Last we heard, Cyrus Villanueva’s debut single, ‘Stone’ has beaten Adele and Justine Bieber in Manila’s top song charts!
Cyrus is a 19-year-old from Wollonggong NSW. He was born to an Australian mother and a Filipino father. Cyrus inherited the love for music from his musician father. Fresh out of high school, Cyrus joined X Factor Australia. He captured the imagination of X Factor followers with his soulful rendition of ‘Wicked Games’ with self-accompaniment on the piano. From then on, Australian Filipinos rallied to vote him in, week after week. He was crowned the 2015 champion at the end of the season in November.
Cyrus is the second X Factor champion with a Filipino background. Marlisa Punzalan won the title in 2014, in what Filipinos consider a back-to-back triumph.
The winner’s debut single, ‘Stone’, is number two in Australia’s iTunes chart, after Adele’s Hello.
