Who: ANDREW SANJAY
Age: 12
School: Homeschooled
Performing: Panis Angelicus by Cesar Franck together with fellow singer Anisa Kureishi

Even a bout of chickenpox could not stop Andrew Sanjay from travelling from Malaysia to Singapore to audition for ChildAid.

The member of the Kuala Lumpur Children's choir fell sick about a week before the auditions.

"My parents were shoving Chinese medicine down my throat," recalls Andrew, who hopes to make singing his career in the future.

"But by the end of the week I was fine, so the doctor said I was good to go," he adds.

The journey was worth it.

The classically trained singer, who started vocal lessons when he was seven, was chosen out of the 550 children who auditioned to be a part of this year's charity concert.

He was overjoyed. He says the moment he saw the advertisement for the auditions in newspapers, he wanted to put his talent to good use and be a part of ChildAid.

His father, George Thomas, who runs a business consultancy in information technology, says: "He takes his singing very seriously and fine-tunes it to such a precise point."

"Once, before his previous performance, we woke up in the middle of the night to find him rehearsing in his room."
Andrew says: "This is not any other performance, but one that will benefit less fortunate kids."

This article was first published in The Straits Times.