By Loida Nicolas Lewis
A thunderous applause greeted Sofronio Vasquez III when he appeared at the historic Town Hall on Saturday, July 19, 2025 for his first-ever solo concert in the Great White Way.
On December 10, 2024, he won the world-renowned NBC’s The Voice becoming the first Filipino — and first Asian — male vocalist to win the coveted title and the $100,000 cash prize.
The sold-out hall was filled with his enthusiastic fans from the Big Apple environs and as far as Arizona, Florida, Illinois, California, Texas, even from Manila. Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist and founder of Rappler, Maria Ressa; our very own Oprah Winfrey/Barbara Walters Karen Davila; and shipping lines magnate Doris Magsaysay-Ho were also cheering in the audience. PIDCI Grand Marshal Dr. Angie Cruz-Quines and Dr. Emilio Quines, Honorary Grand Marshal Josie and Mike Jampayas, FilAm Canadian multimedia artist Lenore RS Lim, and Harvard University Overseer and philanthropist Geraldine Acuña Sunshine were there too.
And Sofronio did not disappoint! He sang with such gusto and heartfelt emotions that moved deeply all of us listeners.
That reaction of the audience to his music was due to his story of resilience and faith, overcoming “trials and tribulations” in his 32 years of life.
“We (my brothers and sister) grew up in the squatter area of Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao. Our house was on stilts over the water and when typhoon comes, water reaches our floor where we sleep so we just shooed away the poops that come with the water. As our play toy, we broke off the door of a discarded refrigerator which now became our small ship (bangka),” he said as he openly shared with me his life’s journey when I interviewed him on an episode of my show, The Loida Lewis Podcast.
He also recalled that his father insisted that all his children finish college to be able to have a good job. But he loved to sing so his father encouraged him and became his first coach.
He worked as a dental assistant after he graduated with a Dentistry degree. Encouraged by his father, he entered a singing competition in Manila: ABS-CBN’s Tawag ng Tanghalan. He failedthe audition six times before succeeding on the seventh time to join the competition. Eventually, he reached the semi-finals but lost.
After his father died in June 2018, he decided to move to the USA to realize his dream of singing on NYC’s Broadway stages.
Each time he sent his audition tape to NBC’s The Voice, he was rejected. He would wait two months, then he re-submitted his audition tape several times until finally he got into blind audition on September 23, 2024.
There were four coaches (Michael Bublé, Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire and Snoop Dogg). Bublé immediately shared a kinship with him being a Filipino and chose to be his coach, because Michael got his first recognition as an outstanding artist in his standing room sold-out concert in Manila. From then on, Sofronio trained daily with Michael as his coach. His board, hotel and allowance taken cared of so that he could focus on his craft. And he started winning each level of the competition until the live finale on December 10, 2024.
After he sang with deep emotion the song, “A Million Dreams”, he stood holding hands with his co-finalist Shye Roberts, waiting for the announcement of the winner. When his name was announced, Sofronio, with tears in his eyes, knelt down in thanksgiving and relief, as pandemonium erupted and his team rushed to hug him.
Thus began the realization of all his dreams that culminated into his sold-out appearance at NYC’s Town Hall last July 19, 2025. That night, the audience just loved his every song, including Filipino classics such as Maala-ala Mo Kaya and Dahil sa Iyo.
Each song resounded with the audience because it comes from his heart, tested and tried by poverty, hard work, rejection, disappointments, failures, grief and pain.
But hope springs eternal in Sofronio, strengthened by the love and belief in his talent by his late father Oniol Vasquez, his mother, Aida Parojinog, and his entire extended family.
Most of all, at the root of his success is his faith in himself and in God. As he said in his interview in my podcast, “In life, you are not alone. Random people come across your way who would help you in the future. Most of all, we are all blessed with God’s presence. Day by day, thank God. And dream your dreams.”
Sofronio Vasquez is coming to Los Angeles on Saturday October 11, 2025, 7:30 PM at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Tickets are now available at Ticketmaster https://bit.ly/LASof. His producers Dr. Jerry Dayao and Zelle DeVilbiss could be reached at +1(212) 655-9910 and Zelle at godzella@live.com
