Shun Ng – Get On With It

Video Posted on January 7, 2014 Updated on January 8, 2014

Shun Ng – Get On With It

Shun Ng was born in Chicago, Illinois and was raised in Singapore. Shun grew up in a non-musical family in Singapore and struggled in the rigid and academic-driven education system. At age 8, Shun was diagnosed with dyslexia and faced challenges with reading, languages and mathematics throughout his educational career and was constantly deemed lazy or a failure by his teachers. He turned to gymnastics and competed nationally at the age of 10. In gymnastics at a young age he was brought up in an environment where endurance and perseverance was a necessity but even more so, he was instilled with the determination of striving towards excellence and perfection. When Shun was 14, a gymnastics teammate brought in a guitar to the gym. Shun left the team in the next few days. For his 14th Christmas his father bought him a guitar and as his passion grew, Shun finally found a language to understand the world – music. While letters and numbers didn’t make much sense, music did.

In January 2012, Shun released his debut album “Funky Thumb Stuff” which garnered him national recognition. In that same year, Shun was featured twice in the Asian news network, Channel News Asia and was also invited to perform for the President of Singapore on national television. Later that year, Shun was featured alongside other internationally renowned Jazz artists by Singapore’s own King of Swing, Jeremy Monteiro in the Jazzy Christmas concert series. “Funky Thumb Stuff” also came into the attention of veteran Fingerstyle Guitarist, Tuck Andress of Tuck & Patti, who said he was “dazzled by his technique and captivated by his guitar groove” and went on to describe Shun’s singing as “well beyond his years yet with the innocence of a child.”

Also that year, Shun was accepted to Berklee College of Music and awarded a scholarship from the college. During his first year in Boston, he attracted the attention of Boston Manager, Ralph Jaccodine. Shun performed his first show ever in the United States, sharing the bill with some of Boston’s finest acts one of whom was the legendary Livingston Taylor who said of him “Shun is amazing, his talent rest on a rock-solid work ethic and the results are pure WOW!”
In his second semester, he was selected to be on Berklee’s prestigious Artist Diploma, which is a two-year individualized program of study designed to provide the highest level of training for musicians who have already distinguished themselves through advanced study and/or have established a promising career in music.

Shun is also very passionate about social justice, his began getting involved in social work at the age of 8 when he went to Hyderabad, India for mission work. In 2011 he released a Christmas album with all of the proceeds going towards financially supporting college fees of the members from the Lahu Tribe in Chiang Rai, Thailand. He currently serves as the Director of Music at The Amber Initiative, a non-profit organization that deals with issues of social injustices around the world.