PETALING JAYA, June 26 ― Malaysian singer Santesh Kumar wowed his fans when he uploaded a video of him belting out to Micheal Jackson’s Black or White.
The short video saw Santesh belting out the 1991 hit, accompanied by guitarist Lawrence Sosai to commemorate the King of Pop’s 11th death yesterday.
Santesh, 32, who has been a Jackson fan since he was much younger, told Malay Mail that he sang to Black or White based on requests from his fans.
“This is actually my first time doing a cover for an English song and I was initially quite hesitant to take on the challenge as any MJ song requires a certain technique when it comes to Jackson’s unique pronunciation and style.
“My guitarist and I had already recorded the melody for the song a month ago, and the only part that was left was me singing the video,” he said.
“But I was filled with fear because I didn’t want negative comments being thrown at me for not being able to sing MJ’s part properly so I listened many times to the acapella version of the song before uploading the video.
“As such, I had to make sure I sang the song well before uploading it.”
The video posted on Santesh’s fan page has already garnered over 3,500 likes since yesterday with many social media users praising the singer for sounding alike like the King of Pop.
Written in the video was his tribute message, “We love you, Michael. This is for you, the King of Pop.”
The 32-year-old said that this was his first time doing an English cover as he would usually sing Tamil or Malay songs.
Santesh rose to fame with his first Malay single, Amalina, which became one of the 10 trending Malaysian songs on Youtube in 2018.
He also released his other Malay single in 2019, Mymuna last year.
