Morissette (singer)

Johanne Morissette Daug Amon, also known as Morissette, was born on June 2, 1996, in Cebu City, Philippines, to her mother Analie Daug and father Amay Amon. She is the oldest child and has one sibling, Jeremy Mattheu Amon. She studied at Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy in Minglanilla, Cebu. Her father is a rock musician. Her name "Johanne", which is pronounced as "Yohan", was coined by her father from German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, while "Morissette" was taken from her father's favorite singer, Alanis Morissette. She was 3 years old when her family discovered her talent in singing. When she was left alone with a karaoke machine, she sang the Regine Velasquez song, "You Are My Song".[23]

In her first singing contest held by a radio station in Cebu, she sang Christina Aguilera's version of "Reflection". Thereafter she became a frequent singing contestant in Cebu,[9] joining competitions such as Young Star Singing Idol.[24] At 9 years of age, she became a finalist in the Little Division of Little Big Star Cebu[25] and became a Grand Champion at the DYKC Awit sa Kabataan 2007 in Gaisano Country Mall at the age of 11.[26][27] She also did front acts in mall tours for Sarah Geronimo and Kim Chiu, among others, in Cebu.[28] Morissette sings in the whistle register in some of her songs and has said that she got this inspiration from the singers Nina Girado and Mariah Carey.[4][29] Growing up, her other musical influences included Regine Velasquez and Sarah Geronimo.[30]

At the age of 14, Morissette competed on TV5's Talentadong Pinoy.[31] For producers Jaye Muller, Ben Patton, she recorded 14 songs written by them for her. Those songs were not then released but appeared as pirate releases online;[32] they were officially released in two volumes, titled Morissette at 14, on November 20, 2020,[33] and March 21, 2021.[34] After Talentadong Pinoy, Morissette then was asked to join the new Artista Search of TV5, the Star Factor. Because of her strong desire to become a singer and performer, she auditioned in Cebu, where the judges picked her as one of the finalists. She then moved to Manila together with her mother to compete in the finals. She reached the top 4 and then was the first runner-up to Eula Caballero, the Star Factor winner. Talent manager David Cosico offered to manage her career on TV5.[23] She eventually appeared in several TV5 shows, such as Kapitan Awesome and Cassandra: Warrior Angel.[35]

In 2012, Morissette played the lead role of Mitchie Torres in the Repertory Philippines production of Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical. The production ran at Onstage, Greenbelt 1, Makati City from November 16 until December 16, 2012.[5] Rehearsing and performing in the musical took its toll on Morissette's voice, and she was diagnosed with vocal cord nodules.[35][36] Morissette's last project at TV5 was Cassandra: Warrior Angel.[37]

Morissette's work at TV5 supported her family financially, but she wanted to pursue a singing career. She decided to join ABS-CBN's new singing competition, The Voice of the Philippines.[38] During the blind auditions, Morissette sang "Love On Top"; and with her strong vocals she instantly made it to be part of Team Sarah Geronimo.[39][40] She progressed into the live shows, as Geronimo chose her over teammate Lecelle Trinidad when they both sang "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" during the Battle Rounds.

During the first live show of The Voice of the Philippines Morissette sang "Jar of Hearts". She received the highest percentage of votes in Geronimo's team, with 57.16%,[41][42][43] and advanced to the next level of the competition. For the second live show, Morissette sang "What About Love", and Geronimo picked her over former South Border member Maki Ricafort, scoring her 60% for her performance. Added to her public vote of 50.41% her total score of 110.41 points advanced her to the next round.[44] During the semi-finals, she sang Jessie J's "Who You Are", losing to teammate Klarisse De Guzman, and was eliminated.[37]

  – Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes

In 2014, Morissette started recurring appearances on ABS-CBN's ASAP.[45] For the drama series Moon of Desire, she recorded the self-titled theme song by Trina Belamide.[46] This was followed by more theme songs on ABS-CBN's "teleseryes". Together with her former teammate from The Voice of the Philippines, De Guzman and Angeline Quinto, she was given a segment on ASAP called "HD" or "Homegrown Divas".[47] She also started performing in It's Showtime, ABS-CBN's noontime variety show, where she was allowed to sing solo numbers.[48] This show provided Morissette an opportunity to demonstrate both her singing and dancing skills. She was accused of lip-syncing Ariana Grande's "Break Free" after the hosts of the show praised her for keeping her voice steady while dancing across the stage. Morissette denied the accusation.[49]

In May 2014, Morissette gave her first solo concert entitled This Is Me, which doubled as her 18th birthday celebration.[50] Her repertoire included international pop hits, as well as those from Philippine singers such as Regine Velasquez. She even paid homage to her namesake by singing her own versions of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" and "You Learn".[51] During this concert she announced that she had joined Star Records,[23] with which she signed a one-year contract in August 2014.[52] Morissette performed with Jessie J at her concert on July 14, 2014, at Smart Araneta Coliseum. She was interviewing Jessie J for the music channel Myx and mentioned that she sang one of her songs on The Voice of the Philippines. Jessie J then requested Morissette to sing for her, and Morissette sang part of "Who You Are". Jessie J immediately invited Morissette to join her onstage during her concert.[53]

In September 2014, Morissette performed in the 2014 finals of Himig Handog P-Pop Love Songs,[54] the country's most popular songwriting and music video competition.[55] She interpreted "Akin Ka Na Lang", an original song written by Francis Louis "Kiko" Salazar which was chosen as one of the 15 finalists out of more than 6,000 entries submitted since November 2013.[55] In November 2014, Morissette sang several Disney songs in a two-day concert entitled Disney in Concert: A Tale as Old as Time, along with Sam Concepcion and Karylle, accompanied by the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Salonga.[56][57] The same year, she signed an exclusive recording deal with Star Music.[58]

Morissette in 2018

In 2015, Filipino Star Magazine called her "The Next Big Diva".[59][23] In March 2015, Star Records released her first studio album, self-titled Morissette.[59][60] The carrier single, "Di Mapaliwanag" was used as a theme song for the Koreanovela, My Lovely Girl on Kapamilya ABS CBN and won as Asianovela Themesong of the Year (2015). The album was launched at Shangri-La Plaza EDSA in April 2015, and eventually reached platinum certification in the Philippines.[9] Morissette won "Best New Artist" at the MOR Pinoy Music Awards.[61]Morissette sang theme songs for Star Cinema movies, including a cover of Starship's hit song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" with Daniel Padilla for the film Crazy Beautiful You[62] and "Someone's Always Saying Goodbye" for the film You're Still the One. In 2016 she performed a duet with Piolo Pascual entitled "Something I Need" for the movie Everything About Her.[63]

In mid-2015, she was cast in Chuva Choo Choo – Mr. Kupido Musicale, featuring the songs of Vehnee Saturno. She played Darla, a talented amateur singer hoping to break into the entertainment business.[64][65] Morissette was awarded as the Best New Female Recording Artist at the 2015 PMPC Star Awards for Music. She was also recognized by the National Consumer Affairs Foundation's Seal of Excellence Awards as the 2015 Outstanding Female Performing Artist of the Year through a Gawad Musika Award and a Top Filipino Excellence Award.[23][66] In December 2015, she performed a mini-concert at the 26th St. Bistro, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf produced by Stages Sessions.[67]

Morissette also was part of the concert Confessions: A Night of Secrets, Stories and Songs in February 2016 at the Music Museum by Stages Sessions.[68] At the 1st Wish 107.5 Music Awards (WMA)[69] she won Female Artist of the Year for 2016. Winners in WMA's major award categories were allowed to choose beneficiaries of financial assistance worth ₱100 thousand. Morissette's choice was Home for the Angels in Santa Ana, Manila, a crisis center for abandoned infants.[70] For the second time, she performed in the 2016 Himig Handog P-Pop Love Songs competition. She interpreted "Diamante", composed by Jungee Marcelo.[71] She won Female Artist of the Year at ABS-CBN's M.O.R. Pinoy Music Awards in 2016.[72]

Her first major concert was at the Music Museum on August 13, 2016.[73] Her performance of "I'm Here" from the musical The Color Purple garnered praise from Lea Salonga.[74] Prior to the concert Morissette stated that she wanted to break free from her stereotype as a belter and show her skill in dancing as well as demonstrating her softer side.[75]

In 2017, Morissette was a regular on ABS-CBN's Sunday afternoon show ASAP, as one of the Birit Queens.[76] The group staged its first concert in March 2017 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, followed by shows in Abu Dhabi and the United States. The group disbanded in late 2017.[77] In the same year, she co-hosted with Bolton a talent-search show called Bolt of Talent on STAR World Asia and Fox TV.[11][12] She also topped the 2017 2nd Wish 107.5 Music Awards with a total of eight awards, more than any other artist nominated. She won all six categories in which she was nominated, and joined the Wishclusive Elite Circle with two Bronze Awards for her version of Mariah Carey's "Against All Odds" and Little Mix's "Secret Love Song".[78] These are awarded to any Wish 107.5 artist garnering at least 10 million YouTube views.[79] Four of her awards were for her cover of "Secret Love Song".[78] As of February 2017 this performance was the first to hit 25 million views on Wish 107.5's YouTube channel, guaranteeing Morissette at least a Silver WISHclusive Elite Circle award at the next WMA.[80]

Morissette has often been referred to as "Asia's Phoenix" since her performance at the 14th Asia Song Festival in Busan, South Korea in September 2017, where she represented the Philippines.[81][82] She returned to the same festival to represent the Philippines in the succeeding 15th Asia Song Festival in Busan in October 2018.[83] She was the first Filipino artist to have her own V Live channel, a popular South Korean live video streaming service for celebrities.[84] In February 2018, at Morissette's concert "Made", Regine Velasquez joined her for a duet of "Akin Ka Na Lang".[85] Morissette's performance of Secret Love Song garnered over 100 million views on Wish's YouTube channel, making Morissette the first Female OPM singer to reach that milestone.[86] In August and October, Morissette experienced vocal problems and was advised to observe strict vocal rest, interfering with some concerts.[87] In November 2018, she was included in and served as the sole Filipino mentor and judge in the Filipino reality show Hello K-Idol.[88]

In 2019, Morissette and Darren Espanto were selected by Disney to record the song "A Whole New World" for the Philippine release of the live-action film adaptation of Aladdin.[89] Later that year, Morissette was a judge for the Himig Handog 2019[90] and recorded the song "This Is Christmas" with Ben Adams, released in November 2019.[91]

In May 2020, she took part in One Love Asia, an online charity musical event to aid Asia in its fight against COVID-19.[92] In August 2020, Morissette was a judge, with Michael Bolton, in an international talent competition, Asian Dream, of AXN Asia.[93]

In November 2020, Morissette released her first co-written and co-produced single "Love You Still" through the Stages Sessions' label Underdog Music PH, co-written with her husband (then fiancé) Dave Lamar and co-produced with Lamar and Xergio Ramos.[94] In December 2020, she released a music video for the song, which charted on iTunes in 12 countries including the U.S. and U.K.[95] Morissette appeared at number 7 on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart.[96][97] In February 2021, she released another single, "Phoenix", through Underdog, co-written with Lamar and co-produced with Lamar and Ramos.[98] It debuted at number 3 on the iTunes Philippines Chart and became her first co-written original song to hit number 1 on that chart.[99]

In May 2021, Morissette released a 25th anniversary recording of "Shine", which reintroduced "Shine's" original lyrics composed by Trina Belamide.[100] At the 2021 State of the Nation Address by the 16th president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, on July 26, 2021, at the Session Hall, Batasang Pambansa Complex, Morissette sang the Philippine national anthem.[20] In August 2021, Morissette released an EP, Signature, with her lead single "Trophy". This was her first EP as a singer-songwriter and co-producer along with Lamar and Ramos and was released under Underdog PH.[1] The EP charted on iTunes in 20 countries and held the highest position achieved by an OPM artist on iTunes USA in 2021.[101] In October 2021, Morissette became part of the Christian music label from Sony Music Philippines, Waterwalk Records. She then released her first single from that record label, "Waterwalk", written by Jungee Marcelo.[102]

Morissette celebrated her tenth anniversary in the music industry through a virtual concert titled "Phoenix", held on KTX on January 23–24, 2022. The concert highlighted her performances through the years.[2] In February 2022, Morissette's rendition of "Gusto Ko Nang Bumitaw" appeared on the soundtrack of TV series The Broken Marriage Vow. It won the "Best Theme Song or Title Theme" award at the Asian Academy Creative Awards for the Philippines.[103][104] It also charted on iTunes in 23 other countries, including the Philippines.[105]

In April 2022, Morissette, Christian Bautista and Erik Santos, gave a tour together, titled "Threelogy", in US.[106]

In August 2022, Morissette released her first English-Bisaya track entitled "Undangon Ta Ni", under Underdog, composed and produced by Cebu-based songwriters Relden Campanilla, Carlisle Tabanera, and Ferdinand Aragon, along with Morissette and Lamar.[107] Her rendition of Christian Bautista's "Colour Everywhere" was released in October 2022.[108]

Morissette has stated in an interview that Mariah Carey served as an inspiration to develop her skill in singing in the whistle register.[29][3] Morissette is an admirer of the vocal performances of Mariah Carey and has also credited the influence of Shoshana Bean, Cynthia Erivo, Chandler Moore and Tasha Cobbs.[112]

Cast as one of ASAP's "Birit" Queens (literally "Belter" Queens), she has been described as a power belter.[113][114]

In the Philippine Daily Inquirer critic Joseph Atilano praised Morissette's "very versatile singing voice ... flawless vocal registry [and] awe-inspiring vocal range".[115]