THANKS to YouTube, many people have gone from strangers to stars. Chris “leave Britney alone” Crocker and Charice Pempengco are just some of the individuals now living a brand-new life of fame, after having been seen by millions on the popular video site.

YouTube has a lot of guitar-playing singers who are not only coming out with great covers but are also sharing their original material with the world. The following are just some of the talented, promising artists whose YouTube pages you should check out, future stars to watch.

Jay Brannan

YouTube homepage: http://www.youtube.com/user/jaybrannan

This gay singer-songwriter started his music career by posting on YouTube videos of himself in his apartment singing his compositions and strumming his guitar. Influenced by artists Lisa Loeb, Ani Difranco and Alana Davis, Jay writes songs that are catchy, sentimental, and a little depressing, which tackle topics such as being excited about a future boyfriend, remembering a past love, and love at first sight. One of his more popular compositions is the song “Soda Shop,” which he performed in the movie, “Shortbus,” where he played the character Ceth. To date, Jay has an EP called “Unmastered,” and a full-length album, “Goddamned.” He toured the UK, and appeared in the 2007 flick “Holding Trevor.”

One song to check out is “Housewife,” about not living ever after happily. It has an accompanying video—Jay singing and playing his guitar with a changing background. Apart from his brilliant songs, Jay is also a looker who likes recording his videos without a shirt on, probably one reason he has over 15,000 subscribers.

Gabe Bondoc

YouTube homepage: http://www.youtube.com/user/gabebondoc

Gabe is a talented Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist based in the US. Blessed with an amazing voice that can sometimes remind you of John Legend or Jack Johnson or a boyband member, Gabe has a bunch of renditions in his homepage, from songs expected of guys like him such as “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz or “Forever” by Chris Brown, to surprises such as “Burnin Up” by the Jonas Brothers or “It’s Gonna Be Me” by NSYNC.

He even impressively covers songs sung by females such as Adele’s “Chasing Pavements,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Christina Aguilera’s “Come on Over.” It’s his original stuff, however, that should be viewed more on the site. His original songs are relaxing, lounge-y and feel-good: from the groovy “YTS,” which is about crushing on a YouTube star, to the inspiring “We Match,” which is about the incomparable feeling of being with someone.

There is no doubt this Filipino has a strong fan base—he has almost 20,000 subscribers—and with his amazing voice, promising songwriting skills and undeniable charm, it looks like getting more fans is no sweat for this guy.

Olivia Thai

YouTube homepage: http://www.youtube.com/user/oliviathai

This pretty Asian has almost 900,000 channel views and over 30,000 subscribers so she must be something. For starters, she is easy on the eyes—she looks sweet and sexy. When it comes to singing, she can reach the high notes and can even whistle (but has to learn how to stop screaming, if you ask me).

Olivia actually sounds better when she sings songs without absurdly high notes (check her renditions of John Mayer’s “Gravity” and Michael Bublé’s “Home”). She plays the guitar too, but does it only when she sings her compositions, such as the catchy “Sorry.” In some of her videos (“Tears Dry on Their Own,” “With You,” and “No One”), there is a scene-stealer—a kid who lip-synchs, dances and just fools around. He may not be doing the actual singing but if you check him out now, chances are you’ll agree that he’s a bigger star than Olivia.

E-mail the author at ninomarksablan@yahoo.com