GMA Records artist Julie Anne San Jose scored another milestone in her recording career as if confirming her position as the most successful recording artist this year.
The 19-year-old singer was ecstatic on Sunday when she received the 8x Platinum Award for her debut self-titled album, which combined physical and digital sales reached over 120,000 units.
Released in August last year, the album’s massive success was certified by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI), a non-profit and private trade organization representing the recording industry distributors in the Philippines.
Among the tracklist, carrier single “I’ll Be There” has already secured its five-time Platinum Digital Single Award as it earned almost 800,000 downloads since its release. The single became even more popular when it was used as the theme song for the South Korean TV series Lie To Me that aired on GMA-7. Another feat only known to this single is being the first OPM single to reach the Platinum Digital Single Record Award for the outstanding digital sales exceeding 245,000 downloads.
It’s good to note that Julie Anne was also recognized by Asap, the closest rival of Sunday All Stars where she is a regular. On Dec. 1, she was included in the Asap Platinum Circle Awards that honored local recording artists whose albums were able to reach platinum status. The list included Sarah Geronimo, Daniel Padilla, Bamboo, and Angeline Quinto among others.
Apart from this recognition, Julie Anne has also won several awards for the album including Female Performer of the Year given by Yahoo! Philippines OMG! Awards where winners were decided by fan votes.
Global talents
Two Filipino singers are making waves on the global stage. Both of them are contestants in the highly successful X Factor franchise.
Seventeen-year-old Ellona Santiago was dubbed one of the best performers in the latest edition of X Factor USA. She wowed the audience and judges in her every performance in the talent show. Her big voice and commanding stage presence though didn’t take her to the finals as the Filipino-born American singer from San Lorenzo, California is the latest contestant eliminated from the popular reality show. The announcement was made on Thursday’s Results episode on Dec 5. Ellona received the fewest number of votes from the public.
Meanwhile, in a more inspiring story, another Filipino singer is chasing her dream to become a professional singer to provide better future for her family back home. Her name is Rose Fostanes, a caregiver in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The 46-year-old overseas worker won the heart of the judges and received a standing ovation in the X Factor Israel after she belted out Shirley Bassey’s “This Is My Life.”
In the next round, Rose performed Lady Gaga’s “You and I” and earned a rousing applause and a standing ovation from her co-contestants.
Before performing in front of the four judges during bootcamp, Rose bared her feelings and apprehensions toward other contestants.
“I feel that everybody is looking at me like I am an alien. I’m afraid that maybe nobody will talk to me because the Israeli see Filipinos working here in houses,” she said.
With her unassuming personality, impressive vocals and her heartwarming life story, Rose reminds us of Scottish singer Susan Boyle who rose to fame after her audition at Britain’s Got Talent
VERY WANG 