SINGAPORE — If you’re a young musician wondering if you should embark on a career in music, Shun Ng has some advice for you — don’t do it.

Though only 23, the Chicago-born, Singapore-raised musician has been through enough to know the difficulties musicians face at the beginning of their careers.

“My manager says as a musician, you can’t make a living, but you can make a killing,” Ng quipped. The musician will be appearing for the Rhythm Of Christmas concert on Sunday (Dec 22) in Singapore. “I think (a career in music) can be very difficult, but you have to do it for the right reasons, you have to really want it, and you have to sacrifice things.

“I miss my family all the time, and I don’t want to be in States,” said Ng, who is now based in Boston. “But I have to be there, I have to put myself out there.”

And it truly hasn’t been an easy ride for Ng, who grew up in a non-musical family, and was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of eight. He struggled with school, and thought of himself as a “failure” until he discovered music as a 14-year-old, when a friend brought his guitar to school.

“Suddenly, I could understand concepts I couldn’t understand before,” Ng explained. “Through musical concepts, through understanding harmony and melody, I started to understand how the world works.

“And in many ways, it saved my life,” he added. “Because if not for (music), I really don’t know what I would amount to, or what I would be.”

With the help of a letter of recommendation from renowned composer and mentor Kelly Tang, Ng was granted an audition and accepted into Singapore Polytechnic to pursue a diploma in Music and Audio Technology, even though he didn’t have the requisite grades to enter the competitive course. He was also later awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, but left after two semesters to pursue a full-time career in music.

To the mild-mannered singer-songwriter, music isn’t as much work as it is his way of comprehending the world and expressing himself, something he had previously been unable to do with the written word. Ng’s talent and passion caught the attention of legendary record producer Quincy Jones, who openly endorsed him after a meeting at Jones’s home in Bel Air.

In what has become a dream come true for Ng, Quincy Jones Production has agreed to work with him. It has organised a showcase in January, where Ng will perform in front of the company’s industry contacts, including promoters, label executive mangers and booking agents.

“I really just wanted a photo with Quincy Jones,” Ng shared. “It was just overwhelming for me. I just didn’t expect to connect with him on such a deep level. He’s so kind and so real, and he was just talking to me about culture, philosophy and our favourite composers.”

He continued: “I remember once when we were sitting in his limo. He kept quiet for a while, and then he looked at me and put his arm around my shoulder and said: ‘You know, so many things are going to happen for you; you have no idea, but you must promise me, you let go, and let God’. And I looked at him and said, ‘Yes I will’.”

And this is why, even though Ng said he would advise other people to stay away from a career in music, he knows those, like him, who are meant to be musicians will always find their way back.

“Firstly, when you start out it’s sh*t and you’re going to have a lot of sh*t,” Ng mused. “But if that one musician still does it anyway, that means he was meant for it. Because people have told me, ‘Don’t be so stupid’. If I had just said, ‘Yeah okay, maybe you’re right’, then maybe I wasn’t cut out for it. But for me, no matter what, I was just like — I want to do it.”

What: Rhythm Of Christmas: Shun Ng and Lawrence Watson

When: Dec 22

Where: Drama Centre Theatre, National Library Building.

Tickets: S$39 to S$69 from SISTIC.