After over two decades when acclaimed singer Lea Salonga rose to global popularity when she dubbed the singing voices of classic Disney princesses Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan, she once again stunned the world over her latest rendition of the animated film's theme song "A Whole New World" with opera super-group Il Divo, whom she's currently on tour with.
Before she became two of the famous Disney princesses, Lea Salonga is an accomplished artist. She is a Filipina singer and actress who excelled in the lead role of Kim in the renowned Broadway musical Miss Saigon, for which she earned her Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards. Lea is the first Filipino artist to be contracted to an international record label and also the first Philippine-based artist to have received major album release and distribution deal in the US.
Lea Salonga is one of the bestselling Filipino artists of all time. She was the first Asian actress to play the roles of Éponine and Fantine in the Broadway musical Les Misérables. She portrayed both roles on the musical's 10th and 25th anniversary show in London correspondingly. She also provided the singing voice of two official Disney Princesses namely Aladdin's Jasmine in 1992, and Mulan's Fa Mulan in 1998.
At the 65th Annual Academy Awards, Lea Salonga performed the Disney's Aladdin theme song "A Whole New World" with Brad Kane, where the song won an Oscar. Recently, she was one of the The Voice of the Philippines coaches.
A soprano singer, Lea Salonga is currently touring the world with the opera group Il Divo for their "A Musical Affair" tour, which continues to receive exceptional and outstanding reviews. Proof to that is her latest rendition of the song "A Whole New World" with the group that went viral on social media sites and the Internet. Listeners and viewers alike were stunned by her rendition of the famous Disney duet which extraordinarily sounds just as it was over 2 decades ago when Aladdin was originally released in 1992. Back then, she performed the song with Brad Kane.
It has been over 22 years since Lea Salonga performed Aladdin's theme song but as she sang it again on her concert tour, her astonishing musical interpretation just took us to a nostalgic journey down the memory lane.
Lea also reprises her singing roles of Princesses Mulan and Jasmine in Disney's Sofia The First. In August 19, 2011, Lea Salonga was named a Disney Legend for her work with The Walt Disney Company. Indeed, her astonishing musical prowess still remains as she takes us to another magical carpet ride.
