The future looks bright for young singer Marvin Ong

THE FUTURE looks bright for young singer Marvin Ong. For almost two hours at his first major gig recently at the Music Museum, he kept the full-house crowd interested in what he had to offer as a pop act.

There was neither flash nor dramatic technique in his vocal style; all he did was sing with honesty and simplicity, although there was evidence that he had undergone training in musical theater.

A plus factor is that he could also play keyboards.

In the first few numbers, he had the girls in the audience shrieking to his covers of Parokya ni Edgar’s “Harana” and Hotdog’s “Panaginip.”

This was followed by a sprightly production number with the all-female teenybopper group Pop Girls, and a duet with another young singer, Mafi Soler.

But it was another duet, with Rachelle Ann Go, that drove the audience to wild cheers. Go was marvelous in her spot number, a sizzling cover of the Etta James standard, “At Last.”

Ong paid tribute to his influences via medleys of Broadway and Michael Jackson classics, mixed with a few current Billboard hits.

An original tune, “Captivated,” which he said he wrote in high school, gave us a foretaste of what Ong can do in the future. There’s no reason for him to stop writing his own songs now, even if “Captivated” was obviously an amateurish attempt.

The Blush girls

It was not modeled after The Spice Girls, clarified the handlers of Blush—touted as the first Pan-Asian all-girl group which had a media launch recently at Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati.

Composed of Victoria Chan (China), Alisha Budhrani (India), Jihae Lee (Korea), Angeli Flores (Philippines) and Natsuko Danjo (Japan), Blush was formed by a team led by Jon Niermann of Hong Kong-based FarWest Entertainment. The five girls, who are mostly in their 20s, reportedly underwent a meticulous selection process from hundreds of aspirants that were trimmed down to 25 finalists.

“I honestly believe we found a perfect balance with these five,” said Niermann, whose desire to form Blush in June 2006 arose out of this need: “This was before Charice. There was never a big Asian singer in the West. Lea Salonga did very well in the Broadway scene, but Asian pop singers have never been on the charts. That was the inspiration.”

At the launch, Blush sang minus-one versions of three original songs in the pop/R&B/dance genre. Chan stood out as the group’s lead vocalist, although all the girls had their respective solo parts.

Too early to tell if Blush would make a deep impact in the international scene. But we saw the group’s confidence and immediate appeal. Its first crack: a front act gig at Justin Bieber’s concert on May 13 in Hong Kong.

Band talent search finals

Thirteen indie bands including Cosmic Love and Mr. Bones signed up for a slot in the Jack Daniels’ “JD Set” series—a talent search that will choose seven of the aspirants and take them on a seven-month tour nationwide.

The “Chosen 7” bands will be revealed on April 15 at Whitespace, 2314 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati. Aside from performances by the aspirants, Urbandub will also play before flying to the 2011 Southeast Asian Music Festival on April 21-23 in Bali, Indonesia as Jack Daniels’ representative.

There will also be a grand draw for an all-expense paid trip for two to the SE Asian Music Fest.

To get an exclusive invite to the April 15 event, click “like” on Jack Daniels’ JD Set Philippines on Facebook and list down your own “Chosen 7.”