Who Is Penelope Matanguihan?

I just found a gem in the department store. You see, I'm one of those guys who follow this maxim: that what you can find in the Internet, you need not buy in the store. In this setting, the store is the part in SM where they sell DVDs and CDs.

Most often, I simply glance around, looking at the many covers on the shelves, while silently making mental notes on what songs to download based on what I see at the backs of the CD covers. But I saw one CD and bought it instead.

The cover title is "Her Versions" and I was admittedly intrigued by it. The CD featured songs from an era where boy bands were still cool and it was also cool for a boy to sing a boy band song ( In other words, these were the songs when I was still in Grade School and the term "boy band" wasn't yet considered a misnomer). I have never heard these songs sung by a lady before and in acoustic version too so that piqued my curiosity just enough for me to shell out some money.

So I listened to it. And I was mesmerized. The first thing I did was check who the singer was. What? No mention of the singer in the cover. Then I looked inside and there she was: Vocals by Penelope Matanguihan.

I was in love. In love with a voice.

Afterwards, I checked the Internet. Penelope was a Pinoy Idol contestant who got booted out too soon. She had her moment of fame but, sadly, that wasn't enough for even her name to be placed on the cover of her own CD.

I also learned later on that I could download the entire CD for free from a website. But what the heck. I'm not experiencing buyer's remorse and, besides, this artist deserves all the royalties she could get.

Hello Ms. Penelope. Please, just let me tell you this: you have a fan in me.