She may be among the most famous singers in the local entertainment scene, but not much is still probably known about power-belter Morissette Amon, especially her life before showbiz.

And in her guesting in the latest episode of ABS-CBN Entertainment’s Bisaya talk show “Kuan On One," we didn’t only get to know her deeper, but we also got to see the cheerful and sentimental side of her that we do not always see every time she takes on the stage through her lighthearted and insightful chikahan with host Melai Cantiveros. 

Just in case many aren’t aware yet, she actually came from a small family, for she only has one younger sibling. Their family was originally based in Cebu City, but they had to move to Manila when she decided to pursue her singing career by joining a talent contest, then an artista search.

After the setbacks she went through in her career, she’s now dubbed as the “Asia’s Phoenix," the moniker she eventually learned to embrace after initially feeling the gravity it entails.

“Sa una, of course, may pressure dahil alam ko ang inspirasyon ng mga tao kung bakit pinili ‘yan na bird dahil mayroon na tayong “Asia’s Songbird,” may “Asia’s Nightingale" na,” she said in Bisaya when asked for her reaction on being given the moniker. “I think, sa kanilang point of view, deserve ko maging kahilera nina Miss Reg [Regine Velasquez-Alcasid] at Miss Lani [Misalucha]. Ibig sabihin, ang paningin nila sa akin ay malakas din.”

The title may have brought her pressure at first, but she realized later on that she could actually relate it to her real life since she had a lot of moments when she could’ve stopped or given up, but she still chose to keep going, flying, and shining like a phoenix.

As they tackled the topic question, “How do you win in life?” Morissette imparted that based on her own experiences in the past 14 years of her music career, she was able to make it through the unwavering inspiration and support brought by her husband and parents to her.

She then looked back on the beginning of her career, particularly the sacrifices that her parents made in order for her to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. In her first two years in Manila, she assumed that they would eventually call it quits since they often had arguments because of the distance, for it was only her mom who was with her in her first two years in Manila.

Kuantie Melai then veered their conversation to the beginning of Morissette’s career, starting with how her parents discovered her singing skills. According to her, she was around two years old when they first heard her singing Regine Velasquez-Alcasid’s “You Are My Song” impressively in tune but not being able to get the lyrics right. Both her parents came from families who are musically inclined, with her father, who’s part of a rock band, being very strict with notes.

Seeing her potential, they supported her since then by having her join extracurricular activities at school and singing contests not just in Cebu, but also in the nearby provinces of Bohol and Siquijor. Among her favorite contest pieces are “And I Am Telling You (I’m Not Going)," “How Could Say You Love Me,” and "Follow Your Dream."

When quizzed about the greatest challenge that she had encountered during that time, Morissette relayed that it would be representing Cebu in a nationwide singing contest held in Manila when she was around 10 to 11 years old. She felt really nervous because, apart from not being familiar with Manila since it was her first time setting her foot here, she wasn’t also very good at speaking Tagalog because they mostly speak English in Cebu.

It was also her parents who were the first ones to serve as her vocal trainers. The Cebuana singer remembered being trained by them everyday after school by having her sing for an hour to stretch her voice. Apart from having to practice even when she didn’t feel like it, part of her parents’ discipline was to not allow her to consume sweets and cold foods and drinks since those are believed to negatively affect one’s voice, especially when she had an upcoming singing contest.

And she continues to apply that vocalization technique of singing over and over again for an hour to warm her voice up at present, as she admitted to not doing any vocalization prior to her every performance because she tends to get lazy and bored in doing so.

“I’m shy and ashamed to say that I’m not as disciplined as other singers dahil sumusunod talaga sila sa vocalization. Iba naman ang method ko pero nag-work naman siya para sa akin. Kanya-kanya lang naman ‘yon,” she said.

Another challenge that she faced in her more-than-a-decade career was when she developed nodules, which compelled her to not completely talk for three months and converse through actions and writing on a whiteboard. But unlike other cases that required surgery, she was able to heal from it through medication and her mother’s tender loving care.

*Photos credit to Morissette Amon IG