Young Start

We see so many young artists colouring the world of music across the globe nowadays.

Connie Talbot - turning 8 this Nov 20th
Runner Up of Britain's Got Talent

Matt Corby - 16
Runner up of Australian Idol 2007

Diana DeGarmo - 21, birthday very near to mine =)
But was 16 when she emerged as runner up of American Idol III behind Fantasia Barrino)

Bianca Ryan - 14
But was 11 when she won the debut season of NBC's America's Got Talent (finally a winner!)
I have no idea why she placed her hand that way..


But the one most recent one that I found out (thanks to Sze Ching) is:-

Charice Pempengco from Philippines - 16
She started singing at the age of 4 with her mum being her teacher. Her childhood was bitter as her violent father left the family when she was about 3. Struggling to make ends meet, Charice did her best to financially ease her mum's burden by joining as many singing competition as she can and using the proceeds to continue surviving.

Despite all the experience, her breakthrough only happened this year when Oprah Winfrey and David Foster discovered this fantastic young talent via her youtube video (believe it or not).
According to David, when she first arrived in US, she couldn't speak English that well but after 3 months of English lessons, her level of spoken English sounds even better than mine! Her singing now has no accent whatsoever.

Thanks to influential networks by both Oprah and David, Charice is now one of the world's most seek-after performers. She finally had the opportunity to meet her idols like Mariah Carey besides performing with Andrea Bocelli in Italy and Celine Dion in US (Celine Dion rocks!)

For hardcore Celine fan like Kar How, her live duet with Celine in Madison Square Garden 2 months ago is a must watch! They sang Because You Loved Me dedicated specially to Charice's proud mum.




A clearer version can be found in Oprah's website.

Seriously, hearing such a loud voice originating from such a young small gal can be quite scary at first. Although she tends to manipulate her high notes too much at times, everyone is still stunt everytime she hits the stage.

Regardless, I'm sure her mum would be extremely of proud what she has achieved so far.

I just wonder if her mum has ever thought that all these fame have led to Charice having a totally different teenage life and spending even less time with her mum compared to the times when they were poor. Measure of wealth is not neccessarily money you know...But I guess her mum is untimately relieved that her daugther can now look forward to a brighter future under the wings of big shots like Oprah and David.