Emerging singer-songwriter organizes benefit concert for BC Children’s Hospital

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A Vancouver singer-songwriter and Grade 12 student will host a benefit concert Aug. 20 at the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood to support the BC Children’s Hospital.

After receiving five surgeries over the past two years due to injuries and a bone tumor, Dane Sung wanted to organize the concert as a way to combine his passion for music with wanting to give back to the hospital that cared for him.

“I’ve had two [surgeries] on my knee, one on my hand, and two on my wrist,” Sung says.

“I haven’t been able to do a lot of the previous activities that I like doing and certain sports that I’m not going to return to because of the surgeries. Through that time, I have begun playing music, writing songs, playing guitar and piano. My last two surgeries I had were at BC Children’s Hospital.”

The concert will feature performances from himself and four other up-and-coming artists — ZADA, Nirvana Bandi, Prince Cabangon, and Angel Zhao.

“A couple of those artists are people that I have been connected with through school, and we’ve been in high school plays together or we’ve met each other at school socials,” Sung says. “One of the artists, ZADA, is someone I saw perform at another charitable event, and I knew I definitely wanted to reach out to her for this event.”

Concert-goers can expect to listen to a range of music, such as pop, country, rock, and ballads, Sung says.

He started getting into playing music after his first two surgeries. Singing was uncomfortable for him at first, Sung says, but he eventually started learning how to write songs and record on his own. 

Although he took guitar and piano lessons when he was younger, he did not like them very much. It was not until he got injured that he took up the guitar and piano for enjoyment, which he learned how to do through YouTube.

“I think above all else, it’s really important to me because it brought me up during a time when I couldn’t do any of the previous activities that I had enjoyed,” Sung says. 

Sung’s music, which encompasses various genres, can be found on Spotify. He says his inspirations are American artist John Mayer for guitar and British musician Elton John for the piano.

“Whatever I go into, I’m hoping to include music in my career in some way, shape, or form,” he says. 

Tickets for the concert, which is from 8:00 to 10:00 pm, are free and available on Eventbrite. The tickets page also has a link to a website where people, regardless of if they are attending the concert or not, can leave an optional donation to BC Children’s Hospital. The fundraising goal is $100,000.

“I hope to highlight the struggles that people go through and how BC Children’s Hospital has helped a lot of people through their struggles and misfortunes,” Sung says.

“Even if they don’t donate, I just want to bring these problems to light to a bunch of people.”

For more information, visit www.emergingartistsatthehollywood.com/.