BIOGRAPHY

        Her real name is Regina Encarnacion Velasquez. Her birthdate is April 22, 1970. She was born and raised in Manila for 5 years. Then they moved and lived in Leyte for 4 years. She was trained there by her father. Then they moved to Bulacan where she is staying now, when she was already 9 or 10 years old. Nicknamed Chona, she was the first child of Teresita and Gerry Velasquez. She has a brother (Jojo) and 3 sisters (Cacai, Diane or Yayan and Deca). Cacai is her mirror image. She started singing when she was 4. Her father who was a frustrated singer trained her when she was 6. They would go to the beach and when she was submerged neck-deep in the water, he would ask her to sing. It was to train her to use her diaphragm in reaching high notes and to strengthen her lungs.

    Regine participated in about 200 singing competitions. She won about 67. She first used her nickname. She did not eat ice cream until she was 15 years old. She heard when she was young that cold food affects one's voice so she sacrificed eating ice cream. They were so poor that her mom sometimes did not eat so that the kids could eat. But even if they were poor, they were brought up properly (with values) and there was never a time when there was no singing in their home. Regine was quite a loner when she was a kid. She always thought of how to alleviate the condition of her family. They did not have a radio or t.v.. She studied songs from the jukebox in the wet market near their house. Her mom taught her how to give emotions or feelings while her dad taught her how to reach the high notes in the songs. The clothes she wore in the competitions were just designed by her mother and sewn by her father. They just used cloth for curtains because they did not have money. Before, they lived in an apartment with a "sari-sari" (convenient) store in front. Now, they have 3 houses, a number of lots and cars.

    In 1984, she joined this singing competition on t.v. called "Ang Bagong Kampeon" ("The New Champion") using the name Chona. She sang "In Your Eyes" by George Benson. She won the grand prize. A part of the prices she got was a recording deal. She recorded her first single entitled "Love Me Again." This single flopped. Her friend, Pops Fernandez, invited her in her (Pops') show entitled "Penthouse Live." The other singer co-host, Martin Nievera found out Regine's real name which is Regina. For Martin, 'Chona' sounded too provincial and boring so he introduced her as 'Regine.' The name stuck from there. The executive producer of that show, Ronnie Henares, was impressed with Regine so he offered her a managerial contract. Regine accepted it. Up to now, she is managed by Ronnie in the Philippines. Ronnie is the one responsible for the improvements in her fashion style, voice, speech and image. Her image now is a sweet and sophisticated-looking lady. She was doing fine but her career got a big boost when she won the Asia Pacific singing contest in Hong Kong on Dec. 23, 1989.

    She started out at Bernardo Bernardo's BB club with a 300-peso talent fee. Ivy Violan used to lend her her dresses and shoes for her first performances. Her first car was a second-hand Toyota Corolla and she was damn proud of it. She said that she bought it with her blood, sweat and tears. She got it with her earnings from the Coke tour in 1987.

    She turned professional in 1986. When she turned professional, she shouldered all of her family's needs. Her father had to quit working to attend to her blooming career. Up to now, her father accompanies her to all of her functions. Unlike other stars who do not want to be chaperoned by their parent(s), she likes her father to come along with her. In fact, she thanks her father for doing so all these years in her concerts here in Manila. Obviously, she is very close to her dad. Her father is her bodyguard, constant companion, adviser and best friend. She always dedicates a song to him in her concerts here. She fulfilled her dream of being able to send all of her siblings to college. Cacai is a Marketing graduate and she is now making a name for herself in show business. She has a different image and style (alternative). Her debut album entitled "Cacai: As Still as a Photograph" has been released and it got a gold record award. Her manager is also Ronnie. Regine's brother finished dentistry and her two other sisters who are twins already got their college degrees.

    She had long hair before. Her hair was up to her chest. She cut her hair in rebellion. She was to do her big concert entitled "True Colors" on her 18th birthday. But, she was advised to not do it on that date (April 22) because a foreign group called the "Jets" had a concert on the same date. Of course, she did not want to move her concert on another date. As an act of rebellion, she cut her hair really short (up to her ears). From then on, she always had short hair.

    In 1990, she was being eyed by the Cameron Macintosh group (the people who created "Les Miserables,""Miss Saigon" and such) to play the lead role of Kim in the "Miss Saigon" musical in London or Broadway but she declined. She felt that she was not cut out for it because she did not have any theater or stage experience at that time and she was uncomfortable doing some kissing/love scenes. As you can see, she's conservative and very religious (Catholic), too. Before Lea played Kim in Broadway, Cameron Macintosh brought Dulce, Jamie Rivera and Regine to New York. He gave them round trip plane tickets for them to participate in the special auditions. Cameron offered work to Jamie and Regine. Jamie accepted the offer and she played Kim in London. Jamie told the press when they got home that the Americans were more impressed with Regine's voice than hers. Dulce was considered over-qualified. Regine stayed.

    She is simple and kind that she is well-loved by her townmates. In fact, almost all the kids in her block are her godchildren. When she turned 25, she wanted to buy herself a Rolex watch. At the last minute, she changed her mind and decided to buy a truckload of relief goods. She personally handed them to the lahar victims in the nearby Pampangga province.

    About her lovelife, she has recovered beautifully from a breakup. It was her first. Her relationship with Ariel Rivera started in December, 1994 and ended in the last week of March, 1995. Her song "You've Made Me Stronger" is somewhat biographical because it actually tells what happened in the relationship.

    She has faced a lot of rumors. The rumors are that she had a nose job, she is an adopted child, her father abused her, she has a child and such. She ignored these rumors. One of the major rumors was her being linked to Janno Gibbs who is her good friend. She was not affected by it because it was not true. When that rumor began, they stopped doing shows together to kill the rumor. But now, everything is all right. They did two Valentine shows and a movie together. Bing Loyzaga, Janno's wife and Regine's good friend, got hurt at first when she heard the rumor. Everything is well now. They even got closer because Bing came along to the U.S. with Janno, Regine and Ariel when they did shows. The major rumors that affected Regine were the rumors that she stole Ariel from Gelli de Belen and that Ariel had gotten her pregnant. Regine is a conservative person so she got hurt when they said that she got pregnant. Entertainment reporters maligned her. They gave out bad publicity and they even reported that she was booed by the crowd in her shows. Of course, they were wrong. I watched her concerts and I did not see or hear what they reported. When Regine and Ariel were still together, they did not talk. They just kept quiet about the situation. After they broke up, they cleared the issues. They told the public that she did not get pregnant and that they did not get married or live together. Ariel said in one of the episodes of M.A.D. ("Martin After Dark") that it was unfair to Regine that she'd be called a boyfriend-grabber. He told them that he was the one who pursued her and not the other way around. They parted as friends. The press (entertainment reporters) is in good terms now with Regine. Now that Ariel is with Gelli again, Regine does not have any ill-feeling towards them.

    Through the years, Regine has matured a lot not only as a person but also as an artist. She is now more involved in her projects (albums and shows/concerts) resulting to a better understanding of and improvement in her craft.


TRIVIA


She has a little Chinese blood.
She likes to eat "adobo" (chicken, vegetables, etc. as long as it is "adobo").
Her favorite movie is "Pretty Woman" even if it is a bit shallow according to her.
She is a couch potato (or should we say a couch chocolate because that is what she eats).
She loves looking at the sunset. She likes the changing of the colors and the mood.
She sports a tattoo (roses with leaves) on her right ankle.
She does her own make-up and sometimes she gets into trouble because of this. There are times when production people want to do something with her make-up. She said that whenever another person touches or puts make-up to her face, she looks like a different person so she does not allow others to do her make-up.
She collects clowns and music boxes while Cacai collects fairies.
She has a secret - she does not know any nursery rhyme because from the start, she was already singing serious songs.
One of her frustrations is her junior-senior prom. She was not able to go because she had to sing that time. Her family needed money then.
She and Cacai are roommates up to now.
Regine appeared in the no.3 issue of "Wetworks," an American comic book like the Marvel comics. Her character was not that of a singer but that of a t.v. reporter.
Regine was dubbed as the standing ovation queen. In her first major concert - "Narito Ako,"she was given a standing ovation by the audience while she was only in her 3rd or 4th song ("The Greatest Love of All").
She wants to take up a Fine Arts course but her schedule will not permit. She likes to draw a lot and her favorite pastime is sketching aside from trying on clothes and putting make-up. She is into handpainting shirts now.
Her no.1 idol is Barbra Streisand but she also likes Bjork and Tori Amos. She said that she can die at the moment she meets Barbra Streisand personally.
She has a big crush on Mel Gibson. Her idea of a perfect date with Mel is in a carnival or theme park because it is seldom that stars are able to go to a public place of that kind. She also likes Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater.
She wants to get married some day and have 10 kids because she likes to have a choral group composed of her family. She has decided that she will give up or not prioritized her career when she gets married and starts to have a family.
She dreams of taking 6 or 7 months off - go to New York, have an apartment and study the arts or work as a make-up artist.
Ryan Cayabyab (a highly-noted composer, arranger, musical director and producer in the Philippines) once said that Regine is different from other singers in the sense that in reaching such high notes, Regine is natural (she uses her natural or normal voice) while the other singers are already using a falsetto voice.
In the Philippines, her songs are always sung in singing competitions. Most of the songs sung are her Filipino songs and not her English songs and these are: "Sana Maulit Muli" ("I Hope It Happens Again"), "Isang Lahi" ("One Race") and "Narito Ako" ("I'm Here"). Her Filipino songs require more of vocal calisthenics than her English songs.
The story of "Do Re Mi" (Regine's 5th movie) is sort of true for her. When she was just an amateur singer, she was singing in Angelus and D'Markus music lounges in Bulacan. In those places, she was with two other singers: Camille Victoria and Carol Santiago. The 3 of them used to alternate as featured singers. They were good friends. Since then, Regine has become one of the finest singers around. Camille quit showbusiness after doing her first album under Ivory Records. She is now in Chicago, U.S.A. where she has a travel agency while Carol married a Japanese businessman and she now owns a music lounge in Bulacan.
In cases of emergency (when there is no time to rehearse anymore), Regine just rehearses all her parts in her head. She does not need to rehearse aloud.


CAREER HIGHLIGHTS


    She has released 6 local (Philippine) albums and these are: "Regine" (gold record award=over 20,000 copies sold), "Regine Special Edition" (double platinum award=over 80,000 copies sold), "Nineteen'90 "(double platinum award), "Tagala Talaga" (gold record award), "Reason Enough" (platinum award=over 40,000 copies sold) and "Love Was Born on Christmas Day." She took part in the soundtrack of "Wanted: Perfect Mother" that reached the platinum mark. Her major concerts were sell-outs: "Narito Ako,""A Song For You,""Music and Me," "Retro" among others, all held at the Folk Arts Theatre. She has released around 24 singles. She has ventured into every area related to showbusiness in the Philippines: concerts and stage shows, TV shows (variety, drama, sitcoms, talk), musical plays ("Kenkoy Loves Rosing" and "Noli Me Tangere"), commercials (Lux, Coke, Wendy's, Duty Free's Anti-Drug Campaign) and the movies (she has done 6 films-"The Untouchables,""Pik Pak Boom,""Elvis and James 2," the remake of "Wanted: Perfect Mother," "Do Re Mi" and "Honey, Nasa Langit na ba Ako?" or "Honey, Am I in Heaven Now?"). She greatly improved in her 4th movie. She became more confident in front of the camera.

    As we all know, she has gone regional (Asia). She was discovered by Alex Chan and Norman Cheng. Alex Chan is the regional marketing manager of Polygram Far East and Norman Cheng is the president of Polygram Far East. They watched her in her concert "Music and Me" in July, 1993. After the concert, they approached her and they told her that they want to work with her. First, they featured Regine in a duet with Paul Anka entitled "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" which is in the album "Reason Enough." After that duet, Regine started to record "Listen Without Prejudice." This album sold over 250,000 copies in Asia. In Taiwan, it turned platinum just 7 days after its release. About the duet "In Love With You", they recorded that song for only 2 hours in Hong Kong. Jacky Cheung was so impressed with Regine because at that time when he met her before the recording, she was eating . Jacky never ate before a recording and there was Regine, eating pizza. It was also his first time to do a duet. It was not hard convincing him to do the song. Immediately after he saw a footage of Regine's performance, he agreed. "Follow the Sun," the second single from the album, was composed for her by Glenn Medeiros, a singer-songwriter. She met him when she took part in the Shanghai Music Festival in November, 1993. She did 2 videos: "In Love With You" and "Follow the Sun."

    Regine's 2nd regional album is entitled "My Love Emotion." She said that this album was born in a live performance in Singapore. She performed there in the Perfect 10 Music Awards in 1995. She was nominated in 2 categories (Favorite New Act and Favorite Performance in a song for "In Love With You") but she lost. She sang "In Love With You" with a Singaporean singer and "What Kind of Fool Am I?." After singing "What Kind of Fool Am I?,"Phil Buckle (the guitarist of Southern Sons, an Australian band) congratulated her and he told her that he'd like to write her a song. Phil composed "My Love Emotion" which is also the title of the album. She did 2 videos for "You've Made Me Stronger" and "My Love Emotion." These videos boosted the sales of the album.

    She has done a number of memorable duets with different male singers (Jose Mari Chan, Janno Gibbs, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, the Tux, Wency Cornejo of Afterimage, Paul Anka, Jacky Cheung, Remus Choy of the Grasshopper and David Hasselhoff). She has a new duet with Martin Nievera entitled "Nagmamahal" which has an English version called "Touched By Your Love." It is used in the first Filipino full-length animated movie entitled "Adarna: The Mythical Bird."

    Almost every year she performs in the U.S.. In Nov. 4, 1994, she performed along with Janno Gibbs and Ariel Rivera at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. About 6,100 people came and watched the show. On Nov. 12, 1994, they performed at Cow Palace Auditorium in San Francisco. Ticket sales exceeded 8,200. On Nov. 18, 1994, they performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York. 400 standing-room-only tickets were released along with 3,000 seats sold out 2 weeks before the scheduled concert date. They performed again at Beacon Theatre in September, 1995. The show was entitled "Foolish Heart." It was a sell-out. They did a show entitled "Kami Pa Rin" in San Francisco, California also on that month. After the show, Ariel and Regine proceeded to Toronto, Canada to do a show called "First Time." It was their first time to perform together there. Last May 31 and June 7, 1997, she and Kuh Ledesma staged the "Power of 2" in San Francisco and Pasadena in the U.S.. The show was a huge one with over 12,000 people in attendance that rocked San Francisco in years. Afterwards, she had a Canada tour (Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary) and shows with Pops Fernandez in Italy which were all successful.

    In April 20, 1996, she did a free concert at the U.P. Sunken Garden here in Manila to celebrate her 10th year anniversary in show business. It was her way of thanking her countrymen for supporting her all these years. The special guests were Ivy Violan, Nanette Inventor, Bernardo Bernardo, the Tux, Louie Ocampo, Janno Gibbs and Cacai. She was the stage director and she conceptualized the show. The musical director was Ryan Cayabyab. They were backed up by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Ariel Rivera was dropped from the guest list 2 or 3 days before the concert because he never attended the rehearsals. Good thing, Martin Nievera came and surprised her. She actually jumped when she saw him on stage. They sang "Forever." She did a duet ("Somewhere") with Barbra Streisand who was on video. It rained near the end of the show. Because of the rain, they were forced to stop the concert completely. "Follow the Sun" became the last song. Cacai was not able to sing with Regine. Everybody got drenched including Regine. The next day, Regine apologized to the people for not being able to continue the show and she said that they should not feel bad because there were only 4 songs left for her to sing.

    Before Regine participated in the Asian Music Scene in Manila last October 18, 1996, her 3rd Asian album entitled "Retro" was released. The album contains re-arrangements of her favorite songs of the past. She and Remus Choy made a video for the duet "I Can't Help It." Remus should have been part of the album "Listen Without Prejudice." Obviously, it did not push through. They met again in Vietnam where they participated in the Asian Music Scene 1995. Remus told Regine that maybe they could work together this time. Regine agreed happily. Actually, it was Remus who chose the song "I Can't Help It." She did one more video. It was for the song "Fly." There is a treat for her Filipino fans. There is a hidden track in the albums released in the Philippines. The bonus (hidden) track is entitled "Bluer Than Blue." Like her previous Asian albums, it has sold thousands of copies in different parts of Asia. In the Philippines, it has received a triple platinum award.


Oct 1997, has been written and updated by A.S.