Jake Zyrus, formerly known as Charice Pempengco started entering various singing contests at the tender age of seven years old to support his family. In 2005 he joined ABS CBN’s “Little Big Star” but was immediately eliminated after his first performance. he was later recalled as a wildcard contender and eventually, he became one of the finalists. But although he was a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, he just placed third in the competition overall.
After Little Big Star, Jake disappeared from the limelight and it wasn’t until 2007 that he gained the world’s attention after a fan started uploading a number of his performances on YouTube – and the videos received over 15 million views making him a YouTube sensation! Someone from South Korea came across his videos and he was invited to the South Korean talent show called Star King on October 2007 where he wowed the crowd with the songs And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going and a duet of A Whole New World with Kyuhyun, from Super Junior. Ellen DeGeneres managed to come across his Star King performance on YouTube and he invited him to be a guest at The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He flew to the United States and performed the songs “I Will Always Love You” and “And I Am Telling You” and once again wowed the crowd. He was later invited to the Oprah Winfrey Show where he performed Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” and after this performance, a star was finally born!
He has been labeled by Oprah Winfrey as “the most talented girl in the world” and in fact, in 2010 his first international album called Charice entered the Billboard 200 at number-eight, making Charice the first-ever Asian solo singer in history to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. His single “Pyramid” consistently registered within the top 40 in charts across the world… He also managed to cross over to acting on television when he joined the cast of TV series Glee as Sunshine Corazon. Thanks to Cheers Entertainment, InLife magazine was able to interview the amazing Jake Zyrus and here’s what went down.
If there is any country you would move to besides the Philippines which country would it be and why?
I wouldn’t mind moving to Perth, Australia, because it’s very calm and peaceful over there. Whenever I walked out of the house all I could see were cows and farms. I love Australia because the weather is so perfect, it was a breath of fresh air especially since we just recently came from Canada which was absolutely freezing due to the snow.
In all your years in showbizness what would you say was the biggest blessing and what would you say was the biggest trial?
My biggest blessing would have to be my single Pyramid. Because of this single, I managed to snag a role in Glee and be part of the movie as well. As for my biggest trial, it would have to be all the years I had to pretend to be someone I’m not, it was extremely hard. It was such a huge challenge for me because I had to wake up every morning and put on a mask.
In all your years in showbizness name one person who has mentored you and what’s the biggest lesson, you learned from that person?
It would have to be Oprah Winfrey. I remember when I was a guest on her show, she all of a sudden just started staring at my shoes. She said she liked my shoes and then she said that I should always remember to keep my feet on the ground. No matter how nice my shoes become in the future, I should always stay grounded.
If there were no rules for just one day and you could do anything outrageous what would you do and why?
I’d party all night and get drunk! LOL
What would you say is your defining moment as an artist?
At the moment I seriously feel like I’m a totally new artist. I just want people not to judge me for how I look but to see me as a musician who just makes good music.
Name the movie title for the story of your life.
I’d say the Truth. Because behind my look and my voice, there’s a lot more to me than meets the eye.
