Charice Pempengco recently made her second appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show on September 9 and came away with the biggest surprise of her young life: a chance to sing with her idol Celine Dion. The whole thing came about when Oprah made a feature on the young singing sensation.
The Oprah crew even sent a crew to the Philippines just to retrace Charice’s childhood. The crew discovered Charice’s wish when they were shown her drawings of her dream duets with singing icons like Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Charice was supposed to cap off her appearance with her rendition of “My Heart Will Go On,” which was originally performed by Celine Dion.
To Charice’s utter surprise, a supposed virtual tête-à-tête she was supposed to have with a “Washington viewer” turned out to be a message from Celine Dion who was on her Taking Chances world tour. Charice tearfully listened as Celine showered her with praises not only for her talent, but also for her strong willpower to follow her dreams.
“Hi Charice! I have to tell you that I’m speechless. I have heard you sing. I have seen a little of your life story and I am extremely ecstatic like the rest of the world who’s watching right now,” Celine enthused. “I can’t tell you that we have lots of things in common and I also had a mother who is my strength… You have more talent than most people. You can sing, you can speak and sing with your heart, you can play guitar… and you can have dreams because your life story is quite a painful one. Thank God your strength comes from your mother and your heart will go on.”
As if those inspiring words from the celebrated singer aren’t enough, Celine offered Charice the showdown of a lifetime. “If I may, I would love to do something very special with you. Next week, I’m gonna be singing at Madison Square Garden and I would love to ask you to come and sing a duet with me. And we can sing together. Maybe we can sing “Because You Loved Me” and maybe we can dedicate this song to your mother. So I hope you can travel to New York and meet with me,” Celine beamed. Meanwhile, Oprah vowed to her extend support to Charice and help her meet up with Celine in New York.
Charice was overwhelmed with the incredible opportunity, but she managed to say “thank you” for a dream come true. With barely a week before Celine’s two-day concert (September 15 and 16) in New York, Charice is definitely getting down to work now to be ready to meet with her idol.
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