Jake Zyrus

Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco (born May 10, 1992), performing at one time under the mononym Charice and now called Jake Zyrus, is a Filipino singer who rose to popularity through YouTube. Charice was dubbed by Oprah Winfrey as "the most talented girl in the world", and released the international studio album Charice in 2010. This album entered the Billboard 200 at number eight, making Charice the first Asian solo singer in history to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The single "Pyramid", featuring singer Iyaz, is Charice'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 on television, Charice joined the cast of TV series Glee as Sunshine Corazon. Subsequently, "Before It Explodes", written by Bruno Mars, was released as the lead single from Charice's second international studio album, Infinity. In March 2012, Charice signed on to be one of the four judges of the Philippine version of The X Factor, which began airing on ABS-CBN in June. In May 2015, Charice reunited with former mentor David Foster by performing a version of Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down" on Asia's Got Talent. In 2017, Charice announced a new name, Jake Zyrus, and disclosed that he had had both breasts removed and had begun testosterone treatment.