At the age of six, Aicelle Santos or "AA" received abecedarian musical training at the St. Theresa's College Quezon City, and the University of the Philippines College of Music for piano. The early training allowed Santos to indulge in her original dream to become a famous pianist. However, a shift in focus took place as she realized she would rather be a famous singer than be a known pianist. Aicelle's inspiration on the field came from Walt Disney's character Ariel from the movie The Little Mermaid. The movie's theme song "Part of Your World" was the first song Santos memorized, which she also performed during her elementary school programs.
While still at her first year of college at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Santos joined ABS-CBN's Season 1 of Star in a Million (2003), her first take on a nationwide televised singing competition. The competition opened many doors for Aicelle. Although she sometimes struggled, she eventually struck a balance between attending university and focusing on her blossoming singing career.
Santos took advantage of the minor fame that her Star in a Million appearance gave her and showcased her talents on top performers' settings with a new acoustic group Dream Sequence. Dream Sequence proved to be a success on its own right, and brought its three members to many cities around the Philippines. The Metro's prime stages Bagaberde, Chef and Brewer, Phi Bar, Fiesta San Miguel in Dusit, E's Bar in Edsa Shangri-La, and others became the group's main performing stages. The nightly gigs are believed to have been Aicelle's training ground for improving her vocal and stage performance.
In 2018, Santos bid farewell to fans as she will be leaving for United Kingdom to star as Gigi Van Tranh in the hit musical Miss Saigon.
Auditions
Pinoy Pop Superstar
In 2005, Santos once again decided to aim for a solo singing career by joining the second season of Pinoy Pop Superstar. An eight-straight win during preliminaries put Santos on top and on the show's history, as the first 'Undefeated Superstar.' She showcased her wide vocal range on her performances of:
"All The Man That I Need" – Week 1
"I Need You" – Week 2
"Natural Woman" – Week 3
"A House Is Not a Home" – Week 4
"Respect" – Week 5
"Summertime" – Week 6
"A Song for You" – Week 7
"Man in the Mirror" – Week 8
Santos got into the finals favored to win. On PPS's season finale, Aicelle Santos claimed first runner-up and signed a record deal and an exclusive management contract under GMA Artist Center. Her story in Pinoy Pop Superstar is somehow related to Sheryn Regis.[2]
Music career
Santos possesses the vocal range of a lyric contralto, spanning three full octaves (from the lowest note of Bb2 to the highest note of Bb5).
Santos won "Best Performance of Own Country Song" representing the Philippines in Astana Music Festival in Kazakhstan. Santos bested delegates from 13 countries around the world, including Mexico, Peru, Finland, Romania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malta, and China. Her winning piece was entitled "Bakit Di Subukan", a Vehnee Saturno composition which is a Tagalog-English song ("If We Just Hold On" in English). Following this triumph was Aicelle's recognition for "People's Choice Best New Female Artist" in the 2007 Awit Awards.
In 2007, Santos is visible in the Philippines recording scene with her debut album Make Me Believe, a 14-cut album under GMA Records. "Ikaw Pa Rin" is her hit single in the charts.
On February 25, 2015, Santos held her first solo concert, Class A, at the PETA Theatre.[3] On the same year, she released the music video of her latest single Kapangyarihan ng Pag-ibig.
Theatrical work
In 2012, Santos auditioned and was part of the shortlist for the 2014 West End revival of Miss Saigon.[4]
In 2013, she debuted in the theatrical scene by portraying the role of Katy in Katy! the Musical. She also stars in Rak of Aegis where she plays the lead character, Aileen (alternating with Kim Molina). The musical had several runs but Aicelle continues to play the role till present.[5] Aicelle won Best Actress in a Musical in the 2014 Aliw Awards for her performance in Rak of Aegis.[6]
In 2015, Santos had a special participation in the musical entitled Sabel: Love and Passion.
In 2018, Santos played Elsa in the second revival of Himala: Isang Musikal, based on the 1982 film starring Nora Aunor. She is set to play the role of Gigi in the UK/Ireland tour of Miss Saigon.[9]
On May 6, 2023, Santos was part of the one-night staging of Larawan as Contra Mundum, a grand tribute concert to kick off National Heritage Month and to mark 50 years of the establishment of the Philippine's Order of National Artists. She played Candida in Act 2.[10]
Personal life
Santos married her boyfriend of three years, former broadcast journalist Mark Zambrano, on November 16, 2019 in San Juan, Batangas.[11] In June 2020, Santos announced on an Instagram post that she and Zambrano were expecting their first child, due in December.[12]
As Aegis Pa More contestant (2015) as judge on various segments (2015–2016) as co-host for Traffic Diva segment (2016) and Music Hero segment (2016–2017) as model on Kalyeserye segment (2016) as Cord Sponsor on Kalyeserye: The Wedding(2016)
