His family had a record player, and his father would often play records by Taiwanese-language artists like Wen Hsia, Hung Yi-feng, and Chi Lu-hsia. Chen would learn how to sing from the records and would often perform at school, which earned him the nickname "the little song king."
這段因緣起於童年時家裡有台唱機，父親經常播放文夏、洪一峰、紀露霞等人的台語歌曲，陳春祿一邊聽一邊學，還經常在班上表演，有「小歌王」之稱。