Camille de la Cruz, a rising star in Jersey

Her ‘ultimate dream’ is to sing like Kelly Clarkson.

Camille de la Cruz loves to perform even when she was kid.

It started in summer theater and ballet performances. At age 9, Camille de la Cruz was admitted to the Rockit Academy program in Red Bank, New Jersey. At Rockit, she was able to sing with legends the likes of  Eddie Brigatti, Ricky Byrd, and Lou Pallo performing in venues such as The Cutting Room in NYC and the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park.

This paved the way for her debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “School of Rock the Musical” national Broadway tour where she won raves for her performance as the introvert student Tomika. Southcoasttoday.com writes how Camille “stole the show when the shy character she plays suddenly starts singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ which brought loud cheers of approval from the audience.”

A review from Broadwayworld.com says Camille as Tomika “does a great job playing up the shy girl who is new at the school…I was amazed to see such a big voice come from such a young kid.”  Saltlakemagazine.com writes how the “crowd went buck wild for that not-so-little voice” when Camille began to sing.

Not a shy girl performing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ at Rockit Academy.

The U.S.-born Camille is the daughter of Cecilio de la Cruz from Bulacan and Anna de la Cruz from Lucena City. Cecilio runs his own auto repair shop in New Jersey, while Anna works in a European bank as an IT delivery manager. While she aspires to be a Broadway performer like Lea Salonga or Eva Noblezada, her “ultimate dream” is to be a pop singer like Kelly Clarkson.

“I like pop music, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera,” she said. “But because of Rockit Academy I was exposed to rock and rock country music. I love Broadway music as well and I’m thrilled to be part of the national tour of ‘School of Rock.’”

After mass, with parents Cecilio and Anna de la Cruz.

Camille joined Rockit Academy, a nonprofit organization that reaches out to develop, nurture and inspire young music performers, in 2017. It holds live music education at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. She has been one of its rising stars. She has led the stage with renditions of classics, such as “Eye of the Tiger” and Pat Benatar’s “Promises in the Dark.” One of her memorable performances is “Over the Rainbow” with jazz and blues guitarist Lou Pallo of the Les Paul Trio.

“I’m grateful to my friends and family especially to mom and dad, Tara Rubin Casting, my vocal coach Corey Markowitz, my Rockit family, and to God,” she said.

She considers herself fortunate to appear in commercials for Carnation and Netflix, and being one of the kidcasters for the 2019 U.S. Open.

In her spare time, Camille loves to paint, write, and watch YouTube videos of arts and crafts. She used to do competitive swimming when she was 8.  She plays several instruments, among them piano, electric guitar,  saxophone, and the ukulele.

She goes to Hammarsjkold Milddle School in East Brunswick where she is currently in sixth grade.

© The FilAm 2019



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