Charice Pempengco brings honor to the country

Who would have thought that a simple video posted in the popular website, youtube.com would make 15-year old Charice Pempengco a celebrity?

Seems impossible but it’s true. Through fans who posted her videos (in singing contests) in the website, she is starting to be known in most parts of the country, in Asia, in the United States and even in the United Kingdom. In fact, she was invited to guest in a popular TV show in Korea and even got to meet some of the Korean stars such as Kim Jung-Eun of the Koreanovela “Lovers in Paris,” whom she was a fan of when it was shown in ABS-CBN.

Stardom for Charice all started when she joined the popular singing show Little Big Star hosted by pop princess Sarah Geronimo. Competing in the Big Divisions, Charice did not land the first place and had to compete with other young singers which proved to be a challenge for her since most of her competitors were very talented in singing too. When November came, wild card Charice won as the Star of the Month making her one of the contestants in the grand finals along with Makisig Morales, Sam Concepcion and Rachel Pegason. Singing songs from her idol Whitney Houston, Charice can definitely belt out melodies that will blow your mind away. The rest of the world witnessed her talent when fans posted her winning piece at Youtube.com. It was uploaded side by side with America’s Got Talent finalist Bianca Ryan for “Face Off.” The popular featured site of the belters to date has registered a total of 1,215,319 guests. Watch the showdown at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2asM9yzvEiI.

But singing in front of an audience isn’t the only dream of this young star. Dubbed as the next Lea Salonga, this teen star wishes to be internationally known as well, to show the people around the world how talented Filipinos are. And it’s a dream that is slowly being realized. Other than visiting and guesting in a show in Korea, she was also featured in the American entertainment show Daily 10 in E! TV and was even tagged as the newest singing sensation. There was also an opportunity for her to work with a Swedish recording label, Ten Songs Productions which offered her to record last July 2007 immediately after Adis Adamson saw her at youtube.com. Charice and Star Records’ Managing Director Annabelle Regalado-Borja had to fly to Sweden.

In addition to that, she was invited by the popular, multi-awarded and controversial TV talk show host, Ellen Degeneres in her own TV show, making Filipinos everywhere proud to be her Kababayan. In fact, Ellen Degeneres herself was very excited and thrilled to meet Charice. Last December, the young Filipina was able to guest in Ellen’s show not only impressing Ellen herself, but also the studio audience and televiewers. As Charice sang her incredible performance, Ellen intently listened and watched and later on, the whole audience gave her a standing ovation. She performed the song “And I Am Telling You” originally sung by Jennifer Hudson in the musical film Dream Girls. Ellen even gave her an Ipod Touch since her own was lost during the trip to the States. Charice was also in tears when she was interviewed later on since she was happy that the American audience saw and appreciated her talent. Check out Ellen Degeneres’ website for a video of Charice’ interview and performance at http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2007/12/charice_pempengco_i_am_telling.php. The site has also garnered around 2,013 comments from different countries and people praising and admiring Charice’ talent and thanking Ellen for inviting her.

Charice is also the newest addition to the pool of talents of Star Records. With the numerous singing talents that Star Records has produced, it comes as no surprise if Charice would produce and sing platinum worthy albums and award winning songs.

And now, because she is known and recognized by the whole world, giving the Philippines another reason to be proud, she met with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday, January 4, 2008 for a courtesy call at the Malacañang Palace. Honored guests and the media were also there to witness the grand event given only to those who have brought honor and pride to the country.

With the rate she’s going, it seems that this young Filipina diva is well on her way to becoming one of the biggest and brightest teen stars around the world, ready to captivate the international market. ABS-CBN and Star Records are truly proud to have Charice as Kapamilya.