Hello friends, for the past week I have been deliberating as to what topic I should write. Although I do have several ideas in mind, however, I can’t seem to make a final decision. Am I suffering from what they call … writer’s block?
During the past month, I have been swept away into this euphoria. I have actually been searching on YouTube.com for any performances of this little girl from faraway Philippines. Let me tell you how my latest craze all started.
In May 2008, me and three of my girlfriends went on a little spring time get away to Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed in the posh quite expensive Mandalay Bay Hotel Resort/Casino. Since we split our expenses four ways, it wasn’t that expensive after all. So, one morning, while having a buffet breakfast, we happened to read one of the Las Vegas magazines. We checked what show is on that evening. There it was David Foster and Friends doing a Charity event to benefit Andre Agazzi and his children afflicted with cancer. So, to make a long story short, we purchased our tickets. Since we are guest in the hotel, we didn’t have problem and in fact was given preferential seats at a discounted price.
So that evening we dressed up and attended the three hour show. There was a long list of performers from Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, and so on. Halfway, on the show, David Foster introduced this sixteen year old girl from the Philippines named Charice. Oh, let me tell you. You have not seen or heard anything like it. This girl belts out these two songs from Whitney Houston’s Body Guard CD and she literally blew the roof off the Mandalay Bay Hotel Theatre Auditorium. If I described that she brought the “house down,” it will be an understatement.
It was surely a big “WOW” moment. We gave her a ten-minute standing ovation. Then, she followed it by her powerful, soul full rendition of Jennifer Holiday’s classic “And I am telling you, I’m not going.”
After the song, me and my friends were all reaching for our Kleenex. We were all in tears. Not just a tear but we were in puddles. This young girl deeply connected with us. I happened to glanced at the people next to me and they too were wiping their tears. David Foster later declared “A star is born!” The audience agreed and gave another standing ovation and a thundering applause.
It seems that when the show was over, something has drawn us to stay and wait outside at the lobby to get a glimpse of Charice.
We shook her small, dainty hands and got the chance to talked to her for about five minutes. Too bad, none of us have a camera on hand. She speaks in a very soft humble manner. Definitely, this girl has charisma.
Her bright smile and polite manner got all of us talking about her all the way to our hotel room.
Later on, we read that she was going back to her home country. We miss her for some reason.
We were like four sisters missing our fifth youngest one. I am trying hard to explain that myself but I can not seem to find an answer.
So back to my daily life, I started looking for any news on Charice. I read a snippet of her young life.
She was obligated to sing in her home country at the tender age of four just so she, her younger brother and their Mom could have their next meal. They were abandoned by a violent father.
At age seven, Charice entered a singing contest but despite the obvious fact that she performed well, she got third place. That crushed her little heart. But her Mom continued to inspire her and trained her more to downright perfection in singing difficult songs from Whitney, Celine, Mariah, and Beyonce.
