YES! MAGAZINE INTERVIEW NOVEMBER 2009 ISSUE

Part 4 Next Stop: TV

After the town-fiesta singing contest in Batangas and Laguna, the next stop was television. Charice began as a contestant on Filipino local channel, Channel 9’s Bulilit Kampeon [Little Champion], a little-known singing contest hosted by Pilita Corrales. Charice won as third runner-up and eventually became one of the program’s co-hosts. After the show folded up, she joined two other TV competitions: Birit Bulilit [Little Belter] on Channel 13 (where she was first runner-up and the “MTB Popstar” segment of Magandang Tanghali BayanM [Good Afternoon People], where she won second place. Read the full story

Manny Pacquiao does the Internet. If you don’t do the Internet and you’re Filipino, young or old, green or gray, you’re missing out on the 2nd national treasure of the Philippines. She’s probably on the Internet right now. Read the full story

Today, hers are a face and a voice well known and admired in the universe of singers from the Netherlands to England to Korea and all over the United States. She is ‘The Most Talented Girl in the World,’ and you better believe Oprah, the one and only (oprah.com). Read the full story

Charice Pempengco, the 14-year-old Filipino singer whose YouTube videos wowed audiences here and abroad, guested and sang in the American television show “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” last Wednesday (Thursday Manila time), ABS-CBN News Bureau Chief Ging Reyes reported.

Pempengco guested on DeGeneres’s nationally-syndicated television show where she sang “And I am Telling You” from the musical Dreamgirls.

After her performance, the audience gave her a standing ovation while host DeGeneres remarked, “you’re amazing.”

Upon her arrival in Los Angeles, Pempengco also met with music producer Davis Foster and prominent entertainment lawyer Ed Shapiro. Shapiro said the teenaged singer’s talent is “exceptional.” “You don’t find the Mariah Careys everyday – they come once in a while. The Whitney Houstons, they don’t happen all the time. [We] think Charice is literally that, that next to Whitney, next to Mariah,” said Shapiro. Pempengco was also emotional after her performance on Ellen’s show, saying she did not expect that kind of reception in America.

“Yung isa sa dream ko, natupad na. Tapos lalo pa ng sinabi ni Ms. Ellen na ‘you’re already a big star here,’ sabi nya. Tapos proud na proud daw siya sakin — tuwang tuwa po ako. Hindi ko po akalain na ganito po ako tatanggapin ng mga taga-America. Hindi po nila pinansin kahit na Pinay ako – pinansin nilang pangalan ko,” she said.

(One of my dreams came true, especially after Ms. Ellen said that ‘you’re already a big star here,’ and that she’s proud of me — I’m really happy. I did not expect that Americans would welcome me like this. They did not mind that I am a Pinay – they only noticed my name)

Pempengco will return to the Philippines to fulfill several engagements, and she expects that she still has a long way to go after her unforgettable Hollywood experience.

Pempengco was a former contestant on the ABS-CBN show “Little Big Star,” a children’s singing contest hosted by Sarah Geronimo. She placed 2nd in the show’s Big Division (for 10-13 year old competitors), behind Sam Concepcion and Gian Barbarona.

According to show’s website (www.ellentv.com), the show “features a diverse mix of celebrity interviews, musical performers, audience participation, and segments spotlighting everyday people with extraordinary stories and talents.” It has already won a total of 21 Daytime Emmy Awards, the website said.