Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

An overnight singing sensation who rose to popularity through You Tube, Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco, now simply known as Charice,was born May 10, 1992 in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines. Hers has been a hard life as her mother, Raquel, struggled to raise Charice and her younger brother, Carl, by herself. Their father left them when Charice was just three years old.

To help her mother support the family, Charice began competing in amateur singing contests since she was seven; from town fiestas in Laguna to singing contests on TV. She is said to have joined over 80 singing contests.

In 2005, Charice joined ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation’s Little Big Star. Eliminated after her first performance, she was later called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became a finalist. Although she was a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, she only finished in third place via SMS voting.

In 2007, a fan, Dave Vuenas, started posting videos of Charice’ live performances onto You Tube. And the rest, as they say, is history. The videos garnered millions of hits making Charice an internet phenomenon. In June 2007, Pempengco was invited to do a demo-recording for Ten Songs/Productions, a music publishing company in Stockholm, Sweden. She was invited to the talent show Star King where she wowed the audience with her singing.

After seeing her Star King performance on YouTube," Ellen Degeneres extended an on-air invitation for Charice to be a guest on her show. She flew to the United States for the first time and performed two songs on the December 19, 2007 episode of the show, once again mesmerizing the audience with her powerful voice. She then guested at the April 8 episode of the The Paul O’Grady Show in London, England. A few weeks later, she appeared on the May 12 edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode entitled the "World’s Smartest Kids". Oprah was so impressed with Charice’ performance that she recommended the young singer to music producer David Foster who immediately took Charice under his wing.

Since then, Charice has been on stage with some of the world’s best artists including Andrea Bocelli. Josh Groban, and Celine Dion. In January 2009, she performed at two presidential pre-inaugural events in Washington, D.C. Charice was one of the headlining acts in the recent David Foster and Friends 10-City North American Tour.

Her international debut album is slated for release in January 2010 and she will appear in the upcoming film Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel which will be out on December 23. She is also part of the official soundtrack for the movie with her rendition of No One by Alicia Keys.

At 17 years old, Charice has achieved so much that millions of others could never hope to achieve in a million lifetimes. With the loving support of her family, friends, and countless fans, Charice can truly face the future unafraid.

"Kababayan, maraming, maraming salamat sa suporta . Sana tuloy-tuloy lang po ang suporta. Proud to be Filipino," Charice said in an interview a few days ago, upon arrival in Manila from the US. She shared that while performing abroad, other nationalities notice how talented Filipinos are. "Nakakatuwa kasi di lang mga Pinoy ang nakakapansin. Pag nagko-concert kami may mga Americans, Canadians, sinasabi nila na parang ang dami palang napakatalented sa Pinas," she said.

Charice announced in that interview that she will not stay long in Manila as she has to go back to the States right away. Yes, to sing Christmas carols to her kababayans in LA at the Handog ng FASO sa PASKO. Don’t miss it! (AJPress)

"Charice sings, are you listening?
With FASO, eyes are glistening
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight.
Being in this Christmas wonderland.
Gone away is the hard life,
Here to stay is a new life
She sings a love song,
As we go along,
Walking in a music wonderland.
Later on, we’ll conspire,
As we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
The plans that we’ve made
Walking in this merry wonderland.
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight.
Join us in the
‘Handog ng FASO sa Pasko’ wonderland." 

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published November 25, 2009 in MDWK Magazine p. 2 )