Dennis Chew meets Alan Tam, finds out latter is his senior from Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Meeting a superstar that you're a fan of can be nerve-wracking, but how about finding out he used to go to your school?

Local DJ-host Dennis Chew recently met veteran singer-actor Alan Tam on the Community Chest: Uniting Hearts 2023 Charity TV Show held on Sunday (Sept 24), which raised more than $16m to support over 200 social programmes.

Yesterday, Dennis posted on Instagram a selfie he took with the Hong Kong icon. In the caption, he wrote about the "short conversation" he had with Alan, revealing an unexpected similarity between the two.

"Which institution in Singapore did you attend in the past?" asked Dennis.

"Ngee Ann Polytechnic," answered Alan.

Dennis, 50, is currently taking the Chinese Media and Communication course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic while Alan, 73, reportedly studied there over four decades ago.

Back then, the institution was known as Ngee Ann Technical College.

Dennis then thanked Alan for the photo, calling him his "school senior" and "principal", Alan's nickname as he has mentored many stars in the Hong Kong music industry.

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In an interview with AsiaOne today, Dennis recounted the encounter: "We were waiting for the next rehearsal for them to sing, and while standing beside him, I don't know why I had the courage to ask him the question."

He added that Alan was "delighted" when Dennis remarked that the former is his Ngee Ann senior.

That was all the two had time to speak about as they had to go to the next rehearsal.

When we asked Dennis how he felt when he found out that Alan was his senior, he said that he was "very surprised".

"I remember that someone told me he was from a polytechnic in Singapore, so all the while I thought that he was from Singapore Polytechnic. I didn't expect him to be from Ngee Ann," he said.

He later admitted that he was also nervous and excited when he saw Alan in front of him, as he used to sing many of Alan's songs when he was younger.

"I'm a fan, but I'm not the very crazy type," he added.

In the hashtags of his Instagram post, Dennis mentioned that Alan was "very warm".

This isn't the first time the two had met.

"This is the third or the fourth time. Everytime, the feeling is good," Dennis told us.

He said that the first time they met was many years ago, when Alan came to Singapore for a football match. He had the chance to have a one-to-one interview with him.

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He recalled: "Despite being a superstar, he had no airs and he was very polite and obliging. At the time, I was still a newbie and had just started hosting, I think you could see that I was very nervous. Back then, Alan said, 'Come on, don't be nervous. We can do this in a relaxed way.'"

The interaction gave him a "very deep and good impression" of Alan at the time.

Dennis later interviewed him in Singapore two more times for a movie, but could not recall when it happened.

It seems that Alan has not changed much, as Dennis commented that the former was "very smiley and cheerful" at their recent meeting: "When our writer was talking to him about the beneficiary families… you can see from his eyes that he really wanted to know more. He was also very enthusiastic."

He added that from Alan's expressions and gestures, he could tell that Alan felt for the families.

Unfortunately, Alan didn't remember Dennis from their previous interactions, though the former complimented him on his hairstyle this time around.

"He said that my hairstyle is nice and special. My lecturer (and local film director) Boris Boo left a comment on my post saying that it was one of Alan's hairstyles in the past," laughed Dennis.

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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