +6016–4430213. Trust me, you won’t regret having his performing team for your events.
