Name	Valerie Concepcion
Birthname	Valerie Galang
Caption	Valerie Concepcion at SM City Rosales July,2010
School	Ramon Magsaysay High School
Birthdate	December 22, 1987
Birth place	Manila, Philippines
Occupation	Actress , Host , Endorser
Yearsactive	2003 - present
Website	http://www.valerieconcepcion.ph/}}

Valerie Concepcion (born Valerie Galang Concepcion on December 21, 1987, Manila, Philippines) is a Filipina actress, host and celebrity endorser. A former GMA-7 talent, she is known of her role as Nora Ferrer in the soap opera Sinasamba Kita but later transferred to its rival network ABS-CBN.

Biography

Valerie Concepcion was born on December 21, 1987, in Manila, Philippines.

Business

Valerie entered business, she has a franchise of Posh Nails in The Fort, a bottled water shop and a laundry business.

Television

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1emhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valerie_Concepcion&action;=edit 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse;” |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year !! Title !! Role !! Network |- | 2011|| Untold Stories Mula Sa Face to Face || TBA || TV5 |- | 2011|| Talentadong Pinoy || Herself/Judge || TV5 |- 2011|| LOL(Laugh Out Loud) || Herself || ABS-CBN |- | 2010|| Pilipinas Win Na Win || Herself/Co-Host || rowspan=14 | ABS-CBN |- | 2010|| Momay || Libra Monte || |- | 2010|| ''Precious Hearts Romances Presents: Love Me Again || Preciosa "Precy" Pilapil |- | 2010|| Your Song Presents: || College Girl (Cameo) |- | 2010|| Maalaala Mo Kaya: Bag || Ayra |- | 2009 || Precious Hearts Romances Presents: The Bud Brothers || Hiromi "Lady Tiger" Santa Maria |- | 2008 || Banana Split || Herself |- | 2008 || Love Spell: Face Shop || Pearl |- | 2008 || 1 vs. 100 || Herself/Contestant |- | 2008 ||Maalaala Mo Kaya: Cane || Cara |- | 2008 || Your Song Presents: Super Star Ng Buhay Ko || Janna |- | 2007||Your Song Presents: Ikaw, Humanap Ka Ng Panget || Yna |- | 2007 ||Maalaala Mo Kaya: Larawan || Laura |- | 2007–2010 || Wowowee || Host/Herself |- | 2007 ||Fantastic Man || Agent Belle|| GMA Network |- | 2007 || Sine Novela: Sinasamba Kita || Nora Ferrer |- | 2006 || Atlantika || Elisa |- | 2006 ||Majika || Naryan |- | 2006 ||Love to Love: Best Friends || Kaye |- | 2005 || Love to Love: Stuck in Love || -- |- | 2005 || Now and Forever: Mukha ||Karen |- | 2004 || Love to Love: Rich in Love || Annaliza |- | 2003–2004 ||Walang Hanggan || Almira |- | 2003 || Click || Yasmin |}

Movies

Awards

References

External links

Category:1987 births Category:Filipino child actors Category:Filipino film actors Category:Filipino television actors Category:Living people Category:Viva Artists Category:People from Manila

Name	Richard Poon
Background	solo_singer
Born	December 08, 1981Makati City, Philippines
Genre	Jazz, ballad, pop
Years active	2002–present
Associated acts	U-Turn, ASAP Sessionistas
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, TV personality
Label	VIVA (2004–2006)MCA (2007–present)
Url	www.richardpoon.ph

Richard Poon (born December 8, 1981) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and TV personality in the Philippines. He is a former member of U-Turn. He has gone on a successful solo career, and is a well-known jazz singer in the Philippines.

Early life

Poon was born on December 8, 1981 in Makati City, Philippines. Despite being of Chinese descent, he was raised by his parents Robert Poon and Eva Huang in the Philippines, together with his sister Eva Marie. He inherited his singing skills from his mother, who is a big star in China up to the present. Another field in which he has established a good reputation is in the Culinary Arts. He specializes in Oriental food available in his Little Poon Restaurant.

As a musician, Poon together with his skilled four piece band, have proudly graced many lounges and bars across Metro Manila, including a regular stint at Eastwood Central Plaza. They are also consistently invited to perform in various weddings, corporate shows and parties.

Career

Though it may have become the norm for many an artist aiming to make it big in the local, music scene to simply accede and conform to prevailing musical trends and fads, there are still a few who admiringly dare to be different, taking themselves to task by choosing to take the road less traveled, aspiring for glory on their own terms.

Among them is young, up and coming singer Richard Poon who is fast making his mark even as he continues to steer away from doing usual pop fare, keenly devoted as he is to becoming a romantic crooner in the vein of Harry Connick, Michael Buble and famous balladeer Jose Mari Chan.

Poon describes his music as "Fresh, Old-school," which is only apt as his repertoire is filled with highly-energized, inspiring takes of the standards famously rendered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Rod Stewart among others. Born and raised in the Philippines, Poon inherited his parents' special skills. He got his musical skills from his mom who is a big star in Taiwan and his culinary expertise from his Cantonese dad who is a restaurateur/chef based in Hongkong.

Poon is an accomplished musician whose deep knowledge of music allows him to delve into a wide variety of other musical genres. It is as such, that during his well-attended concerts, aside from his usual set of standards, Poon would also often treat his audience with unexpected, inimitable covers of many contemporary hits as well.

As exciting and prolific as he is, Poon together with his skilled four piece jazz band, have proudly graced many lounges and bars across the metro including a regular stint at Eastwood Central Plaza. They are also consistently invited to perform in various weddings, corporate shows and parties.

Besides being adept in re-interpreting well-loved tunes of old, Poon also sings and writes his own music, one of which dubbed, "Lalala" was sung by Regine Velasquez and Piolo Pascual for the soundtrack of their movie "Paano Kita Iibigin."

Poon is definitely a star to watch in the local scene. Even before he is formally launched as a major solo artist, Poon made a strong impact among the Filipino audience with his superb artistry when he was picked from the so many crooners in the industry to serenade the top eight finalists in the Miss Earth 2007 concluded in the UP Film Theatre.

The many accomplishments Poon achieved in so short a time has no doubt paved the way for him being signed up by Cornerstone Talent Management and is also now a part of ABS CBN's elite circle of homegrown talents, Star Magic..

Trivia

Richard plays the guitar. He also arranges and composes songs for other artists such as Piolo Pascual and Regine Velasquez to name a few.

Richard is a Business Management graduate. He didn't take any formal music lessons.

Richard's family owns a restaurant chain called Mr. Poon. His father is a chef while his mother is a famous superstar in Taiwan.

Richard was a member of the defunct band U-Turn. He sang duets with lead vocalist Teri and played guitar.

Discography

with U-Turn

Solo albums

Solo singles

References

External links

Richard Poon's official webcast courtesy of Multiply.com

Richard Poon's official website

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Filipino male singers Category:People from Makati City Category:Star Magic Category:Filipino people of Chinese descent

Name	David Archuleta
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	David James Archuleta
Born	December 28, 1990Miami, Florida
Origin	Murray, Utah, US
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, student
Genre	Pop
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
Years active	2003–present
Label	Jive
Url	www.DavidArchuleta.com

David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American pop singer-songwriter. At ten years old he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances. In 2007, at sixteen years old, he became one of the youngest contestants on the seventh season of American Idol. The album, released two months later, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart; it has sold over 750,000 copies in the U.S. and over 900,000 Worldwide. In October 2010 he released a second album, The Other Side of Down featuring lead single Something 'Bout Love.

Early life

Archuleta was born in Miami, Florida, to Jeff Archuleta and Lupe Marie Mayorga, a salsa singer and dancer from Honduras, however, he speaks very little Spanish. Archuleta has four siblings. His family moved to the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy when he was six. He now lives in Murray where he attended Murray High School and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America.

Archuleta started singing at the age of six, inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this", he said. He started performing publicly at age ten when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition, singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation and won the Child Division. He ended up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2, Losing the Junior Grand Champion title to Tiffany Evans. On one episode, he sang against then-11-year-old Alexandréa Lushington, who became a "top 20" semi-finalist on American Idol alongside Archuleta. and led to appearances on CBS' The Early Show, The year after Star Search he found out he had partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered.

He later recorded two songs written and composed by Merrick Christensen as a featured artist for the small demo titled Fear vs. Faith. It is available on iTunes.

2007–08: American Idol and David Archuleta

Archuleta received his ticket to the Hollywood final auditions at the San Diego tryouts – held at Qualcomm Stadium at the end of July 2007 – with a performance of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" with judge Randy Jackson spontaneously joining in to sing the background "waiting" in the song. He was sixteen during the Hollywood auditions and attended school while a part of American Idol's seventh season. Archuleta also took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments when he accompanied himself on piano for his performances of "Crazy", "Another Day in Paradise", and "Angels".

During the 1970s themed week Archuleta sang the John Lennon song "Imagine", omitting the earlier verses in favor of the last one. Los Angeles Times columnist Ann Powers speculated that he wanted to avoid singing "no religion too" because of his faith. "As a Mormon, he's unlikely to espouse the song's agnostic ideal," she wrote. However, he did sing the entire song on Good Things Utah when he was thirteen. When asked by judge Randy Jackson why he didn't sing the first verse, Archuleta said the third verse was his favorite because it has "a great message."

After his performance of "We Can Work It Out", which judge Simon Cowell called "a mess", Entertainment Tonight reported that Archuleta was feeling pressure from his father, Jeff Archuleta, who "reportedly yelled at" his son after a recording session the previous night. Jeff Archuleta, in an interview with Us Weekly, denied the claim. A May 2008 Associated Press article reported that Jeff Archuleta had his son add a lyric from the Sean Kingston song "Beautiful Girls" into an interpretation of "Stand by Me" (from which "Beautiful Girls" samples its bass line), increasing the costs for licensing, and that this had resulted in Jeff Archuleta being banned from American Idol backstage rehearsals. Archuleta defended his father calling him "a great guy" who keeps him .

During the Top 7 results show, the contestants were split into two groups. In one group was Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, and Kristy Lee Cook. In the other group was David Cook, Carly Smithson, and Jason Castro. Archuleta was the only one not sorted into a group. He was declared safe after the groups were formed, then was asked to choose the group he thought was safe. He refused, and sat down on the floor of the stage, much like Melinda Doolittle had done the previous season.

In the finale he sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "In This Moment" and "Imagine". Judge Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta won the evening and even David Cook, who ultimately won, thought Archuleta would win: "I have to concede it, the kid came out all three songs and nailed it", said Cook. In the final tally, Archuleta received 44 percent of the votes. During the finale show, identical commercials featuring Archuleta and fellow finalist Cook mimicked the Tom Cruise scene from Risky Business where he dances in his underwear playing an air guitar; they were promoting the game franchise Guitar Hero.

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+ Performances: !Week !Theme !Song(s) !Original artist |- ! Auditions | N/A | "Waiting on the World to Change" | John Mayer |- ! Hollywood | N/A | "Crazy" |- ! Top 9 | Songs of Dolly Parton(mentor: Dolly Parton) | "" | Dolly Parton |- ! Top 8 | Inspirational Songs | "Angels" | Robbie Williams |- ! Top 7 | Songs of Mariah Carey(mentor: Mariah Carey) | "When You Believe" | Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston |- ! Top 6 | Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber(mentor: Andrew Lloyd Webber) | "Think of Me" | The Phantom of the Opera |- ! Top 5 | Songs of Neil Diamond (mentor: Neil Diamond) | "Sweet Caroline""America" | Neil Diamond |- ! Top 4 | Music of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | "Stand by Me""Love Me Tender" | Ben E. KingElvis Presley |- ! Top 3 | Judge's Choice (Paula Abdul)Contestant's ChoiceProducers' Choice | "And So It Goes""With You""Longer" | Billy JoelChris BrownDan Fogelberg |- ! Finale | Clive Davis's ChoiceNew SongContestant's Choice | "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me""In This Moment""Imagine" | Elton JohnWritten by Ryan GillmorJohn Lennon |}

Archuleta's first appearances on music ranking charts were with the three songs he performed in the American Idol finale; "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "In This Moment", and "Imagine", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of June 7, 2008. "Imagine" entered at #36 (giving Archuleta his first top forty hit), "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" at #58, and "In This Moment" entered at #60. That same week he had three songs on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart as well, where his versions of "Longer", "Think of Me", and "Angels" debuted at #15, #19, and #24 respectively. In July 2008 So You Think You Can Dance, a dance competition reality show, Archuleta's cover of "Imagine" by John Lennon was the featured music for contestants Katee Shean and William Wingfield with their pas de deux performance.

Archuleta signed with Jive Records in June 2008. His self-titled album, David Archuleta, was released in November 2008. His first single "Crush" was released in August 2008 on Z100, a New York radio station. On August 12 "Crush" became available on iTunes. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, beaten only by Rihanna's "Disturbia". It was the best chart debut in more than 18 months. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the track sold 166,000 downloads in the first week in the United States. It has sold 1.92 million digital copies in the US. while serving as Grand Marshal at the Krewe of Caesar Mardi Gras parade in Metairie, Louisiana on Valentines Day, 2009.]] Along with American Idol winner David Cook, Archuleta placed second on Forbes' list of "Breakout Stars of 2008". The two co-presented an award at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards in August 2008.

2009-present: Christmas from the Heart and The Other Side of Down

Since the release of his debut album, Archuleta has released three new songs: "Let's Talk About Love (The Build-A-Bear theme song)," "Save the Day (released only in Japan as a bonus track in his album)," and "Zero Gravity." In February, it was announced that Archuleta will be touring the United Kingdom supporting British band McFly on their "Up Close...And This Time It's Personal" tour. The tour began on April 21, 2009 and continued until May.

On April 22, 2009, Archuleta returned to the American Idol stage in its eighth season and performed the third single from his debut album, "Touch My Hand". On April 30, 2009 he made his first UK television appearance, on the Paul O'Grady Show, performing "Crush" and chatting about his album, which was released there in May. In May, Archuleta and fellow American Idol David Cook, visited the Philippines. Two days later he made live appearances on two of GMA-7's shows, Sis and Eat Bulaga. He also confirmed that month that he was working on two new albums, his sophomore pop album and a Christmas album. In August 2009, Archuleta won three Teen Choice Awards for Breakout Artist, Love Song, and the Music Tour category with Demi Lovato. In September he won the Year in Music – Rising Male Star award at the ALMA Awards and performed a cover of the standard "Contigo En La Distancia."

Archuleta's acting debut was when he appeared as himself for his acting debut on Nickelodeon's show iCarly titled "iRocked the Vote". The episode aired February 7, 2009. He had also made a special guest appearance in Season 3 of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana In the episode "Promma Mia" as himself and he sang a duet: "I Wanna Know You" with Miley Cyrus who plays the title character; the song was featured on the soundtrack, Hannah Montana 3.

On May 16, 2009, Archuleta and David Cook performed in the Mall of Asia: Concert Grounds for their Back-to-Back Concert in Manila, Philippines. On June 1, 2010, Archuleta released , a memoir which refers to "the partial vocal paralysis he suffered in 2004 but has now fully recovered from". He went on a book signing tour beginning in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The book was a bestseller.

Archuleta came back to the American Idol stage on April 7, 2010 on the show's ninth season and performed John Lennon's "Imagine", which David had performed previously when he was a contestant on the show. After his performance, he mentioned that he was working on his third studio album.

Archuleta sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Stand by Me" at the 30th anniversary of the annual A Capitol Fourth concert in Washington, D.C. on the Fourth of July. The show was aired on PBS at 8pm EST live and tape delay PT.

Archuleta sang live at the Tejano Music Awards covering Selena's songs, Como La Flor and No Me Queda Más at the event as a tribute on July 11, 2010.

In an interview with AOL's Something Pitchy, Archuleta revealed that the release of his next album is planned for Fall 2010 (he did mention a late September release, but then went back to the Fall). On June 24, 2010 Jive Records announced that his new single would be released on DavidArchuleta.com on July 13, and iTunes on July 20. However, on June 30, 2010 the full version of "Something 'Bout Love" became available to play on his website. His album The Other Side of Down was released on October 5, 2010.

On October 7, 2010, it was announced that David Archuleta would be the guest star at the annual Christmas concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Archuleta will sing in performances on December 16-19.

Philanthropy

Along with Do Something and the Dunkin' Brands Community Foundation Archuleta is involved with helping willing teenagers make a difference in others' lives with disaster relief. He is also one of several teen celebrities taking part in Do Something.org's Teens for Jeans charity initiative, which donates denim to homeless teenagers nationwide. In January 2010, Haiti was hit with a major earthquake. On Jan 22, 2010 Archuleta joined other celebrities for a 2-hour fundraising telethon where he answered phones, and even stayed after longer to keep answering the phones.

Archuleta was one of the many Latino singers who participated in Somos El Mundo, the Spanish version of We Are The World 25 for Haiti. The song and video premiered on the Cristina Show in March 2010, funds raised benefit Haiti relief.

Musical influences

Archuleta's mother is from Honduras, and much of the music he listened to as a child was Latin-influenced including watching his mom sing at events with her sisters. She also "was big on dancing" according to Archuleta, and would "make" him dance to traditional music with his older sister. He also listened to jazz music, he said, from his father's collection as well as gospel, pop, rock and "soulful music."

On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, Archuleta cited his musical influences as Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams. Like Elliott Yamin and another singer he admires, John Mayer, Archuleta tries to infuse his pop selections with a soulful vibe.

Discography

David Archuleta (2008)

Christmas from the Heart (2009)

The Other Side of Down (2010)

Filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;"|Films |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! align="center"| Year ! width="170"| Film ! width="150"| Role ! Notes |- |2008 |American Idol |Himself |Runner Up |- |rowspan=2|2009 |iCarly |Himself |iRocked The Vote episode |- |Hannah Montana |Himself |Season 3 - Episode 14: Promma Mia |}

Tours

;As main act

American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 (2008)

David Archuleta Live In Concert (2009)

Christmas from the Heart Tour (2009)

;As supporting act

Demi Lovato Summer Tour 2009 (2009)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Official website

David Archuleta at MySpace

David Archuleta at Twitter

David Archuleta at YouTube

Video and audio clips from Archuleta's official website prior to 2006.

Category:1990 births Category:American child singers Category:American Idol participants Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American male singers Category:American pop keyboardists Category:American pop pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American tenors Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American people of Honduran descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American people Category:Idol series runners-up Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Utah Category:Jive Records artists Category:People associated with the Boy Scouts of America Category:Musicians from Miami, Florida Category:People from Murray, Utah