Pinay trained by Phil Collins making waves in Switzerland

If Charice has David Foster, Lica de Guzman also has her own mentor, Phil Collins no less.

While Charice is now a familiar name here and abroad, Lica is only “getting there,” not yet known in her own country but already making waves in Switzerland.

Only 14, Lica will soon be recognized outside of Switzerland. She’s touted as the newest Pinay singing child sensation to hit Geneva. She was born in Geneva on March 8, 1997, to Filipino migrant workers Nicanor “Bong” de Guzman and Waonhor “Joy” Pangulima.

Grammy award-winning producer-singer Collins has taken Lica under his wings. He handpicked Lica to be part of a select group to join his “Little Dreams Foundation” where she is trained. Because of that, she has been invited to sing before the Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey at the “Les coups de Coeur d’Alain Morisod” in 2007 where she sang Prendre un enfant par la main as well as various UN gatherings like the annual United Nations Women’s Guild bazaar, Filipino events, and even church activities.

A Funfare source said that aside from Collins, Lica has likewise performed with global celebrities like Laura Pausini, Bryan Adams, Jermaine Jackson and Mike Rutherford. Her rendition of Everything I Do with Adams and Collins was a hit in Geneva. 

Lica has released her debut album All I Want To Be (out in the Philippines under MCA Music). Her first single, All I Want To Be, features Richard Poon who flew to Geneva for the recording and to London for the shoot of the music video. She is scheduled to visit the Philippines from mid-July to August to promote the album.

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Here’s good news for fans of heavy metal music:

American nu metal sensation Korn makes its debut performance in the Philippines on Aug. 10 at the Araneta Coliseum in what promises to be the ultimate nu metal concert.

The show will also feature the local band Slapshock.

To be presented by Ovation Productions, the one-night gig titled Korn Live In Manila! is expected to bring together thousands of nu metal fanatics to listen to the live performance by the first international band to earn the label of nu metal and which was widely credited for having started the New Wave of American heavy metal.

Considered as the third biggest nu metal band in the world, Korn has gone a long way since it was formed in 1993 in Bakersfield, California, by a group of musicians as an expansion of the heavy metal band L.A.P.D., with which three of Korn’s original members were associated.

Since then, Korn has taken the world by storm with its unique and awesome sound that has been hailed by critics as “the new genre of rock.”

Among its hit albums are Korn, Life Is Peachy, Follow The Leader, Issues, Untouchables, Take A Look In The Mirror, See You On The Other Side, Untitled Album and Korn III: Remember Who You Are.

It counts among its notable singles Freak On A Leash, Got The Life, Alive, Daddy, Jingle Balls, A Song For Chi, All In The Family, Children Of The Hour, Falling Away From Me, Make Me Bad, Somebody Someone, Here To Stay, Twisted Transistor, and many more.

Korn owes its strong appeal to the superb quality of its music labeled as nu metal but which is also often categorized as heavy metal, alternative metal, post grunge, rap metal, thrash rap and pimp rap.

During the past 18 years, the group has established record sales of 16 million albums in the US and over 40 million worldwide, with 10 of its official releases reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, eight of them peaking on the Top Five.

Eight of these recordings have earned platinum or multi-platinum status and one gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Korn has also released six video albums and 32 music videos. It currently has 36 singles, 26 of which have charted.

Korn’s rapid rise to the top began in 1993 with the release of its first demo album, Neidermeyer’s Mind, followed in 1994 by its self-titled debut album that peaked at No. 72 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on the Heatseekers Albums charts.

The debut album, which mixed metal, rap, hip-hop, groove and dissonance, received critical reviews from critics and was considered to have sparked the nu metal genre.

Korn marked a career milestone on Oct. 5, 2004, with the release of its greatest hits album, Greatest Hits: Vol. 1, which featured a compilation of choice tracks from six Korn albums between 1994 and 2003 and which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.

The present line-up of Korn is composed of Jonathan Davis (1993 to present), lead vocals, bagpipes; James “Munky” Shaffer (1993 to present), guitars, backing vocals; Reginald “Fieldy” Arvisu (1993 to present); and Ray Luzier (2007 to present), drums, percussions.

(Korn Live In Manila! is presented by Ovation Productions in cooperation with 2nd Avenue, Talk TV, Diva Universal, Basketball TV, Solar Sports, Jack TV, Universal Channel and Dodge. It is also supported by The Philippine STAR, Business World, MYX, 97.9 Home Radio, Mellow 94.7, Monster Radio RX 93.1, RJ 100.3 FM, OptimaSignsolutions, Odyssey Live, Sony Music and ABS-CBN. Tickets are priced at P4,500, P4,000, P3,500, P2,500, P1,500 and P500 and are available at Ticketnet outlets at all SM Department stores and at the Araneta Coliseum ticket office. For inquiries and reservations, call Ticketnet at 911-5555.)

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More music news:

Also coming for a concert is Gerry and the Pacemakers, the ’60s band that popularized hits like How Do You Do It, I Like It, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’ and Ferry Cross the Mersey. Titled Timeless, the concert will be held at the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu, on Aug. 5 at 8 p.m.; and then on Aug. 6 at the PICC Plenary Hall.

Gerry Marsden formed the group in 1959 with his brother Fred, Les Chadwick and Arthur McMahon. They rivaled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany, and Liverpool, England. They began recording in early 1963 with How Do You Do It?, a song written by Mitch Murray. The song was produced by George Martin and became a No. 1 hit in the UK, the first by an Epstein Liverpool group to achieve this on all charts.

Gerry and The Pacemakers’ next two singles, Murray’s I Like It and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s You’ll Never Walk Alone, both also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. Despite their early success, Gerry and The Pacemakers never had another No. 1 single in the UK. Gerry began writing most of their own songs, including It’s Gonna Be All Right, I’m the One and Ferry Cross the Mersey, as well as their first and biggest US hit, Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, which peaked at No. 4. They also starred in an early 1965 film called Ferry Cross the Mersey (sometimes referred to as “Gerry and The Pacemakers’ version of A Hard Day’s Night”), for which Marsden wrote much of the soundtrack. The title song was revived in 1989 as a charity single for an appeal in response to the Hillsborough football crowd disaster, giving Marsden — in association with other Liverpool stars, including Paul McCartney and Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Holly Johnson — another British No. 1.

Joining the band at the concert are Chip Hawkes (below), formerly of the English rock and roll band known as The Tremeloes, together with Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, Rockin’ 60s and The Bloomfields.

(Timeless the concert is presented by DMC Philippines and Clear Channels. For ticket inquiries, call SM tickets at 770-2222.)

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