Marlisa Punzalan

Early life

Marlisa Ann Punzalan was born on 1 October 1999 in Sydney to Lito and Andrea Punzalan. Her parents immigrated to Australia from the Philippines before she and her older brother Martin were born. Punzalan lives at Glendenning, New South Wales. She began singing at the age of three. In 2013, Punzalan auditioned for the seventh series of Australia's Got Talent but did not make it past the audition rounds, and also attempted to audition for the first series of The Voice Kids, but exceeded the age limit by one month. Before entering the sixth season of The X Factor Australia in 2014, Punzalan was a student at Mercy Catholic College in Chatswood and a regular performer at charity events, eisteddfods and RSL competitions. After becoming the winner of the sixth series, Punzalan left high school to become homeschooled and focus on her music career.

2014: The X Factor Australia

In 2014, Punzalan successfully auditioned for the sixth season of The X Factor Australia, singing "Yesterday" by The Beatles. She received a standing ovation and four yes’s from all four judges and progressed to the super bootcamp round of the competition. For the first bootcamp challenge, Punzalan was placed into a group with three other contestants from the Under 25 Girls category to perform a song together for the judges. Punzalan made it to the second bootcamp challenge, where she performed "Never Be the Same" by Jessica Mauboy to the judges and a live audience of one thousand. She then progressed to the home visits round in New York City and performed "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders in front of her mentor Ronan Keating and guest mentor John Legend. Keating later selected Punzalan, along with Sydnee Carter and Caitlyn Shadbolt, for the live finals—a series of eleven weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote.

After the eliminations of Carter in week five and Shadbolt in week nine, Punzalan became the last remaining contestant in Keating's category. During the semi-final week, she landed in the bottom two for the first time with Reigan Derry and performed John Farnham's version of The Beatles' "Help!" in the final showdown. After the judges' vote went to deadlock, it was revealed that Punzalan received the most public votes and was put through to the grand final. During the grand final decider show on 20 October 2014, Punzalan was announced as the winner of the sixth season, becoming the first contestant from the Under 25 Girls category to win.

Performances on The X Factor

     denotes a performance that entered the ARIA Singles Chart.
     denotes week in the bottom two.
     denotes winner.

2014–present: Marlisa

After winning The X Factor, Punzalan's debut and winner's single "Stand by You" was made available to download on the iTunes Store. She also received a recording contract with Sony Music Australia. Four days after release, "Stand by You" debuted at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for sales exceeding 70,000 copies. "Stand by You" also peaked at number seven on the Singapore Singles Chart and number 21 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. An official YouTube audio of "Stand by You" published on the same day of the winner announcement help garnered interest on the single which triggered the debut at number 29 on the Billboard Twitter Real-Time Emerging Artists Chart. Punzalan's self-titled debut album, Marlisa, was released on 7 November 2014 and features studio recordings of selected songs she performed on The X Factor. It debuted at number six on the ARIA Albums Chart and number 11 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. The album was certified gold by the ARIA for shipments of more than 35,000 units and was the 83rd best-selling album of 2014 in Australia.

In late 2014, Punzalan performed two concerts at Rooty Hill RSL Club to thank her local fans. In December 2014, Punzalan and other Australian singers recorded a cover version of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" under the name "Hope for Isla and Jude", and released it as a charity single to help raise funds for two siblings who suffer from the rare disease Sanfilippo syndrome. Their version debuted at number 79 on the ARIA Singles Chart. To celebrate the Philippines' 117th Independence Day, Punzalan released a Filipino version of her second single "Unstoppable" in the Philippines on 12 June 2015. Her third single "Forever Young" was released on 6 November 2015.

Artistry

Aside from singing, Punzalan also plays the piano. She cites Eva Cassidy and Jessica Mauboy as her musical influences.