The Gift

I have been following this little girl when she joined the singing contest on TV- “The Little Big Star”. I just came from Taiwan then, trying to catch up things and stay relaxed for a while after long months of working. Anyway, I really thought Charice Pempengco will win the contest as she stands out the rest of the little girls. She never sounded a little girl either. I thought she’s very talented knowing that she was only 12 then. Well, she ended up third place. As to why? Perhaps because she’s not that good-looking. Yes, it’s going to be tough for her in the Entertainment Industry and one talent should be a complete package; meaning, 40% talent and 60% beautiful face. Seriously though, the impact of her voice is undeniably a talent from heaven.

According to Wiki:
Charice has lived with her younger brother and their mother, Racquel, since her parents' separation when she was only a toddler. She started singing at age four under her mother's coaching.At age seven, she began joining amateur singing contests, from town fiestas in their province of Laguna to several televised competitions in her country.In 2005, she joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol. Eliminated after her first performance, she was later called back as a wildcard contender. Charice worked her way up to the finals and eventually placed third.
In 2007, a series of YouTube videos of Charice's performances posted by a youtuber called FalseVoice brought her to the attention of Ten Songs/Productions based in Sweden. In June 2007, she flew to Stockholm, Sweden and recorded seven songs.
A video of Charice performing the Dreamgirls' anthem And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going became a hit on UCC, the Korean version of YouTube. This gained her an invite to perform the same song on Star King, a famous talent show in South Korea, in October 2007. She would later reappear in January 2008 as the Most Requested Foreign Act on Star King, performing Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive and, with Korean-American singers Lena Park, the Bodyguard theme, I Will Always Love You. In December 2007, she flew to the United States for the first time after having been personally invited by Ellen Degeneres to perform on her show. She sang Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You and her popular cover of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going.

In April 2008, she guested on The Paul O'Grady Show, performing two songs and earning standing ovations, the first in the show's history.
In May 2008, Charice guested on The Oprah Winfrey Show in their World's Smartest Kids episode. She sang Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing.

For more of Charice- click here.
Well, last September 15, 2008, Charice met with Celine Dion at Madison Square Garden to perform a duet of Because You Loved Me. The duet was featured on Oprah show on September 19.

For just a kid from a province who joined singing contests and who, if she earned P2,500 in prizes, was happy because she could feed herself and her Mom and brother for a month. And rising despite it all, being confident and smart enough to meet the challenges; definitely her dreams is truly coming true!