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NEW YORK - Charice’s dreams are being realized, one by one, right before our very eyes.
On Monday night, Sept. 15, at the Madison Square Garden, the young singer became the first Filipino performer to sing a duet with Celine Dion, one of the world’s most successful artists in pop music. As of 2007, Ms. Dion has sold over 200 million albums worldwide.
“We have here tonight an incredible young singer that Oprah discovered a while back. If you watched Oprah last week, you know all about her. This young lady’s name is Charice. She’s 16 years old and she’s from the Philippines,” Celine said, as the audience applauded wildly.
Celine, in a rather long spiel, introduced Charice to her hordes of fans.
“Let me tell you, she has a voice that can literally blow the roof of Madison Square Garden and she just might,” the singer said.
With her voice almost breaking, Celine said that the real story was how Charice and her mom “escaped a terrifying experience,” referring to the fact that they had to leave Charice’s violent father to start life on their own.
“Charice vowed to save her mom from a life of desperation and despair. You know, through prayers and dreams and God-given talent, an incredible voice, Charice entered and won every singing contest in her native country and eventually, was noticed by such influential people such as Oprah and Oprah took her under her wings and David Foster joined in,” Celine continued.
This historic moment for the Filipina performer happened in between Celine’s fourth or fifth song, and she said that she doesn’t usually cut her sets but tonight was something special.
On last week’s Oprah, an entire episode was devoted to Charice and as a surprise to her, Celine invited her to sing a duet with her in the New York leg of her Taking Chances world tour.
While waiting for the show to start, Charice created quite the ripple when she was accompanied to her seat, with Oprah’s cameras following her. The audience screamed and called her. Charice waved back to them.
It was almost half an hour into the show when Charice’s moment arrived.
“I had a chance to see Charice perform one of my songs on Oprah last week. I have a difficulty talking now because I met Charice and I am so emotional so I am searching and looking for my words, trying to control my emotion. I invited her to come tonight and sing with me. Where are you sweetheart?” Celine said as the spotlight searched for Charice.
“Come on New York, let’s hear it for Charice,” Celine then said as Charice made her way to the stage.
Celine took Charice’s hand as she stepped onstage and they shared a hug. The audience stood up and applauded.
“First of all, let me tell you that you look spectacular. Mom, are you okay? You look beautiful, are you holding on?” Celine said while the cameras panned to Charice’s mom Raquel who was trying to control her emotions herself.
“Are you shaking, are you okay? How do you feel?” Celine asked Charice.
“I’m nervous,” Charice responded.
Before breaking into their duet, Celine shared a story about how her manager, now her husband, told her not to be nervous.
“The people understand that you are nervous but let me tell you one thing: the talent we’re not gonna talk about because you have it; the strength we’re not going to talk about because you have it,” Celine said as she pointed at Charice’s mom.
“Think that all the people in front of you are your brothers and sisters. You are singing in your living room and it’s your family. All these people are your family tonight. They cannot wait to hear you sing,” Celine added.
With that, the two sang Because You Loved Me, dedicated to Charice’s mother.
While standing ovations were usually reserved after every performance, the audience in this show was different as they stood up and applauded Charice as she sang. Celine sang the first few bars and let Charice enjoy the moment by singing only the chorus with her.
After their song and the applause, Celine told Charice, “Your mother is extremely proud of you and so we are. You did amazing and the roof of Madison went off tonight.”
“Let me ask you Charice, when you do Madison Square Garden, are you going to invite me,” as Charice responded with a nervous laugh, disbelieving that her idol was asking her that question.
“I love you and I cannot wait for you to perform here for a whole concert and we’re all gonna be there,” Celine said as she hugged Charice one more time.
As a kid, Charice idolized Celine Dion so much that the very first song she ever learned to sing was Celine’s. This same song also brought Charice her first win in a singing competition back in the Philippines.
It has been a whirlwind week for Charice and her mother Raquel. Just last week, she performed in Rotterdam, the Netherlands to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Feyenoord Soccer Club. Then on Tuesday, Sept. 9, an entire episode on Oprah was devoted to her.
She flew to Edmonton to perform at the David Foster & Friends fund-raiser and on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 14, she arrived in New York for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It was during the Oprah episode where Celine, through a satellite feed from Washington, DC, offered Charice a realization of one of her greatest dreams.
"I would love to do something very special with you," Celine began. "I would love to ask you to come to sing a duet with me... We can dedicate this song to your mother. So I hope you can travel to New York and meet with me."
On Monday, Sept. 15, Charice achieved this dream, and was witnessed by a sold-out audience.
This Friday, Sept. 19, Oprah will air clips of the dream duet. Oprah’s crew has been following Charice lately. This is one of the reasons why she was applauded when she was on her way to her seat right before the concert started.
Charice’s busy schedule will also bring her to Los Angeles this week for ABS-CBN’s One Kapamilya Go show at the Ontario Convention Center. (www.asianjournal.com)
(Published September 17, 2008 p.A1 LAMDWK)
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