It’s official: Marcelito Pomoy is now the most booked and most in-demand Filipino singer on a world scale.  

This year alone, Marcelito performed a duet with Il Divo in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the European audience was amazed at his ability to switch between male and female vocals. I got an exclusive interview with the Pilipinas Got Talent 2011 Champion last week. 

Pomoy and I shared the stage as we performed for the partners of FBM Philippines in Blue Leaf BGC. 

Backstage, the international singer was excited to share the news that he would have a big concert in Dubai on Dec. 22 at the Coca-Cola Arena. I asked him if it was a concert for his fellow Filipinos, and he told me, “Of course, I am inviting all the Filipino OFWs to Dubai. It is my honor to raise the flag of the Philippines in another country, so I would like to invite my fellow Filipinos to my concert in Dubai. My manager, Ronald Horvath, is Hungarian, so most of his network is composed of Europeans, Emiratis, and Middle Eastern nationalities living in the UAE. I have been going back and forth here in the UAE for several years, so I have been blessed to get a clout there to support my concert," Pomoy tells Gossip Girl. 

This clout our Pinoy Pride is talking about is around 17,000 Emiratis and other nationalities living in Dubai. What an Idol! The Royal section in the arena is almost sold out at 550 Aed (around 8,500 Philippine pesos), but there are still open sections for sale at 450 AED, 250 AED, 150 AED and 99 AED (around 1500 php).  

I asked America's Got Talent: The Champions 2020 fourth placer if sharing the stage with Il Divo was the personal highlight of his career this year. He answered, “Performing with Il Divo was one of the highlights of my career, but the major highlight of my life this year is getting to meet my idol Andrea Bocelli and perform in front of him at the Big Art Festival Forte dei Marmi at Villa Bocelli Alpabella which Andrea Bocelli himself owns. You see, Giselle, Andrea is my idol. He is the reason why I am singing today. I ran away from my adopted father when I was a kid because he used to beat me up. I lived on the streets of Manila for 25 years doing odd jobs. The music of Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion gave me hope in 1998. I loved the song so much that I taught myself to sing both the parts of Andrea and Celine. After teaching myself for over a decade, I had the guts to join  Pilipinas Got Talent in Abs-Cbn in 2011 and won. 'The Prayer' helped me escape poverty. 'The Prayer' saved my life. 'The Prayer' helped me get reunited with my original family. When I  met Andrea Bocelli face to face after he saw me perform, I wanted to tell him, ‘Thank you, Andrea, for saving my life. Thank you for The Prayer, which let me discover my ability to sing dual voices and brought me to your villa for this festival to perform for you. I will never forget this day.  You will always be my idol forever and always. But I was too shy, so I shook his hand and said, " Thank you, Sir. You are my idol," Marcelito recounts with a teary eye. 

You may view his performance at the Big Art Festival Forte dei Marmi at Villa Bocelli Alpabella and Pomoy’s duet with Il Divo on his YouTube account Marcelito Pomoy.