Son of Taiwanese singer Bao Nana moves on from singing career, now producing charity concert

As the son of famous Taiwanese singer Bao Nana, one might expect Dave Fu to follow in his mother's footsteps.

He even admitted that it was hard to live in her shadow.

"It's like I know she's famous but I didn't realise she was that famous, so it didn't really affect me that much growing up," he told AsiaOne in an email interview.

"However, as I got older, I realised more and more about her achievements and even more so after I moved to Taipei. In some ways, it was definitely not easy living under her shadow."

Well, the 35-year-old, who is based in Singapore, tried. He participated in a few Taiwanese singing competitions in 2007 and 2008, going as far as to release an EP (extended play) out in 2011. Alas, he stopped pursuing his music career that same year.

He confessed: "I had a contractual dispute with my agent, which resulted in me being unable to properly pursue my music career. It was a very painful period for me but it also taught me that we have to really choose the right partners to work with in anything we do."

But fret not, because it's not the end of the world for him. Fu is still in showbiz and apart from being a singer, he is also a film producer, director and an actor. In fact, he will be producing an upcoming charity concert with charity healthcare institution Ren Ci to raise funds for Ren Ci Hospital. Fu is also the chairman of the concert organising committee.

Ren Ci will be directing their fundraising efforts online this year in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. To that end, Ren Ci and production company Hao Productions Pte Ltd (which Fu owns) have come together to organise a one-night-only concert which features Taiwanese stars like Jeff Chang and David Tao.

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And organising this is no mean feat, according to Fu.

He explained: "This time it's quite stressful because we only had two months to prepare for the event. However, we have met with many kind souls who have contributed in the process and I am very thankful to them for participating in this meaningful show."

Fu himself will also be performing two songs, alongside other local acts like Joanna Dong and a cappella group MICappella.

The pandemic also saw Fu pursuing a different opportunity that he had not foreseen. He revealed to AsiaOne that he's now in the personal protective equipment (PPE) trading business, something which he stumbled upon.

"It was truly a very unusual life experience for me, working around the clock due to time differences. I never expected I would ever be in this business, but now it has somehow gradually become a part of my life," he described, adding that the market has its "ups and downs" and there's a "big demand in the global market".

However, showbiz is still in his blood and it's just a matter of whether he's "in front or behind the screen". Fu has directed several short films and documentaries and is currently producing two full-length feature films.

He added: "As for music, it's still my passion so I hope to be able to release more songs in the future and do some live streaming events."

And he's doing this all for his own sake — not just to live up to his mother's legacy.

"In some ways, there is always pressure to succeed subconsciously, but more so to make my mother proud. But after a while, I realised that it's a different generation and we are two different people, so there's no point in comparing apples and oranges so to speak but rather better to just focus on ourselves and work as hard as we can."

The Ren Ci charity concert will be streamed live on Saturday (Sept 19) on AsiaOne's Facebook and YouTube pages from 8pm to 10.30pm. Donations can be made here.

bryanlim@asiaone.com