Girls’ Generation’s self-titled 1st album has already sold more than 100,000 copies and also ranked on top of March’s album sales chart.In March alone, Girls’ Generation’s 1st album, which came out on November 1, sold 28,847 and adding all the previous sales (74,247) with last month’s sold copies, the girl group has already sold a total of 103,094 album copies.Nell’s 4th album called “Separation Anxiety,” which was released on March 20, placed 2nd in the March album sales chart with 25,564 copies sold in only after 11 days since its release. Younha’s single entitled “Audition” placed 3rd with 12,707 copies sold. Kim Dong Ryul’s 5th called “Monologue,” which topped the January and February album sales charts, placed 4th with 12,528 copies sold.
MANILA, Philippines—Charice Pempengco is a wounded pup.The 15-year-old singing wunderkind has known pain and sadness since her parents separated when she was just this high. It was, by her mother Raquel’s account, a parting preceded by heart-rending incidents that Charice witnessed (and is now requesting not to be discussed in detail).Fortunately, mother and daughter resolved to leave it all behind and move on. It was not easy, but the way things have turned out is a testament to the power of faith and the will to succeed.On a hot Saturday afternoon, Charice is cooling her heels in an ABS-CBN office, two hours before she enters a nearby recording studio to finish three songs for her forthcoming debut album with Star Records. The album is a bit overdue, on account of a busy schedule that saw her traveling to Sweden, Korea, the United States and, only last week, England, as a sought-after guest on TV shows that beamed her awesome, lung-busting vocal skills globally.Charice recently taped a special episode for “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where she shares the stage with other gifted children. The episode airs in May.Her most recent appearance was on the “Paul O’Grady Show.” “Nakakatuwa, pinaghandaan talaga nila,” Charice says, referring to the top-rating British talk-comedy program. “Meron pang fireworks, para mas maganda raw habang kumakanta ako.”The songs she sang—the “Dreamgirls” anthem “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You—were exactly what she rendered in her now world-famous stints on “Star King” in South Korea and the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” in the US. “’Yun ang hiniling nila, kung ano raw ang napanood nila sa ‘Ellen,’” Charice explains.Perfect strangerThe studio audience on the "Paul O’Grady Show" gave her a standing ovation. She says she was told it was the first time ever.All the attention would not have been possible, she says, without the single-handed stroke of genius of Dave Dueñas, a.k.a. FalseVoice on the YouTube channel. A 19-year-old nursing student at Perpetual Help College, Las Piñas, who also happens to be a techno geek, Dave uploaded Charice’s taped performances on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site whose total viewers have reached 79 million as of January this year.Charice says Dueñas was a complete stranger and only when she sought him out through e-mail did she discover why he fancied her videos. “Kasi raw natatawa siya dun sa nanalong contestant sa “America’s Got Talent.” Mas magaling daw ako kaya pinagsama niya yung video namin.” Said videos paved the way for all succeeding uploads now currently seen by people around the globe 24/7.The phenomenal exposure has paid off on a slow but steadily increasing rate. “Lahat ng TV appearances ni Charice sa abroad libre, pero napakalaking tulong,” mom Raquel says. “Sa ‘Oprah’ binigyan siya ng shopping money.”The guest stint with Paul O’Grady reportedly happened on the recommendation of David Foster, the music industry stalwart who has produced albums for the likes of Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Josh Groban.Charice laughs, saying Foster took her by the hand and introduced her as “my new singer” to the American press when they attended a high-profile show biz affair.After momIt’s been a long, strange trip for a teenager who remembers being very shy as a young girl. “Ang mommy ko ang talagang singer,” Charice points out. Mom Raquel, 35, used to sing with a sister in a band called Soul’s Free, and little Charice would tag along during gigs in Tagaytay and Laguna where the Pempengcos lived.“Talagang mahilig ang magulang at mga kapatid ko sa music,” Raquel says. She tired to make both ends meet as a single mom, working as a quality control supervisor in a garments factory in the day and singing at night. “Hindi rin naman ako tumagal, six months lang ako sa banda.”But one day she was surprised to hear her daughter, who was then 6 years old, belting a tune on the karaoke. She would go on and teach the budding singer a few techniques she learned from peers.When Raquel opted to quit working and devote her time to raising two growing children, she got another surprise: Charice told her she would start joining singing contests to help the family survive.One weak momentSince then, Charice has become a “Reyna ng Singing Contest,” if there ever was one. She has joined some 70 competitions, mostly in town fiestas around the country, winning most of the time. The only time she “lost,” she says, was when she placed second or third.The only time she felt like quitting was when she got eliminated in the early stages of the ABS-CBN singing tilt “Little Big Star”; but she was so good, she was picked as a wild card to reenter the competition, and made it to third place. “Na-realize ko hindi dapat mawalan ng pag-asa, tuluy-tuloy lang para mag-succeed,” Charice says in hindsight.Raquel says she never tires of reminding Charice that this isn’t the big time yet—at least not in the context of what her daughter is aiming at.Good thing Charice is having fun despite all the ruckus. “Bata pa po ako, mahilig maglaro,” she jokes before saying goodbye. But maybe it’s not entirely a joke. Moments after boarding a van that will take her to the recording studio, she starts cradling a baby doll.
Jewelry continued their dominance on KBS Music Bank as they made it 6 in a row as number one once again. Their popularity showing no signs of abating. In KBS Music Bank shown yesterday, Jewelry retained their No.1 position on the K-Chart ranking with their infectious “One More Time” hit. This was their six consecutive win and besting their own record of five before yesterday. Jewelry’s six consecutive wins took on an even greater significance as Music Bank was using a new K-Chart system yesterday. Lead singer Park Jung Ah said, “I’m very happy. Truely thank all the fans for letting us sing on stage happily.” Jewelry was in direct competition with Lee Seung Gi’s “I will give you all” and Kim Dong Ryul’s ‘Like A Child” and came out the winner. Besides Music Bank, Jewelry had also won for three consecutive weeks on SBS Inkigayo and five consecutive weeks on MBC Music Core with “One More Time” as they dominated all music shows on the three major tv stations. Jewelry feat. Poppin’ Hyun Joon - One More Time (Remix)Poppin’ Hyun Joon belonging to the same company as Jewelry performed together in a remixed version of the song and gave an energetic performance.
Korean girl group So Nyeo Shi Dae had divided themselves into three groups for different themed photoshoots. Two parts of the trilogy was released earlier last month with the final part being released today. The final part is titled “After School 5:00PM” and the concept is “welcome to my house to play”. Compared to the sexy photoshoots done commonly by female artistes in Korea, So Nyeo Shi Dae photoshoots is focused on using their youthful charms as the selling point and they hope to win the affection of fans with these. As the final part of the trilogy, “come to my house and play” features So Nyeo Shi Dae members YoonA, Tiffany and Sunny and their daily routine of their life. http://coolsmurf.wordpress.com
F.T Island enjoyed water splashing with Thai fans on Thai New Year celebration at Discovery Plaza, Thailand on April 13rd, 2008
Lee Hong Gi, Lead Vocalist of the group, didn't come to join this event due to his sickness. However, the other 4 members enjoyed water splashing with Thai fans. They all got soaked.
According to JKDRAMAS.com, the members said Thai words to greet Thai fans i.e. "Phom Rak Khun" (I love you), "Rak na Jub Jub" (Love you. Kiss Kiss) and "Rak Na Dek Ngo" (Love you. Foolish Child)
F.T Island had suceed the show "FTIsland First Live in Thailand 2008" on Saturday. The group will visit Thailand again as they are invtited to Seed 97.5 FM's "The 3rd Seed Awards 2008" on May 14th. The group is a nominee for "2008 Favourite Asian Artist Awards of the Year".
