Making It Big by Starting Small

June 30, 2010 | 2

Whenever a song becomes a huge hit on the radio, you can be sure that there are hundreds, even thousands of covers, that immediately go on the web. Most of them make it to YouTube. When you put a hit song, a talented singer, huge fan base and a record executive together, you have a new star in the making. While there are countless people who have been discovered on YouTube, there are four artists who have started successful careers after years of covering chart-topping singles. These four are none other than Charice, Dondria, Esmée Denters and Justin Bieber.

Since 2005, Charice  has been a YouTube user.  She has nearly 60,000 subscribers and just over 24 million uploaded views. She got her start the same year she was a contestant on, Little Big Star, a popular show in her home country, the Philippines, which is modeled after, American Idol. She placed third in the competition and went largely unnoticed until a huge supporter began posting her performances on YouTube under the name, “FalseVoice.” It was the posting of these videos that got the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who has had the singer as a guest on her talk show several times. Winfrey recommended to music producer, David Foster, to take the young performer under his wing; he did that and is now her mentor. After releasing two Philippine CDs, she released Charice, her international debut on May 11, 2010. The CD reached #8 on the Billboard 200, making her the first Asian artist to achieve such a feat. It has also recently been confirmed that she will join the cast of the hit US television series, Glee, as a recurring character on it’s second season. Read More