Jack Ho, 31
Singer & Songwriter
Rai Kannu, 30
Singer & Songwriter
Sometimes, mistakes are good.
Just ask Jack Ho and Rai Kannu – two musicians who met because of scheduling mix-ups but struck the right chord in each other to form Jack & Rai, a popular duo.
“Jack and I were performing at #5 in Emerald Hill then,” 30-year-old Rai recalled.
“We were singing on different nights but once in a while, because of mix-ups in schedules, we kept bumping into each other.”
Jack, who is a year older, remembers well his first impression of his future singing buddy and business partner.
“Usually when something goes wrong, people will just curse and swear, but Rai was very cool about it,” he said.
“Both of us are quite easy-going,” he added, “so we often ended up just jamming together.”
Rai spent the first 15 years of his life in the western part of Singapore.
His dad is semi-retired and mom is a homemaker. He has an older brother, Vigneswaran, who is an EDB Centre Director based in Frankfurt, Germany.
Rai went to Raffles Junior College (RJC), received his degree from National Institute of Education, and then went back to RJC to be a Physical Education teacher.
But music has always been Number One in his life.
Son of an Insurance Agent and homemaker, Jack became a full-time performer in 2004.
Growing up in the Braddell View and Thomson area, Jack worked as a Marketing Executive for Sony after university.
The Political Science graduate from the National University of Singapore went to St Joseph’s Institution and then to Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) - quite the opposite of Rai’s Rafflesian upbringing.
But there is just no turning back as far as their relationship is concerned.
By 2002, they were a regular duo belting out pop rock covers as well as their original compositions at Wala Wala, a popular drinking joint in Holland Village.
The two also found that apart from music, they share many things in common, particularly the way they approach life.
“Music brought us together,” Rai said. “We became good friends through music.”
“Jack is from ACJC and I was from RJC, but we realised that we have a lot of mutual friends.”
“Jack also had some army friends who are my friends.”
“Somehow, we just kept ending up in the same parties.”
Fast climbing the popularity chart, Jack & Rai also became inseparable in life as well.
“My name is on Jack’s wedding certificate as a witness,” Rai said.
“I can’t recall exactly how it happened.”
“I think he asked casually one day. I said “Of course, it’s my honour’ and that was it.”
“I see Jack almost every day,” Rai said, “more often than my girlfriend.”
“We sort of know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we try to work around them.”
Recently, their partnership reached a new peak when they released their first music CD aptly titled “In stores now”.
“There are 11 original compositions by us and the first print of 2000 copies is almost sold out,” Rai said.
“Everybody enjoys watching us because we are very pally,” he added. “We poke fun at each other and call each other names.”
“We are close to the extent of being telepathic,” Rai explained. “Often we know which song the other person is going to play next.”
“There is a lot of give-and-take between us.”
Rai finally quit his day job as a teacher in May 2008 to pursue his personal dream of becoming a full-time musician. Jack was totally pleased and supportive that his partner could concentrate on music fully.
For the immediate future, the duo hopes to expand on their production and song writing.
“We need to balance moneymaking and passion.”
In the past years, things have been moving in the right direction for them.
Corporate gigs have taken them to Bintan, Bangkok, Bali and most recently the Maldives.
Besides working, they also found time to have fun and learn new things.
“We tried things together, like snorkelling.”
“Rai is part of my family,” Jack proudly announced.
“We went through enough ups and downs together, not just in music but also in our personal and family lives.”
“Our friendship is not just about music,” he added. “I’ve relied on Rai to bail me out on many occasions.”
“We don’t run away from the race question,” he elaborated.
“In fact, race has been a wonderful conversation topic for both of us.”
Rai said, “Jack is always ordering ‘roti prata’ and me, ‘wonton mee’.”
“Because of our racial and cultural differences,” Jack said, “I learned a lot and it also makes me want to find out more about Rai.”
“Through Jack,” Rai interjected, “I know a lot of new Hokkien terms.”
Often, they find ways to introduce fun into their performances and that often consists of self-deprecating jokes and jokes about each other.
“For example,” Rai added, “I always tell people to turn on their flash when they want to take a picture of me.”
Jack said, “We have had a few complaints, and mostly, they want us to stop cracking racist jokes.”
Rai asked rhetorically, “I mean how can people accuse us of being racists when a Chinese is making fun of an Indian and vice versa right?”
“I think if I were to take everything offensively,” Jack said, “life will be very difficult.”