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I must say this 15-year-old Filipina sings better than Jennifer Hudson of DreamGirls. Her popularity has now reached US at some level. And Ellen DeGeneres even wanted her on the Ellen Degeneres Show (watch out for that episode this December). For those who haven't seen Charice on YouTube because you're so busy texting, here's a video of Cha guesting on Star King (a sort of "Korea's Got Talent" show).



A star is born
She was just a Little Big Star Finalist then. Nobody knew that two years later, Charice Pempengco would become a singing sensation not only in the Philippines but also abroad.

Charice gained popularity online through the video-sharing site YouTube. A registered user of the site uploaded a video of her Little Big Star performance of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." The recording company Ten Songs Production and Extensive Talent Management—based in Stockholm, Sweden—discovered this video and asked her to record six songs for them.

Among the songs that she recorded were two covers—"I Will Always Love You" of Whitney Houston and "Running Up That Hill" of Kate Bush—and four original songs sourced by Ten Songs namely "All The Money In the World," "Amazing," "It Can Only Get Better," and "Born to Love You Forever." These songs are expected to be released digitally.

Charice continues to make a name for herself in the international scene. She wowed Koreans in the talent show called Star King. A lot of Korean viewers became fascinated with her when she sang Dreamgirls' song titled "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." Another fan of the young singer posted this performance in YouTube, thus, adding to her exposure online.

She was then featured twice on E!'s The Daily Ten—the first feature came out on November 14 wherein the headline stated, "A Star Is Born," while the second was released on November 16. In it, Charice was included in the "Hollywood Royalty" segment with the title "A Queen is Born." The host Debbie Matenopoulos said, "She is the voice that the people will and should hear."

Her dreams of international recognition did not stop there. Last December 4, after she showcased her voice to entertainment media during the ABS-CBN Christmas party for the press, Charice made another important announcement. The 14-year-old singing sensation confirmed reports by saying that she got another invitation from Emmy Award-winning host Ellen DeGeneres. On the November 28th episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen said on television that she wanted Charice to be in her show.

Source: pep.ph (12/6/07)