03:00 PM by 
Meet Charice, a sixteen-year-old singing sensation from the Philippines. Singing contests got her started. The Internet lit a fire under her career. And Oprah and Ellen used their influence to give her a hand up into stardom. Now, she’s featured on the “Hitman: David Foster and Friends” album alongside Babyface and Michael Buble. Way to get your mom out of the garment factory!
Born in 1993 in San Pedro Laguna, Charice Pempengco had a lot to overcome. Domestic violence forced her mother to leave Dad, then pull 16-hour shifts at a sewing machine to make ends meet. Charice started singing at age four; her “concert debut” was at a Balibago basketball game at age seven. Wanting to earn income to help Momma, young Charice began working the Filipino singing-contest circuit soon after. “Even if the prizes are $50 or $10, it’s big money to us,” she told reporters.
Soon Charice was movin’ up like George and Weezie. At fourteen, Charice kept popping up like a Whack-a-Mole on the Philippines’ ABS-CBN Little Big Star competition, coming back on a Wild Card to win Second Runner-Up. An appearance on South Korea’s Star King (Ningin readers, you know you’re there for Star King!) led to discovery by Ellen DeGeneres. Oprah got on board too; she took up the young singer’s cause with famed producer David Foster. Charice had confessed her dream of singing with Celine Dion to the “O,” and the “O” arranged for a live satellite feed so Celine could make the invitation. Charice was speechless. The concert was at Madison Square Garden on September 15. Since then, Charice has also been featured in a concert with David Foster and many other big names at Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.
I love happy stories like this. And I love the tradition of young people giving their parents a hand up—so prevalent in Asian cultures. I just have one gripe about this story. The “pretty” factor.
Like many other kids with showbiz aspirations, Charice was told she was “not pretty enough” to be a star. Now listen, people. I majored in voice in college. As a grade school music teacher, I found identifying talent to be a very important part of my job. And I would far rather hear an Average Jane with pipes than a model with a tin ear.
A performer should make the most of her looks. But it’s the music that counts! I think Charice is a cutie, and, to borrow an expression from singer India Arie, “What God gave her is just fine.” We aren’t all gonna look like Beyonce, people!
Anyway, I’ll get off my rant now and give you a vid of her duet with Celine Dion. Congrats to you, Charice. It’s great to see your hard work and sacrifice paying off.
Tags: Celine Dion, Charice, contest, David Foster, Filipino, Internet, Little Big Star, Philippines, Pinoy, singing, Star King
