Justin also writes songs and gets inspiration through personal experiences and everyday observation. His musical influences include Ray Charles, Mary White, Regine Velasquez and Jaya.

Aaron Josef dela Cruz, 19, is the youngest member of 100 Percent. He's a sophomore Marketing Management student at De La Salle University. Aaron was discovered during a friend's debut when he performed a song for the program.

He was also part of Kundirana, the high school glee club of La Salle Greenhills that used to have singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid and Gary Valenciano as members.

Aaron's recent projects include the advocacy TV campaign, Ako Mismo, Smart, to name a few. His musical influences include the Backstreetboys, Spongecola, Raymond Lauchengco, Gino Padilla and Jason Mraz.

SOUL ARTIST ZION. Soul music is a genre that is often overlooked. New soul artist Zion, whose real name is Eros Aquino, hopes to make a mark in the local music scene.

He explains why he chose the stage name Zion. "I got the name through from Lauren Hill when the singer got pregnant and named her baby Zion. It's a Biblical term referring to Jerusalem."

Zion has been singing professionally since 2003 when Teri Sambajon of all-female group Vanna Vanna convinced him to pursue it as a career. "At first hesitant pero I tried it until I got used to it na kasi love ko talaga ang singing. It's really my passion. It's in my blood."

He also remembered his roommate encouraging him to audition for Tapas-Tapas in Ortigas, which was his first gig. To date, he has regular gigs around the metro, including establishments such as Tropezz, Greenbelt 3, Slab Ortigas Home Depot, Technowave and Renaissance Hotel.

Zion also tried his luck by joining singing contests as well. Zion was the grand champion in MTV and McDonald's Next Big Thing: The Search for the next R&B Superstar. He bagged a recording deal but he had difficulty dealing with the local music company. "Hindi nag flourish yung record deal kasi we have professional differences. The record company wanted me to sing songs that I don't like. Siyempre if you want to sing yung gusto mo di ba? Yung nanggaling sa puso."

When the deal did not push through, Zion was badly affected. "I was really down and depressed for a long time kasi that recording deal would be my security blanket sana to be officially become a singer pero walang nangyari. Binayaran na lang nila ako."

Zion then joined ABS-CBN's Star in A Million but Frenchie Dy bagged the coveted award. He also joined Star World's Pinoy American Idol where he won the title. ZION also auditioned for ABS-CBN's singing search, Pinoy Dream Academy Season 1 where he became good friends with Grand Star Dreamer Yeng Constantino. He belonged to the Top 50 of the Manila leg of the said singing search.

But it was through GMA-7's Pinoy Idol, wherein Gretchen Espina won, that Zion first caught the attention of Zebedee Zuniga. "Actually, I'm fortunate. I got booted out. Manila leg lang ako during the competition. Last straw ko na sana ang Pinoy Idol pero masaya ako dahil nabigyan ako ng chance through Sir Zebedee."

Zion has also performed as a front act for artists such as Julianne, Nina, Joaquin and Lana Jalosjos. He was also tapped to perform at the MTV Music Awards at the Araneta Coliseum and the MTV Summit at The Fort Open Field.

Now that he is backed up by his own band—composed of Wes Feliciano on electric guitar, Aram Puzon on bass, IJ Garcia on keyboards and Otep Concepcion on drums—the possibilities are now limitless.

Zion's musical influences include Amy Winehouse, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, India Arie, Eric Benet, Jamie Cullum, John Mayer, James Morrison, Musiq Soulchild, Stevie Wonder, Janno Gibbs, Gary Valenciano and Bamboo.