Thai Filipino

Dropping by Bangkok, the kid with the show-stopping voice talks about the dreams that all came true.

Charice Pempengco is "almost" an average teenager. Nestled into a backstage armchair ahead of her show at Siam Discovery last Friday, the Filipino singer sported a frilly white top, jeans, silver nail polish and stylish accessories.

"Oh my gosh!" she exhaled when asked if she was tired. But she was laughing. She's lapping it all up.

Her 10-decibel voice and remarkable range is making her a global star, and she's still only 18.

Ever since arriving in Bangkok from Tokyo on a tour promoting "Charice", her debut major-label album, she'd barely had time to breathe. Word of her formidable talent proceeds her everywhere she goes. People jostle to meet her.

Charice's mum knew that her kid had an extraordinary gift when, at age four, she nailed a karaoke version of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On".

At age seven she hit the singing-contest circuit, coached by her mother. "The best thing she taught me was how to sing these songs and how to reach those high notes perfectly," Charice said.

That powerful, mesmerising voice eventually earned her second place in the Philippines' version of "American Idol" and was soon racking up viewer hits on YouTube.

The videos - and Charice's determination to help her single-parent mother - got Oprah Winfrey's attention. The American talk-show queen introduced her to David Foster, the record producer who'd discovered Charice's own idol, Celine Dion.

Winfrey had picked up on Charice's "dream journal", a notebook in which the youngster had been writing down her hopes since age 12. Oprah started making those dreams come true.

First it was meeting - and singing with - the opera tenor Andrea Boticelli, in Italy. Then she got to actually meet Celine Dion and join her onstage for a song they dedicated to Charice's mum.

"I was shaking!" she said of that moment. "She told me, 'Don't be nervous - just think that all the people here, all these 20,000 people, are your family, brothers and sisters, and think of this song you're going to sing to your mother.'"

The lofty aspirations of the dream journal were ultimately all fulfilled. Charice partied with Whitney Houston and met Mariah Carey by chance in Las Vegas, and then, through her own hard work, she realised the big dream that was on the second last page: a house and a car for her mother and her.

"I made it come true for my family," she said.

With David Foster now her mentor and producer, Charice began recording her first album two years ago. It has love songs - some of them about broken hearts - and inspirational songs that will reach out to a wide range of listeners.

"David's always telling me that it has to be great, not good," she said. "That's why, when we were choosing the songs, he was, like, 'We have to choose different genres.'

"Because, for me, I don't want people to feel like they're in the wrong place because this is just all ballads. So we actually put in different genres, but still with the pop touch."

Her own favourites on the CD are "In the Song", which Foster co-wrote for her, based on her life, and "Reset", which she co-wrote.

And working with rapper Iyaz on her single "Pyramid" was a memorable experience, Charice said.

"I was thinking it was like 'No Air' with Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks. I thought Iyaz was perfect for it. His voice is very pop and he can do rapper too.

"When I'm with him he's like my big brother," she laughs. "If someone's, like, 'Hey, Charice, you single?' He's, like, 'Over my dead body!' He's very protective!"

In common with many of today's most popular singers, Charice has her good-luck ritual before every performance. She prays and thinks of the people she loves - and she exercises that voice.

"I always should hit one note, a very high note, so it makes me less nervous.

"But I think prayers bring the best luck."

In the packed Grand Hall, Charice stepped onto the stage wearing big heels and smiling and laughing. The voice that had been reduced to a whisper by numerous interviews came roaring back when she wanted it.

She belted out song after song, the crowd cheering wildly.

Charice said the toughest change she's had to deal with is her private life becoming public. "Sometimes I'm not really used to it yet. Each move they're all watching you."

They're watching to see what happens next, but many in the audience are waiting to see if she'll make their dreams come true too. And Charice rewards them with inspiration.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/20 … 34695.html