Charice Pempengco

Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco, born May 10, 1992, popularly known by the mononym Charice, is a Filipino recording artist and actress who rose to popularity through YouTube. Dubbed by Oprah Winfrey as the Most Talented Girl in the World, she released her first international studio album, Charice in 2010. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number-eight making Charice the first Asian and Filipino singer in history to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart.

She released the single, "Pyramid", which featured rapper, Iyaz. It became her most successful single to-date, charting within the top-40 in a number of countries, and debuting on The Oprah Winfrey Show where she sang live vocals. Crossing over to acting on television, she joined the cast of TV series Glee as Sunshine Corazon. She has released a new lead single, "Before It Explodes", written by Bruno Mars, from her upcoming international sophomore studio album.

Early life

Pempengco was born in Laguna, Philippines. Raised by a single mother, she helped support the family by entering singing contests at age seven, from town fiestas in various provinces to singing competitions on TV. She is said to have competed in almost a hundred such contests.

In 2005, Charice joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol. Eliminated after her first performance, she was called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became one of the finalists. Although she was a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, she did not win the title in the finale and only placed third.

Charice made minor appearances on local television shows and commercials, but essentially fell off the radar after her stint at Little Big Star. It was not until 2007 that she gained worldwide recognition after an avid supporter under the username FalseVoice, started posting a series of her performance videos on YouTube. These videos received over 15 million hits.

Charice (2010-present)

On January 23, 2010, she appeared on Io Canto, a renowned singing competition in Italy. She performed her standards plus an Italian favorite called "Adagio" (made popular by Lara Fabian), in Italian. On January 31, she was featured as one of the musical acts on the NBC Sports program Silk Soy Milk Skate for the Heart, a show designed to raise awareness of heart disease. She performed "Note to God" and debuted two new songs included in her debut album, "In This Song" and "Breathe Out" (later retitled as "Breathe You Out"). The album version and club remixes of her second single, "Pyramid" (featuring Iyaz), from her international debut album were released on February 23, 2010 and March 2, 2010. Her self-titled international debut album with Reprise Records was released on May 11, 2010. On its first week, the album reached #8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, making her the first Asian to enter the Top 10.disputed – discuss On the same day as part of her album launching, she again made a guest appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with another YouTube-discovered singer Justin Bieber. Pempengco's world-wide promotion of her album was shown in a 12-part mini-documentary entitled 30 Days with Charice, which was filmed by Alloy TV and published at Teen.com. On June 22, Pempengco herself confirmed that she will join the cast of the hit US television series Glee on its second season. Later in the week, she released a promotional single entitled "Crescent Moon" in Japan. The single is an English rendition of the Japanese song "Mikazuki" by Ayaka.

During the inauguration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on June 30, 2010, she sang the Philippine national anthem in front of a crowd estimated at more than half a million. In July, she embarked on an album promotional tour of Asia covering Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea. While in South Korea, she appeared on the show Star King for the third time.On September 7, the premiere of Glee's second season was held in Hollywood with Pempengco in attendance. Cast in a recurring role, she plays an exchange student from the Philippines named Sunshine Corazon who presents serious competition against lead character Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele). On November 30, she appeared on NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center and performed two songs from her Christmas EP, "Grown-Up Christmas List" and "Jingle Bell Rock", with producer and mentor David Foster. In December, she became Operation Smile's official Smile Ambassador. She joins other celebrity Smile Ambassadors such as Jessica Simpson, Billy Bush, and Zachary Levi in the organization's global efforts of providing free surgeries to children born with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities. On February 13, 2011, her very first television musical special entitled Charice: Home for Valentine's was broadcasted on Philippine television's GMA 7 network. According to AGB Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, the show earned the highest rating of the night in the Mega Manila area, beating its competition by a wide margin. From February 21 to February 25, she embarked on her very first solo tour performing in four shows held at three different Zepp music halls in Japan (Nagoya, two Tokyo dates, and Osaka).

Upcoming sophomore international album

It was announced that she began to record new material for her upcoming sophomore international album. "Before It Explodes" was released as her comeback single, which was written by Bruno Mars. The single was released on April 18, 2011. The following day after its release, another song, titled "One Day", was released on iTunes, which was co-written and co-produced by Nick Jonas. "Louder", the second single was released on May 20 which was bundled with another song, "Lost The Best Thing.

Voice

In an ABC News interview, David Foster mentioned that she has the ability to mimic other people's voices, which, according to him, is a characteristic of good singers. In a separate interview, Josh Groban stated that Charice's voice is one of the most beautiful voices he has heard in a long time. The New York Post once called her a vocal prodigy for being able to sing 'big songs' even at her tender age.Ryan Murphy, the executive music producer of the hit US television series Glee, said, "When that girl opens her mouth, angels fly out.

Awards and recognitions

3rd Place – Little Big Star Big Division, Season 1, Philippines

Most Requested Foreign Act of 2007 – StarKing, South Korea

Most Memorable Moment of 2007 – The Ellen DeGeneres Show, USA

Pinoy World Class Talent – 20th Year Anniversary of the Music Museum, 2008, Philippines

Key To The City of Rotterdam – Mayor Ivo Opstelten, 2008, The Netherlands

Best New Female Recording Artist – Aliw Awards, 2008, Philippines

Newsmaker of the Year 2008, 2009 and 2010 – Balitang America, USA

People of the Year 2008 – People Asia Magazine, 2009, Philippines

Plaque of Recognition – The Spirit of EDSA Foundation, 2009, Philippines

Special Citation Award – MYX Music Awards 2009, Philippines

National Newsmaker of the Year 2008 – Ateneo de Davao University TAO Awards, 2009, Philippines

Outstanding Global Achievement – 40th Box Office Entertainment Awards (Guillermo Awards), 2009, Philippines

Best Selling Album of the Year - 22nd Awit Awards, 2009, Philippines

Best Musical Performance of 2009 – The Oprah Winfrey Show, USA

Person of the Year for 2009 – Philnews.com, Philippines

MDWK Magazine's Top Newsmakers of 2009 – Asian Journal's MDWK Magazine, Philippines

Fun, Fearless Female Award – Cosmopolitan Magazine Philippines, 2010

21 Under 21: Music's Hottest Minors (Number 4) – Billboard, 2010 USA

Icon of Tomorrow – J-14 Magazine, 2010 USA

BPInoy Award: Outstanding Filipino – Bank of the Philippine Islands, 2010 Philippines

Best Inspirational or Religious Song (for "Always You") - 23nd Awit Awards, 2010, Philippines

Number 4 in Yahoo!'s 2010 Most Irresistible Lyrics for 'Pyramid' – Yahoo!, 2010

Number 7 in Reader's Choice Favorite Album of 2010: 'Charice' - Billboard

Number 17 in Best Dance Club Songs of 2010: 'Pyramid' – Billboard

Number 59 in Japan Hot 100 Songs of 2010: 'Pyramid' – Billboard

J-Wave Tokio Hot 100 Award: Best New Artist - J-Wave Radio, 2011, Japan

Female Concert Performer of the Year - 42nd Box-Office Entertainment Awards, 2011, Philippines