Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco (born May 10, 1992), better known as Charice, is a Filipina singer who rose to popularity through YouTube. Dubbed by Oprah Winfrey as the Most Talented Girl in the World, she is the first solo Asian artist in history to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart. Crossing over to television acting, she has appeared on the TV series Glee where she plays a guest star named Sunshine Corazon. Charice is currently working on her sophomore studio album, on which she will collaborate with Sean Garrett.

Pempengco was born in Laguna, Philippines. Raised by a single mother, she helped support the family by joining amateur singing contests at age seven, from town fiestas in various provinces to singing competitions on TV. She is said to have joined almost a hundred singing contests. In 2005, Pempengco joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol. Eliminated after her first performance, she was later called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became a finalist. Pempengco made minor appearances on local television shows and commercials, but essentially had fallen off the radar after her stint at Little Big Star. It was not until 2007 that she gained worldwide recognition after an avid supporter started posting a series of her performance videos on YouTube under the username FalseVoice. These videos received several million hits that made Pempengco a YouTube sensation.

On January 23, 2010, she appeared on Io Canto, a renowned singing competition in Italy. She performed her standards plus an Italian favorite called "Adagio" (made popular by Lara Fabian), in Italian. On January 31, she was featured as one of the musical acts on the NBC Sports program Silk Soy Milk Skate for the Heart, a show designed to raise awareness of heart disease. She performed "Note to God" and debuted two new songs included in her debut album, "In This Song" and "Breathe Out" (later retitled as "Breathe You Out").

The album version and club remixes of her second single, "Pyramid" (featuring Iyaz), from her international debut album were released on February 23, 2010 and March 2, 2010. The Pyramid Remixes EP debuted at #46 on the Billboard Dance/Club play songs charts and quickly soared to #1 spot.

Her self-titled international debut album with Reprise Records was released on May 11, 2010. On its first week, the album reached #8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, making her the first Asian to enter the Top 10. On the same day as part of her album launching, she again made a guest appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with another YouTube-discovered singer Justin Bieber. 

On June 22, Pempengco herself confirmed that she will join the cast of the hit US television series Glee on its second season. Later in the week, she released a promotional single entitled "Crescent Moon" in Japan. The single is an English rendition of the Japanese song "Mikazuki" by Ayaka. During the inauguration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on June 30, 2010, she sang the Philippine national anthem in front of a crowd estimated at more than half a million. In July, she embarked on her first Asian tour covering Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea, where she appeared on the show Star King for the third time.

On September 7, the premiere of Glee's second season was held in Hollywood with Pempengco in attendance. Cast in a recurring role, she plays an exchange student from the Philippines named Sunshine Corazon who presents serious competition against lead character Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele).[78]

On November 30, she appeared on NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center and performed "Grown-up Christmas List" and "Jingle Bell Rock" with producer and mentor David Foster.