Who would have thought that a simple McDonald’s crew member will have the chance to compete for a global singing competition? More over, bring home the grand champion title and a whopping US$25,000?

Chenee Capuyan, a 20-year-old Davaoeña, is Voice of McDonald’s Season 3 Grand Champion. The global singing competition was held April 22 in Orlando, Florida. (Season 2-second placer was also a Filipina, Mary Margaret Yu.) In August 2009, the national grand finals for VOM held at the Star Theater also declared Chenee as champion winning P20,000.

The Voice of McDonald’s (VOM) is a worldwide contest exclusive to McDonald’s crew and restaurant managers to advance McDonald’s commitment to its over 1.5 million employees all over the world in discovering, recognizing and rewarding the most talented singers in all its systems.

Chenee outshone Jin Hur of Goyang City, South Korea and Jesus Molinares of Lima, Peru in the final round of the competition, with her performance of “Stand Up For Love” by Destiny’s Child. She wowed a panel of internationally-renowned music industry faces as judges: Troy Carter, chairman and CEO of Atom Factory, Inc., whose clients include Lady Gaga; Walter Afanasieff, Grammy Award-winning music producer whose credits include recordings by Mariah Carey and Celine Dion; and prominent entertainment attorney Ken Hertz.

Fresh from Orlando, Chenee flew back to Manila on Monday to meet with members of the press and share her winning moment.

Standing proud for the Philippines

Asked about her experience, Che-nee related, “Kahit tapos na [yung performance ko] kinakabahan pa din [ako].”

As to what she will do with her money, Chenee answered, “Mag-aaral po sana ako pero baka ipagagamot muna po namin ang nanay ko.”

Chenee revealed that her mother has a heart ailment, reason that made her decide to stop her studies and started working. Prior to joining McDonald’s, Chenee was a 2nd year information technology student at San Pedro College in Davao.

International offer

Chenee shared the good news that one of the judges, Walter Afanasieff, offered her to record an album at his recording company. “Sabi po niya, ‘Hey, Chenee girl,’ tapos yun nga po in-invite niya po ako magrecord... Di po ako nakasagot kasi di makapaniwala. At kinakabahan pa din po ako, nasa backstage po kami nun after my performance,” she related.

Also, the Top 12 who competed were given the chance to audition for Disney (one of the judges, Troy Carter, is a talent scout for Disney). “Sabi po, they will give us a call back kung nakapasa kami sa audition,” said Chenee.

Giving back

In the same press conference, Chenee handed US$1,000 to Ronald McDonald House Charities’ Executive Director Kim De Leon. The donation was made in Chenee’s name to the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). The donation is aimed at helping hundreds of Filipino children learn how to read under RMHC’s banner program, Bright Minds Read.

To watch Chenee’s winning performance, log on to http://vom.mcdonalds.com/.