A young Filipina has become the latest YouTube superstar after her cover of Lady Gaga’s song, “Born This Way,” came to the attention of the music superstar. Maria Aragon, who is just 10 years old, posted a video of herself playing the piano while singing Lady Gaga’s latest hit. The video was then tweeted by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton to Gaga herself, who retweeted the link, saying, “Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future.”Maria isn’t the only person who has achieved international recognition because of YouTube. Read on to see five other artists who have found fame on this online video-sharing community.
1. MARIA ARAGON
This “Little Monster” (as Lady Gaga fans call themselves) was catapulted into fame by Lady Gaga herself. This video has been viewed over 8 million times by fans all over the world, including Ellen DeGeneres, who responded by saying, “Thank Gaga I saw this.”
Shortly after Maria's video went viral, she was invited to be a guest on a radio station in Winnipeg where she got to talk to Lady Gaga by phone. After the superstar congratulated Maria on her YouTube performance, she invited the 10 year old to perform "Born This Way" on stage with her during the Toronto leg of her concert.
2. JUSTIN BIEBER
He may be a big star now, but Justin Bieber started out on YouTube as well. His mom began posting videos of him for friends and family, but as the number of videos grew, so did his fan base. Justin was initially signed under Usher’s music label, but after auditioning for superstar producer L.A. Reid, he moved to Island Records. His latest album My World 2.0 was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at this year’s Grammy Awards.
3. CHARICE
Charice Pempengco’s story is the stuff fairytales are made of. After seeing videos of her singing on local TV, the producers of Star King, a Korean variety show, invited her to be a guest performer. Her rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" was so memorable that it got the attention of Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey who both invited her to perform on their shows as well. From there it has been nothing but success for Charice. From singing with Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, to a recurring role on Glee, to being named by Billboard magazine as one of the best musicians under 21 years old, it seems that up is the only way to go for Charice.
4. MARIE DIGBY
This guitar-playing songstress got her start on YouTube as well. Although she had previously won a singing competition, it wasn’t until she uploaded her cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” did she become known worldwide. She has performed in cities all over the US, and even came to the Philippines for a series of concerts in 2009.
5. ESMEE DENTERS
Esmee Denters may just be the person who started the whole YouTube celebrity craze. She started posting videos of herself singing covers way back in 2006, but she was so impressive that Justin Timberlake took her on as the first artist to be signed under his record label.
6. SAM TSUI AND KURT SCHNEIDER
Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider started collaborating when they were in high school, but they became popular after their video featuring Michael Jackson’s biggest hits was featured on web news sites after the King of Pop’s death. Since then, they’ve been one of the most downloaded artists on iTunes and that Michael Jackson video has scored over 22 million views.
(Photo of Lady Gaga by John Robert Charlton via Flickr Creative Commons)
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