Simply Belle

New York, London, or Gay Parie? Hardly. Stephanie Mae grew up in a small town in rural Arizona. There,  in the rarefied mountain air, she composed many of the tunes you find on her CD, Pokerface.

It started one afternoon while life guarding at the municipal pool. She discovered that the melodic splashing of all the twittering, laughing children somehow instilled in her mind the basis of the tune, “At The Edge.” Then, While washing dishes one evening, she put together a few bars of ” Crazy” to the musical background of pots and pans scraping against the sink. And as a president of the high school Key Club, the tune Poker Face found its way into her assembly while she was listening to the clanking of donations dropping onto assorted piles. On these occasions, she would rush home to her piano and finish composing her new songs while they were still fresh in her mind.

As time went on, her passion for music gripped her so deeply that at any moment, she might set the piano to jumping and the walls to shaking when she pounded away at the ivories. Members of the family would have to flee to the far corners of the house to protect their ears. Are those signs of a genius?

It is often said that music and mathematics are interrelated. And when a person is exceptional in one branch of knowledge, she might do well in the other. So it is true with Stephanie Mae. Her aptitude for mathematics earned her a scholarship at Stanford University where she is currently pursuing, of all things, a degree in Bio Mechanical Engineering! Well, a girl has to earn a living, doesn’t she? But you can bet that she crams in plenty of music appreciation courses into her busy schedule. And she spends quality time with her friends in the Every Day People A Capella choir.

Stephanie Mae is now in her senior year and can’t wait to graduate. She plans to start her own recording studio where in her free time after work, she can sing and burn CDs to her heart’s content. Bravo! We expect to see and hear a lot more of Stephanie’s extensive talents in the near future. That is, unless she plans to go to grad school. Stay tuned.

7 Comments »

Yet another of my shameless plug:

My daughter, Stephanie, has recently pre-recorded a new song titled, When You Sing, via computer, and I would like to share it with you. You can listen to it by going to her myspace site. This is the kind of music that she wants to specialize in because it basically fits her personality, and it is the kind of music that she can easily do live without needing a band to back her up.

K was asking if she recorded an album for the holidays. The answer is No because she is currently finishing a degree in Biomechanical Engineering that is quite a demanding course by itself.
She will graduate in June of 2009. It is a good thing that engineering here only takes 4 years of rigorous and grueling study as opposed to 5 years in the Philippines. And another good thing is she doesn’t have to take an engineering board exam to be a licensed engineer, which I find hard to believe. Why is that?

2 Comments »

Note: YouTube videos below are no longer available. You may google them up yourself.

Last Monday, Phyllis, a friend of mine from Las Vegas called another friend of mine in Seattle, Elaine, to tell her that a girl with a giant talent from the Philippines was going to be featured on Oprah show tomorrow, which was yesterday. Elaine then asked me some questions about the girl through YM (yahoo messenger.)

E: Do you know anything about this girl that Oprah is guesting tomorrow?

Me: Her name is Charice Pempengco and she has an awesome and powerful voice for such a little girl. I can’t watch her live on Oprah show though because I am working tomorrow, but I will definitely watch her on YouTube.

The following night, she sent me an email telling me that she and Bob (her husband) were blown away by Charice’s performance, with tears streaming down their faces. I have watched Charice hundred times on YouTube and I know that she is undeniably one of the best singers out there right now, if not the best, for her age.

Out of curiosity and excitement from the worldwide attention she was getting, I wasted no time searching for her recent performance on Oprah on YouTube and watched all four segments at once, unmindful of my husband’s constant complaint of the noise volume. (I purposely blocked him off for the duration of the show so I wouldn’t miss a thing.) This is the second time she appeared on Oprah, and I tell you, the saying, “it is sweeter the second time around,” is, indeed, true. I wasn’t even through with the first segment, I soaked in probably four pieces of kleenex. And I wasn’t supposed to cry because I have seen her perform many times before on YouTube but I couldn’t hold my tears especially when she narrated in tears her humble beginnings, life’s experiences, early struggles, and painful childhood memories of her abusive father.
And her rendition of Celine Dion’s song, My Life Will Go on, once again, brought me to tears and took my breath away.

It is so amazing how such a little girl,who came from a poor family, is now singing duet with well-known and big time singers like Celine Dion and Andre Bocelli. This, folks, is history in the making, as I wasn’t aware of any singers from Philippines who had gotten this much international attention.

Sorry, I had to delete the videos because they are no longer available on YouTube.

7 Comments »

I have been busy these days because my girls are with me for a short visit and I wanted so very much to maximize my time with them so I haven’t had a chance to think of a topic to write about. Instead, I thought I would share a preview of a song that Steffi recorded just a few days ago via computer. It is called “Every Song.” This song will appear in an upcoming album that she wishes to record sometimes this fall, time permitting.

11 Comments »

I poster earlier a cover of Bon Jovi’s song Livin’ on a Prayer by Stephanie, but for some reason, it was no longer available and for that I apologize.

Here’s another video of one of Stephanie’s songs that I found on YouTube. Yes, I came across the video on YouTube so she doesn’t have any idea I am posting it here in my blog. It is called “Trust.” The video is composed of several images that came to her mind during the writing, arranging, and production of the song- currently her favorite from her repertoire.

Here it is:

4 Comments »

Thought I would share with you a cover by Stephanie Mae of Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer.

7 Comments »

Without our knowledge, my daughter took some time off from her job to audition for the American Idol. She opted not to let us know about her plans because she knew that we were totally against it. Why? First, Steffi isn’t the type that would be in the limelight day in and day out. She likes simplicity in life, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I couldn’t envision her giving gigs every day or every weekend. Heck, she couldn’t even take cigarette smoke because of her asthma.

She is more of an artist or a composer. Melody and lyrics abound inside her head at any given time. She probably has penned over 100 songs to date. But I would like to see her get a nice stable job after college and pursue music on the side, sort of a respite when things at work get dull and boring.

Anyway, just for the curiosity, she auditioned for American Idol along with her friend, Linds. She had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning so she could be at the Cow Palace in San Francisco at a decent time to beat the line. In other words, she didn’t get any sleep at all and when that happens, her voice is very much affected. If I remember it correctly when she mentioned in one of her interviews that her voice is dependent on the amount of sleep she gets.

Not only that, she was starved during the audition because they took away her food. Over fatigue, hunger, and sleeplessness took a toll on them and to make the story short, American Idol is pretty much out of her system.

Here is a photo essay of their whole ordeal.

Linds, her friend, with her beautiful smile at 5 AM.

The Cow Palace where the American Idol audition was held. Apparently, it used to be the arena for rodeos.

The line at 5 AM is longer than what her camera could capture…crazy!!

The camera crew was already on the scene before most of the auditioners.

they were not looking forward to staying in that crazy line, so they approached it cautiously and slowly.

This was taken after 3 hours standing in line.

they felt more like a herd of cattle in line.

and who is that??

is it Justin Guarini, apparently doing some kind of show for American Idol audition.

cheering and singing for the cameras in the stadium.

“cheer as a team, not as individuals,” the producer says.

they still look happy despite the annoying girl next to them that kept singing at the top of her lungs!

12 judging stations were lined up on the stadium main floor. this is pretty much where everybody’s journey ended.

10 Comments »

Jessica Sanchez is from Southern California, and was born to a filipino mother and mexican father. She started singing at the age of 2. Her influences include Celine Dion, Christina Aguillera, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey.

During the first season of America Got Talent, she earned the wild spot impressing all three judges. Brandy, the international pop star and one of the judges raved about her and made a remark, “You’re going to be huge, I promise!” She was 9 years old in this video.  She may be 13 years old now and sounding even better. You can check out her myspace site here

4 Comments »

7 Comments »

Sharing with you Stephanie’s live on-air interview with Kit McGuire on Kit’s Korner – KRIM-FM 96.3 in Payson: Interview

She sang a new song titled “When You Sing” toward the middle of the interview which made me cry. I was in the studio when she sang the song and I had to face the wall the whole time while she was singing, with tears flowing down on my face.

I took this picture of Kit and Stephanie during the live interview. I quietly hung out at the far corner taking pictures. This was my first time to be in the studio while an interview was going on. I tell you, it was an awesome experience! Now I am reaping the benefits of hanging around and rubbing elbows with the celebrity…hehe. (Kit, by the way, was an actor during his heyday.) He is single and looking for that special someone. I have known him for some time and I tell you he is such a fun loving person, and an awesome radio announcer. Ohh, I just found out that he blogs here.

Stephanie Mae preparing to sing live on the air.

Stephanie and Suzanne Michaels (station manager of KRIM-FM 96.3)

She was the one who screened Stephanie’s CD when I brought it over to her station. She told me only a few CDs out of the many submissions make the grade, and I honestly thought Stephanie’s would not make it but I was wrong. Suzanne, as you can see in the picture is a happy, outgoing person and has the best smile which depicts, humbleness, decency, love, and friendliness. Visit her site at KRIM-FM 96.3 and if you can, try to leave a message.

9 Comments »