YouTube star Christina Bianco impresses with impressions
Christina Bianco spoke to FOX411 about how she became a viral sensation. To see her latest song, visit FOX411.com
NEW YORK – No, that’s not Celine Dion and Shakira and Bette Midler all singing one after another in the same room, that’s Christina Bianco!
The YouTube sensation has perfected her impressions of some of music’s biggest superstars, so much so that if you close your eyes you may just be fooled into thinking you’re listening to Norah Jones or Christina Aguilera perform. (Seriously.)
Bianco, a Drama Desk Award nominated actress, has earned more than 12 million hits on her YouTube channel ever since she posted a video last year of her performing Katy Perry’s “Firework.” After that, her version of “Total Ecipse of the Heart” got more than 5.5 million views, and it earned her a performance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
WATCH: See Christina’s amazing impressions in her version of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’
Things have been a whirlwind ever since.
“[I’ve been recognized] on the subway, in the middle of Times Square,” she told FOX411. “I was in an airport in Houston and someone recognized me.”
Bianco’s YouTube fame has even extended internationally. She recently performed four sold-out shows at a concert hall in London.
“It’s been a really strange but wonderful experience now having this attention from all these online YouTube videos," she said. "It’s amazing to think that you click one little button and you are reaching so many people, and to have the videos go viral has just been insane."
Bianco realized she had a knack for impressions when she was working in theater, particularly during her work on the off-Broadway show “Newsical the Musical.”
“I began to be known for doing impressions, so I would put it into my live act, just a little bit here and there. So, when those live acts were filmed I would just decide if I liked a piece or if I thought the audience response was good that I’d post it online.”
And though her impressions catapulted her into the spotlight, Bianco has singing chops of her own that she likes to show off.
“When I do the concerts I split the show, half in my own voice and half in impressions so it gives a little bit of variety, and it also lets the audience know who I am. I think the impressions are more impressive if they know what I sound like and how I am changing my voice to sound like [the divas].”
Her skills will be put to the test during an upcoming live-stream concert on Sunday, March 16 on concertwindow.com. It will be Bianco’s first live-stream show, and during the performance she will take requests from those watching and adjust her act to include what the fans want to hear.
“I think the fact that it’s interactive is going to be the most exciting for me," she said. "Because no matter what I have planned, it could totally just have be thrown away if there are some really good requests coming in."
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