Renaldo (Reynaldo) Lapuz (born December 18, 1962) is a Filipino-American who auditioned on the seventh season of the television series ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'', singing the self-written song "We're Brothers Forever".

Biography

Lapuz is a native of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. His mother is of German descent and lives in Wisconsin. Lapuz immigrated to the United States in 2004, and worked as a janitor at

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets. Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...

and Wal-mart. Lapuz regularly sang as a member of the Filipino Choir at Immaculate Conception Church in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

. In 2007 Renaldo Lapuz auditioned for ''American Idol'' in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas. For his audition, he sang his own original song, "We're Brothers Forever", while wearing a handsome wide-brimmed, winged, marabou feather-covered white hat with the word "SIMON" printed on it and a metallic silver cape. During his audition, which aired in January, judge

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

complimented him but gently rejected him by saying of his performance "I'm going to make a prediction here. I have a horrible feeling that it's going to be a hit record. You're very entertaining. I actually like you... but it's going to be a no." (Due to his age he was also ineligible.) Lapuz returned to the show to sing his song during the finale of ''American Idol'' Season 7 in May 2008, this time supported instrumentally by the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

marching band.

Internet popularity

Lapuz's ''American Idol'' Season 7 audition piece was a favorite on video sites, with more than 68.2 million hits in the video sharing website YouTube, the first of which being so popular that it generated a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

letter from News Corp. Subsequent releases have received more than 59,640,100 hits. His audition piece has become so popular that about five of his now famous video clips have landed in the top 10 most favorite for the week, totaling to about 39,056,000 favorites as of posting time. Since it was uploaded on January 16, Lapuz's seven-minute video has attracted more than 59,590,998 views (as of 11 pm, Tuesday, May 20, 2008), which is also among the top views in YouTube for the week. In February 2008, the

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded broad ...

reported that a major label with local operations was trying to locate Lapuz for "a possible recording deal". On November 24, 2010, Lapuz released a new album on iTunes, Amazon, and Napster. His new album consisted of two self-written songs, "Christmas Chocolatee" (pronounced tsokolate) and "Daddy", in both English and Tagalog. Speaking with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Renaldo recalled the inspiration to "Christmas Chocolatee:" "When I was a little boy, my late sister Fe Lapuz-Velasco gave me a toy, a plastic kid on a horse. It was my first Christmas gift and I remember drinking hot and sweet tsokolate and eating 'tasty' bread with no filling, for Noche Buena."

Discography

*'' Renaldo Lapuz'' (2009) *'' Rey'' (2010)

References

External links

Official website

Official Ringtone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapuz, Renaldo 1962 births 21st-century Filipino male singers Filipino people of German descent American Idol participants Singers from Nevada American musicians of Filipino descent Filipino emigrants to the United States Living people Musicians from Dallas Janitors