But for karaoke, Peter Ho wouldn't be a singer today.

He has cut an album.

And, mind you, a few years ago he was so bad that a music teacher gave up on him.

"When I sang my very first song (Andy Hui's Want To Say), I got laughed at by my friends. They said, 'Stop singing! What song are you singing that is so horrible?' I was totally out of tune," Peter told The New Paper in a phone interview from Taipei.

So, the Taiwanese singer-actor decided to take lessons from a teacher when he was studying in Canada. But even the teacher raised the white flag after two months.

"He said to me 'Peter, I've taught singing for over 10 years and I've never met anyone like you. I can't teach you anymore.' I was that bad."

You see, Peter, 24, has no musical background at all.

He explained: "I had never been interested in music when I was young and I didn't even own a stereo set. I started listening to songs only when I was about 18."

And it was all because of karaoke.

"I used to hang out with friends at the KTV and I wouldn't sing. But it was not worth it because I had to pay the same amount in the end! So I decided that I should start singing," he said.

That was when he shocked the wits out of his poor friends.

But 1/1/2 years down the road, Peter completely changed.

"I was very depressed but I went to another teacher and he was very patient with me. I improved a lot."

So much so that when he went for another karaoke session back in Taiwan when he was 21, a producer heard him warble and was so impressed that he offered Peter a singing deal.

"I was shocked to death," he said.

And it wasn't just him.

"Everyone was so taken aback when they learned I had become a singer!" Yes, Peter has come a long way indeed. His debut Mandarin album, Thinking of Your Love, was released last October.

Born in Los Angeles, he grew up in Taiwan and left for Canada to study when he was 13. He did design at the Ontario College of Art and dreams of "drawing an animation film in Japan or publishing my own book of comics in Taiwan."

Before he became a professional singer, he played the effeminate scholar friend of Nicky Wu in Tsui Hark's 1994 film, The Lover.

Derek wanted a newcomer for the role. He saw me in my music video, See The Blue Sea With Me, and felt that I fitted the role of simple and silly young man. People do say that I'm a little retarded! - Peter Ho on how he got a movie role

NEXT MOVIE

Peter's next movie is Raintree Pictures' The Truth About Jane And Sam, which will be released here on July 8.

He plays Sam, a naïve and enthusiastic Singaporean from a rich family who works as a magazine reporter in Hongkong. He falls for and changes Jane (Fann Wong), a streetwise Hongkong girl from a broken family.

On Fann, Peter said: "She's really quite nice and has no airs about her. Initially, I didn't even know she's so big in Singapore."

He also didn't know her age.

"She refused to tell us her age and for two months on the set, (director) Derek (Yee Tung Shing) and I kept bugging her to tell us and were trying to guess.

"I thought she was of the same age as me. But now I know, because the last time I came to Singapore, I flipped open a magazine and saw her age (27) in the article. It's no secret at all!" he said.