Jake Zyrus

Jake Zyrus (born 10 May 1992), formerly known professionally as Charice Pempengco and under the mononym Charice, is a Filipino singer and television personality.

In 2005, Zyrus joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol.

Eliminated after the first performance, Zyrus was called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became one of the finalists.

Although a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, Zyrus finished the show in third place.

In 2007, after competing in many singing competitions and several appearances on Filipino television, Zyrus performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the United States.

After Little Big Star, Zyrus made several appearances on local television shows and commercials, but did not receive wider notice until 2007 when an avid supporter, FalseVoice, started posting a series of Zyrus's performances on YouTube.

These videos received over 15 million views, making Zyrus an internet sensation.

In June 2007, producers at Ten Songs/Productions, a music publishing company in Sweden, invited Zyrus to record demos after seeing the online videos.

Zyrus recorded seven songs, six covers and an original song called "Amazing", and was next invited to the South Korean talent show Star King on 13 October 2007, singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and a duet of "A Whole New World" with Kyuhyun from Super Junior.

Having also seen the online videos, Ellen DeGeneres invited Zyrus to appear on her show, his first appearance in the United States, where he performed two songs on the 19 December 2007 episode: "I Will Always Love You" and "And I Am Telling You".

Zyrus then made a second appearance on Star King in Korea on 28 December as the "Most Requested Foreign Act", performing Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and singing a duet with Lena Park.

The following year, in 2008, he made several international televised appearances, including a special on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which documented his musical ambitions, home life and family, and featured Zyrus singing for Oprah's studio audience.

On that appearance, Zyrus was surprised by one of his singing inspirations, Céline Dion (appearing from her tour via Skype), who invited him to sing with her at New York City's Madison Square Garden, during her 2008 world tour.

At the concert, the two sang "Because You Loved Me", dedicating the moment to Zyrus' mother.

The performance was eventually replayed on another special episode of Oprah's talk show.

In January 2008, Zyrus was invited to Malacañang Palace to perform for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Zyrus next guested on the 8 April 2008 episode of The Paul O'Grady Show in London, England.

The Philippine debut EP Charice was released in May 2008; this mini album, consisting of six songs and six backing tracks, was awarded gold certification in the Philippines in October and reached platinum status in 2009.

Zyrus appeared on the 12 May 2008 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, "World's Smartest Kids", performing Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".

After the show, Oprah Winfrey contacted David Foster to see what the music producer could do for Pempengco.

Zyrus performed with Foster for the first time as one of the entertainers on the 17 May 2008 opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut.

This was followed by Foster's 23 May tribute concert, Hitman: David Foster and Friends, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, performing a medley of songs from The Bodyguard as well as "And I Am Telling You".

A CD/DVD of this concert, including Zyrus's The Bodyguard medley, was released on 11 November 2008.

The show was aired several times on PBS and other public television networks starting in December 2008 under the Great Performances banner.

One of the singers at the concert was Pempengco's idol, Andrea Bocelli.

Bocelli subsequently expressed interest in performing a duet with Zyrus with an invitation to be a guest on his birthday concert "The Cinema Tribute" held on 20 July at the Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy.

Aside from a solo performance, Zyrus sang a duet of "The Prayer" with the tenor in front of more than 8,000 people.

In a guest appearance on the "Dreams Come True" episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on 9 September 2008, Oprah referred to Zyrus as "The Most Talented Girl in the World".

Zyrus then began performing in concerts with David Foster and Andrea Bocelli, among others, and released an album My Inspiration (2009).

Zyrus released the studio album Charice in 2010, which entered the Billboard 200 at number eight, making it the first album of an Asian solo singer ever to land in the top 10.

The single "Pyramid" from that album, featuring singer Iyaz, is Zyrus's most successful single to date, charting within the top 40 in a number of countries after its debut live performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Crossing over to acting and television, Zyrus joined the cast of the musical-comedy-drama TV series Glee, later in 2010, as Sunshine Corazon.

In 2011, "Before It Explodes", written by Bruno Mars, was released as the lead single from Zyrus's second international studio album, Infinity.

Zyrus was one of the four judges of the Philippine version of The X Factor, on ABS-CBN, in 2012.

Zyrus would release two further albums, Chapter 10 (2013) and Catharsis (2016).

Zyrus also made his own concert tours in Asia.

Zyrus identified as a gay woman from 2013 to 2017, when he came out as a transgender male after having male chest reconstruction and beginning testosterone treatment.

He adopted the name Jake Zyrus and discontinued the use of the name Charice.

Zyrus was born as Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco in Cabuyao, Laguna province, the Philippines, and was raised by single mother Racquel.

To help support the family, Zyrus began to enter singing contests at the age of seven, from town fiestas in various provinces to singing competitions on TV, eventually competing in almost a hundred such contests.