Darren Espanto
Aspiring singers can definitely learn a thing or two from Darren Espanto, who’s been singing professionally since age 13, on how to deal with changes in their voice as a result of puberty.
Darren, now 18, dealt with the problem in the most practical way. “The change in my voice happened gradually because I didn’t force myself to sing songs as high as I used to. I still perform songs from my old playlist but not in the same key,” he explained.Darren added that he also trained with several vocal coaches, who taught him different voice placements for better sound and volume. “This really helped,” he declared. “I used to not care about anything as long as I kept reaching high notes. I learned recently that there’s always a better and healthier way to use your singing voice.”
While going through puberty, the Filipino-Canadian teener said: “I lost my falsetto voice for over a year and a half. I really thought it won’t come back anymore, but when it did, I learned how to control it and make it thicker through vocal coaching and placement.”
In 2014, 13-year-old Darren joined the talent search “The Voice Kids Philippines,” where he placed second to grand champion Lyca Gairanod. He then became a contract artist of ABS-CBN and released his self-titled debut album under MCA Music Philippines in the same year.
In 2015, he staged a major solo concert at the MOA Arena, where he set a record for being the youngest artist at 14 to perform there. In August 2018, he ventured into acting via the Cathy Garcia-Molina romantic drama, “Hows Of Us,” starring Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla.
Darren, along with Morissette Amon, were also handpicked by Disney to record their version of “A Whole New World” as part of the local promotion of the 2019 version of “Aladdin.”
After doing the KathNiel movie, Darren swore not to accept anymore acting projects without first attending workshops. “I had no preparation whatsoever. Napasabak kaagad,” he confessed. “Right now, my focus is singing and performing but I promise to participate in workshops when I get the time. Management has since been asking me to go to screen tests and go-sees. I’m excited to try acting, too. It’s a different experience.”
Darren, who recently graduated from senior high school, is still thinking of what course to take up in college. “I want to learn as much as I can about business. I feel that I will be able to use it later on since I’m working in show biz,” he pointed out. “But also, since both my parents are in the medical field, I’m also considering a course related to that.”
Darren was born in Calgary and is the eldest child of Filipino registered nurses Marinel Gonzales and Lyndon Espanto, who emigrated to Canada from Nueva Vizcaya. He said that when he was younger, he would join his parents at work because nobody would watch over him at home. “I grew up in that kind of setup. I got to observe how things were done at the hospital. I got fascinated with how calm they handled emergency situations at the ER, or how they were never afraid of the sight of blood,” he shared with Inquirer Entertainment.
Darren flew back to Canada shortly after its government announced that it would shut its borders to noncitizens to curb the spread of the new coronavirus there. A dance number that Darren recorded with his sister Lynelle was aired last Sunday on “Asap Natin ’To From Home” on the Kapamilya network.