GABRIELLE Gross may sound like a foreign name but this 16-year-old siren is a Davao-grown talent who is starting to make waves in the Philippine music industry.
She grew up sticking by her father’s side during his gigs around the country. She’s the eldest daughter of Chad Borja, one of the icons in the OPM scene. And in one of Chad’s stint in Butuan City around early 2015, she discovered her own spotlight when she was asked to belt a song with him onstage.
Since then, she started making her own path.
This year, Gabrielle Gross came out with a debut digital single that she herself wrote, called “A Song Inspired by You” which was later followed by another single, titled “Secret”. Both are available in Spotify.
Philippine record label Ivory Music already signed her in and launched the brand of music and star aura she has into the mainstream.
Indeed, she could pull off the goodness in a song as we and some guests heard her in one of her performances in Blah Blah Blah bar in Jj Commune, Obrero. She sang some of her favorites including Adele’s “All I Ask”, Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You”, and a few local ones such as his father’s “Ikaw Lang”, and a Cebuano-favorite “Usahay”.
“I didn’t go to any professional school for music, I’m just lucky I have my father for that,” she shares while the crowd was asking about how deep her interest in music is and when she started taking singing seriously. She also added that as she would love to be known as the singer, who despite of her young age appreciates old music as well.
This 11th grader owes her sound and echoes of maturity to influences like Tori Kelly, Pentatonix, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, India Arie, Allen Stone, Kehlani, Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne, and Ariana Grande. Yeah, it’s complex bunch that goes to show her depth as a music talent.
Gabrielle, who’s under the management of Studio1 Artists Management & Events Corporation, also sings in Kanto Bar, Matina Town Square on Thursdays. You would want to check her out in Youtube as she’s the first Dabawenyo to perform onboard the popular music radio Wish 107.5 bus.