Talk:Regine Velasquez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page. | ||
| B | This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. [FAQ] (If you rated the article, please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.) |
||
[edit] Regine's Speak Your Mind Special for MTV Network was a nominee for UNICEF Child Rights Award
Nominees for the UNICEF Child Rights Award
Regine's Speak Your Mind Special for MTV Network
The Award ceremony was held at the NHK Hall, inside the compound of NHK Broadcasting Centre where it is also NHK Symphony Orchestra's home concert hall. The ceremony was held 17:30-19:00 on November 7, in conjunction with an Asian music concert that was live broadcast in BS-2 and HDTV channel.
[edit] Websites created by Foreign Fans
Below are several websites that were created and maintained by fans who are non-Filipino. Isn't that cool?
Korean Fansite http://cafe.daum.net/regine
International Website http://www.askmen.com/women/singer_150/153_regine_velasquez.html
Malaysian/Indonesian Fan(?) Not entirely sure http://greatestvoices.blogdrive.com/archive/cm-10_cy-2005_m-10_d-14_y-2005_o-0.html
UK fansite http://www.btinternet.com/~regineuk/main.html
[edit] The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn Is To Love And Be Loved In Return
Moulin Rouge clip from the concert 'Regine at the Movies'.
She's really such a great interpreter of songs.
[edit] Redirecting Regine Velásquez
According to a few Wikipedia editors, as well as multiple web sites, I can't find instances of her name being spelled with any accent marks. So I've redirected Regine Velásquez to Regine Velasquez, and am removing the merge template. --cholmes75 (chit chat) 00:13, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
-
- This is a result of a general lack of knowledge of how to use Spanish-language accent marks in the Philippines and thus cannot have anything to do with preference. With regard to web searches, please see Talk:Andrés Bonifacio and consider it as a precedent. 210.213.172.16 22:47, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
-
- We have never used these accent marks in our language. I don't think its ignorance as you are suggesting. Its more of a preference. When our forefathers created the Philippine official language, they wanted to establish our own identity by creating our own alphabet. What you are suggesting requires a radical change in the Philippine language and that would require a constitutional ammendment. Maoster 12:30, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Á á
Please note that the artist doesn't use the 'á' character in her name.
[edit] regine velasquez commercials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-C6a6cyNAw biyahe na
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUTo9X56-ZU the super duper famous wendy's commercial
and digitel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KscTEO8w8ss
all are great!!!! great voice great songs!
[edit] Contact Information
Regine is managed by Aria Productions. Aria Productions may be contacted at
- Phone
- (+63 2) 426-7531
- 928-7868
- (+63 917) 808-0747,
- E-mail
- ariaproductions@mac.com.
- Mailing Address
- 18-A Mahiyain St., Teachers' Village, Quezon City, Philippines
[edit] Mariah Carey Controversy
-
- Who took away the Mariah Carey paragraph in the Controversy section?It deserved to be there--User:Butterfly52
-- Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. The controversy section which was primarily composed of rumors, has been removed according to Wikipedia Policy. This is a biographical article for a living person and must adhere to Wikipedia policy on Living Biographies. See the tag on top of this Talk page. I also posted the text below for your reference. Maoster 19:20, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
"This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons policy as it directly concerns one or more living people. Negative material, especially if potentially libelous, must be removed immediately if it is unsourced or poorly sourced. The three-revert rule does not apply to such removals. Concerns relative to this policy can be addressed on the living persons biographies noticeboard."
-
- But it IS a fact that Regine copied Carey's tatoo.
-- to Butterfly52, I thought you were referring ot the brown monkey issue. I'm not sure if Carey even has a tattoo. Do you have a picture of it? It would be an interesting tidbit to add to the article. The problem would be getting a good reference stating that Velasquez had the tatoo made because of Carey. Showing the pictures is not enough. We need to have a statement from Velasquez saying that she copied Carey's tattoo because there are millions of people who have butterfly tattoos. If you can find a good source or reference such as a published newspaper or magazine article or an interview that could prove it, then we can add it to this encyclopedic entry. Maoster
[edit] Voice section
Can somebody clean the voice section up? The audio samples do not support or prove that Regine Velasquez has a 4 octave vocal range. Nor are there any references to support the entire voice section claims.
- Octave Range
Regine does not have 6-7 octave range. Who put that in there? She would need to sing in Barry White's range and above High C to have that range.
- Regine's highest note
Regine's highest note was F6 in more than words can say. She sang whistle register here, not a superheadvoice or headvoice... In fullvoice, her highest is C6 on her i have nothing rendition. Pls. post dis audios, and i think her song that shows her proper belting control was "i'll never say goodbye, i'll never love this way again, how could you leave me.
the alleged F6 doesn't sound whistle register for me. I'll post a clip.
excuse me.....when regine hits the highest note in "reasons", its not in whistle register....its clearly chest voice... hear it again plsssssssssssss.
- Chest Notes
Highest note in chest quality: d6 (reasons) c6 (once in a lifetime), b5 (Reasons, butterfly, i'll never love this way again) c6 (I Have Nothing) f#5 (light in a million mornings)
Right...almost all of these are wrong. 1) Reasons - the chest is B5 NOT D6 and there is only one high chest note. 2) Butterfly - the highest is F5 NOT B5. 3) I Have Nothing - the highest is A5 not C6 like fans make it out to be.
- Chest notes reply
there are different versions of i have nothing live performance, what version did you listen??? If you want compare it to chaka khan's thru the fire(ab5) and the i have nothing on the audio link when she pulled the word arms and you'll see its far higher. Mariah's loverboy (when she hitted the phrase "i enjoy") is a c6 and her highest in chest voice too. Compare it with I have nothing in audio link, you will notice it sounds the same. Now in reasons(the full version not the edited version when it only shows the b5 headvoice at the end), it's a d6, compare it to i have nothing, loverboy, and you will notice it is one note higher when she pulled the word (why) w/c usually cannot be sang in full chest but you will shift into headvoice. About the butterfly, what version did you watched? it's her duet with kyla in "Kyla's not your ordinary girl concert" when she hitted b5 when she pulled the word "fly".
[edit] Tone of this page
The tone of this page is inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. I'd swear the whole thing is taken from some Regine Velasquez promotional website or something. I did a lot of clean up work, but there's still more that needs to be done so I added the clean-up tag. TheCoffee 05:38, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
===Ok ===, it turns out pretty much everything was taken from [www.soundclick.com/reginevelasquez]. I did my best to rewrite most of it. TheCoffee 10:55, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The tone is still very un-encyclopedic. The "Twenty Years and Still Going Strong" and "Fashionista" sections need particular attention, but the entire atricle sounds like a long promotional advertisement (as TheCoffee said) or an overzealous fan. I'm going to try to edit it later but I don't want to remove any information, except the "fashionista" section, it lacks importance and verifiability.
===EDIT:=== I just finished trying to cleaup the tone of the article. I tried to make stylistic improvements and fix grammatical errors as well as remove unnecesary or irrelevant information. The article still needs a lot of work, especially since the article is huge, but only has 8 citations. A few suggestons:
—-Add citations!
—-Remove the "Fashionista" section, or at least change it radically. This seems more like fanworship than anything.
- Fashionista section should stay because part of her success lies on her public image or persona. Please read the article "Out There on Her Own" which I posted below if you want to see citations/source. 144.101.10.81 14:25, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
—-Organise and complete the "Acting" and "Television" sections (after "Controversies")
—-Clean up the style and tone of the article some more
—-Don't use "Regine" to refer to her, it's not encyclopedic.
Hopefully I'll be able to work on the article some more; I'm also excited to see the additions/changes that others will make. The article has tons of potential.Surelyican 02:00, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Images
There are far too many images currently being used in this article in order to qualify as fair use. In addition, a lot of these images are not properly sourced or licensed. --cholmes75 (chit chat) 15:02, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Pls. arrange regine velasquez images on this article. Some are automatically deleted by the admins for some reasons.. Tnx.
---> the smart DOT commercial pic. Please put this tag so that it can be added here in wikipedia. {{PD-PhilippinesGov}} —for all works created in the Philippines by the Philippine government.
[edit] Articles
[edit] CNN's Lorraine Hahn interviews Regine Velasquez
Regine Velasquez Interview at CNN
Transcript: Regine Velasquez Friday, February 21, 2003 Posted: 0910 GMT
Lorraine: This week a Filipino superstar who is still capturing hearts after almost 20 years in the music Business. Regine Velasquez is a favorite artist across the Philippines and she has won two MTV Asia Award of the same title to prove it.
The 32-year-old knew she wanted to be a singer when she was just 6 years old. At more than 200 singing competitions she entered during her childhood, Regine won more than 60 of them.
At the age of 14, she entered the New Champion Contest widely recognized as the stepping-stone to stardom in the Philippines. She bagged that prize too and got her first recording deal. And when she represented her country in the 1989 Asia Pacific Singing Contest in Hong Kong, she walked away with the grand prize there as well.
Those wins allow Regine to support her family and send her brothers and sisters to school. Now more than 10 years later, her star is shining even brighter. And you just have to wonder how she does it. Let's find out from Regine herself and she is now in Singapore.
Lorraine: I want to ask you it has been a long time for you in the business, how have you been able to maintain your popularity for so long?
Regine: I have no idea. I guess I just really love what I do. I like singing, I love singing. I love working. I guess that's it. I am actually very blessed that I have these supporters who continue to watch my concerts, buy my albums and watch my movies, so...I am just actually very blessed.
Lorraine: Does it feel like it has been almost two decades?
Regine: Yes....I have been in the business for like...17 years now but it has been a great great ride for me. It was just a dream before but now it's weird...It's a reality, but it's weird for me. I do a lot of things that I never imagine that I will be able to be given a chance to do...like do movies, produce my own album and I also produce other artists. I have a TV shows..I have two TV shows in the Philippines actually..so it has been really really great!
Lorraine: In all your years in the business, have you seen a lot of changes in the Asian music scene?
Regine: Yes...yes...I can say that like...right now I think we are more open to a lot of things. Like back home in the Philippines, we are more open to other sounds and other artists. We welcome Asian artists now because before, we just like to listen to Western music but now we also open to any kind of music.
Lorraine: You know there are a lot of young talents coming out. To me, it is almost every week. Do you think a lot of them are well prepared?
Regine: I think they wouldn't be here if they don't know what they are doing. I suppose they are. For me it's just.. may be they are just really having...trying to have fun. Of course it is also hard work. You know they are not just playing. I used to think that it is just all fun. But it is also hard work. You have to be serious withwhat you do also. You have to keep learning. You can't stop. You know...learning....like discovering things and opening up yourself to other things.
Lorraine: Regine, you have worked with some of the best singers in the World. Did you learn anything from them?
Regine: O..yeah..I love singing with Jeffrey Osbourne and of course I recorded a song with Paul Anka and Peabo Bryson. And of course...it is always a great pleasure for me to work with international artists. It's like one of the things that I only dream about but now it's actually coming true. I also had a chance to work with Brian McKnight. He had a concert back home. It was such a great experience for me.
Lorraine: Regine, aside from yourself, who has been the most instrumental person in your career?
Regine: I have to say...my father. He is the one who believe in what I can do. He is the one who also train me and introduce me in music. Even up to now he is still very very much involve in my career and my life. So, I have to say is it's him.
Lorraine: What sort of things did he do to encourage you?
Regine: He let me do the things that I have always dreamt of doing. He never really thought that I could act. But I wanted to try it so he supported me in doing that. And he never ...When I think I make a mistake, he just keeps pushing me pushing me and pushing me until I get it right. And...both my parents are like that actually. Even back home, all the major decision I don't really do that all the way unless I ask him first. He is my advisor, I make my own decision of course but I still like to ask him first for opinion. I think it's nice.
Lorraine: Very good. So were they pretty strict parents?
Regine: No actually, my parents are not very strict. My mother is very conservative but my father is very modern..so, it's a good mix!
Lorraine: I mentioned earlier you started singing at the age of 6. What attracted a 6-year-old to singing?
Regine: Both my parents sing. My mother plays the guitar and the piano and my father sings. So, I think I really got it from them.
Lorraine: In the genes?
Regine: Yes..that's how I started. I used to just listen to them. I remembered when I was like around 3 to 5 years old, I used to wait for my father to come back home from work and asked him to sing me to sleep!
Lorraine: O...how sweet!
Regine: He used to do that before and he would sing all the old songs he knows until I fall asleep.
Lorraine: Were they like nursery rhymes?
Regine: I actually don't know any. Cos I was listening to old music, songs that my father sings. So, I don't know any nursery rhymes.
Lorraine: When you started out singing in a lounge for example. Were those tough times?
Regine: Yes, when I was starting, yes! I used to sing in restaurants and lounges...I couldn't really say it was tough for me as I was singing, singing is always been a joyful things for me. Everytime I sing, I was happy. I wasn't really thinking of anything else because I was enjoying, I was singing and performing.
Lorraine: Now you've been singing for so many years. Do you still need to train your voice and practice before you go on stage or before you record an album?
Regine: Oh, yes, I still...like I said earlier. I think it is very important for artists like me to always keep an open mind, keep learn and not stop. Listening to music and not stop. Trying new things and experiment.
Lorraine: And how do you do that, do you still do that in the water?
Regine: No, not anymore, not anymore! But every time I have a concert, of course we have to rehearse the songs that we have to do in the concerts, so I do that still.... before a concert, I just try not to speak too much because I am such a big-mouth...I keep talking before the concert so I end up not having a voice when the concert started...so...I just ask people around to stop talking with me for a while so that I will be able to preserve my voice.
Lorraine: And where did this idea, the rehearsing in the water...come from?
Regine: My father did that. I have no idea where he got that , I don't know, he just did it. But it worked. It was supposed to make my stomach muscle stronger or whatever, and develop my lung power... make my voice stronger, I suppose...(laughs)
Lorraine: Regine, do you think that yourself not coming from a privileged family have made you a more determined person in your career?
Regine: Yes, I think so and it has made me more ...it made me appreciate all the blessings that I have been getting...cos my family was really really really poor...I just really wanted to help them, I want to send my siblings to school and I was able to. That was my greatest accomplishment actually.
Lorraine: Regine, that must be quite a responsibility.
Regine: I didn't really think of it that way. I wanted to help but I didn't really think that it was such a big responsibility. I wanted to sing and I was given an opportunity to sing. My father helped me and my whole family supported me. And return, I just gave something back to my family. I think it's a good thing!
Lorraine: Most definitely. Is it true that at one time in your life you wanted to be a nun, a nurse and a doctor, I am sure your fans would die hearing that...!
Regine: When I was about 3 years old, I wanted to be a nun. I don't know why but for some reason I wanted to be a nun. When I was fie, I wanted to be a doctor. And then I started singing when I was six, so that changed everything.
Lorraine: Regine, I am glad that you didn't become a nun.
Regine: Me too! Me too!
Lorraine: Regine Velasquez is now calling the shots not just in front, but behind the microphone. Regine, tell me more about you record label.
Regine: I have a label call Song Bird. I am really proud of it. I have been producing new artists. The first artist I produced was Gabby Agamen and he was an actor back home. He was the first artist that I produced. I am producing another artist and actually I am still working on his album and his name is Sebi Deann. It is coming out soon. Of course his album is going to be under my label too.
Lorraine: What is it like behind the microphone though?
Regine: It's great! You just tell people what to do and I haven't done that before, I am so used to having people tell me what to do but now I am telling them what to do. So, it's like Great! This is like a great job! I think I like this! It's fun because it is a different kind of fulfillment that I fell. I think of the concept and we pick...I choose the song. I let my artist to listen it...During the recording session, I am there making sure that the artist is singing the song that I want it to be. The sound, the mixing and all the stuff...It's really really great. It's different from what I usually do but I am having so much fun doing this.
Lorraine: Do you ever have time to have fun yourself?
Regine: Yes, of course, I try to do that. Spend time with my family, go out with my friends, Oh! shopping!
Lorraine: What about just lazing around and listening to music?
Regine: Yes, I always have time for that. I always have time to listen to music. I like to read now...for some reason, I never used to like reading. I find time to do that now....find time to sleep and eat and watch TV! I love watch TV and watch movies! Go to the movie house and watch movie! I love to do that! That is my relaxation!
Lorraine: You mentioned acting. Would you ever choose singing or acting? What is the difference between the two?
Regine: What is the difference between the two? Acting is a really really difficult job, doing movie is not an easy thing to do.I mean you go there and you're all giggly and giddy...then the director will tell you "you have to cry now!" and I will say 'What?!' I am happy, how could I be crying in this scene! It is pretty difficult for me to do but it's also fun! It's different, it's really different. I can't like really compare it with singing, it's totally different.
Lorraine: At 32, when is the time for you to settle down?
Regine: Right now!
Lorraine: Have you found the simple man that you are looking for?
Regine: I haven't! Not yet! But I am still looking!
Lorraine: Surely can't be that hard!
Regine: I keep telling myself that. I don't know...I don't know what's going on..I haven't really ...I have myself to blame because I don't really go out that much also but I promise this year that I am going to go out more and meet people. So hopefully, I will be able to find somebody who would be interesting enough.
Lorraine: Would you ever consider giving up your career to become a housewife or a mother?
Regine: Ya! Yes! Anytime! Why not? I have been singing for almost all my life! If I decided to settle down, I would want to just think of my family and my ids and my husband.
Lorraine: Looking forward Regine. How do you plan to stay on top?
Regine: I don't really think about this that much! Mm...I guess I just really have to keep giving my audience something new! Mm...hopefully they will enjoy whatever it is that I work so hard for. I am trying to change my sound little by little so that my audience would not be too...so...they won't get tired of my sound!
Lorraine: Regine, we wish you all the best, thank you very much for speaking with us.
Regine: Thank you so much Lorraine, thank you for having me!
[edit] Out There On Her Own
Out There On Her Own By Lani T. Montreal Sun. Inquirer Magazine, July 8, 1990
She was 15 when I first met her on board a ferryboat bound for Calapan, Mindoro. She was a wisp of a girl, so thin and pale I was half-afraid she would break, like a fragile China doll.
Yes, she said, she was the girl who had won that singing contest on television the year before. She was on her way to perform in a stage show at a school gym somewhere in Mindoro, she explained in a tiny, quivering voice. She was scheduled to sing two songs for a talent fee of P1,500 and she was excited. Her hair, done in outdated curls, framed her made-up face and her loose, nondescript clothes overwhelmed her petite figure. She looked like a very old 15-year-old.
Her almond eyes squinted into slits as she looked out into the open sea like an expectant lover. She was alone in that corner of the deck, but nearby stood a scraggly, dark-complexioned man of about 40. Her father, someone said. He taught her how to sing, another commented. I wanted to hold her steady lest she will fall into the water or the strong wind blow away her tiny body. But her father beat me to it by reminding her not to stay too close to the railing. On the opposite of the deck, Janice de Belen, Roderick Paulate and some other celebrities were engaged in small talk.
In Mindoro, my friends and I found ourselves staying in the room next to her in a cheap, elevatorless hotel. We invited her to join us and teasingly urged her to sing. Without much ado she obliged, and soon, her melancholy voice, no longer small and unsure filled the cramped hotel room. "All at once, I looked around and found that you were with another love," she sang the Whitney Houston number, cautiously at first, sounding like a wind song. There her voice rose to an awe-inspiring crescendo. "Ever since I met you, you're the only love I know." A rap on the door rudely interrupted our mini-concert. Her father peeped in. "I heard someone singing, was that you, Chona?" he asked. "Hindi po. Siya po," she lied, pointing a finger at me. But Papa knew better. "Kailangan i-conserve mo ang boses mo para sa show mamaya," he scolded her. She fell silent, her head bowed in embarrassment. "Sige, ha," she bade us goodbye in a voice we couldn't reconcile with that of our impromptu entertainer.
The next time I met the girl named Chona was at a decent sing along bar along West Avenue in 1986. Her voice effortlessly glided through the difficult notes of the EDSA revolution song "Mag-kaisa." The show was a regular stint for her, her father said. Commuting from Bulacan to Manila had been a problem initially, but they made friends with a taxi driver to whom they became suki. They paid him P200 pesos for waiting and taking them home to Bulacan every time Chona had a performance.
The next time I saw Regina Asuncion Velasquez she was performing at a small, art decoish cafe/bar. She was no longer Chona but Regine. A singer/TV host had re-christened her, saying her nickname sounded too parochial for someone so young.
The shy provinciana, now a year older, felt burdened by the high-sounding moniker. She must act like a Regine now and leave chokingly boring Chona behind. Her new manager, Ronnie Henares, who had discovered her in that sing-along joint, felt that her repertoire and general appearance should change along her name. Her outmoded clothes were thrown into a baul (native chest) and sweatshirts, high-cut rubber shoes and jeans became her regular fashion fare. Her straight, shoulder length hair was left as it was, with no spraynet to hold it in place, while she danced to more upbeat songs. She was a teenager, for heaven's sake, no matter that she was the breadwinner for a family of six.
Gone was the dark colored eye shadow she used to put on her narrow lids, that made her cat-like eyes look bruised and heavy. No more cheekbone highlighter that gave her an emancipated look. The new light make-up emphasized, rather than hid, her small face. The girl was beautiful, after all.
She was also gaining quite a following. The young habitues of the cafe and a sprinkling of yuppies and middle-aged music lovers filled the place to standing room capacity. The entrance fee had been raised - a sure sign of her growing celebrity. Mang Gerry, her father, remained zealous guardian. "From manager to alalay," he said, laughing away his demotion.
"I've got a crush on you," she belted out on a disco number, her wiry limbs, camouflaged by thick clothing, gracefully maneuvering the stage floor. I didn't know she could dance so well. Between songs she gave spiels in Taglish contorting her face when someone from the audience commented or grunted a request. She hated having to talk, but "Regine" sounded like the name of a glib-tongued girl.
I did not just "see" Regine the next time, I sought her out for an interview. She was 17 by then, and among her fans was Larry Henares, who immortalized her in his column. She had just recorded her first single, "Urong Sulong," and was thinking of going back to school the following year.
It was Mang Gerry who did most of the talking that time. Regine, surprisingly, still had much of the reticent Chona in her. One thing brought a glow to her eyes though, was the second hand Toyota car she had just acquired. "I bought that with my sweat and blood," she proudly says.
It's been three years since that last interview, but the girl who greets us as we alight from Primeline's delivery jeep is still pale and thin. "Magandang tanghali po," Regine says, her naked face made even more startling by her cropped crown. The gamine charm shows through the maong jeans and handpainted T-shirt. She looks more 15 than 20. But more Regine now than Chona.
We have come all the way from Manila to San Juan (Balagtas, Bulacan), a barrio by the river where Regine has spent most of her growing-up years. If not for her accommodating townmates who led us from one narrow thoroughfare to another, we would not have found her house.
A gray Hi Ace is parked outside her studio type apartment across the family's house. The receiving area, separated from her bedroom by a makeshift wall, bears much of her provincial character. No one would suspect that a celebrity lives in this carelessly trimmed house. It looks more like the house of a movie fan with its mounted faded posters of Regine's past concerts intermingling with inexpensive paintings of nature.
The concert posters have documented Regine's metamorphosis, so to speak. In one, for instance, she seems naive and uncaring. She transforms into a sensuous young lady in another. And from pastel-colored attire she graduates to a more intense black and red.
A red Sto. Nino statuette stands atop an old piano. The sala set, flower printed and brightly colored is the ultimate assault on a modern decorator's sensibilities.
It's been a year since Regine moved into her own place, for no special reason, but just so she would have enough space for all her growing number of things wardrobe, appliances and friends. But there seems to be no effort to make the apartment look more stylish and sophisticated, or at least presentable. On a magazine shelf she has a cheap photo album of showbiz stars Randy Santiago, Janno Gibbs, Bing Loyzaga, Lilet and an autograph of Maricel Soriano on a small piece of paper, among others. A stack of foreign fashion magazines -Vogue, Elle, Mademoiselle looks out of place among the albums and clippings. In those magazines lies the secret to her new found sophistication in fashion.
Atop the improvised divider are her trophies, most of which still bear her old name: Chona Velasquez. There are 67 of them, including her latest, the Asia Pacific grand trophy, which she won in Hong Kong last month. "I joined 200 contests but won first place in only 67," she blurts out unexpectedly. Recently, the Lions Club of Hong Kong honored her with a three-foot high trophy in ruby red and gold. "My father had a hard time carrying it," she says while putting on make up for the pictorial.
She has just returned from that Hong Kong trip and has barely unpacked. She is bothered that she wasn't told about the pictorial because she could have fixed herself before we arrived. "Sana nag-Easy Call kayo," she reprimands her PR. But there's actually very little on that face that needs covering, and she finishes jiffy.
"Can we have her pose by the river where you used to submerge her?" the SI photographer asks Mang Gerry. "It wasn't here where I used to submerge her but in Leyte, where my wife was born," Mang Gerry clarifies. "We moved to Bulacan only when Chona was already 10." The Velasquezes led a mobile lifestyle in the early '70s. Mang Gerry's job as a construction estimator required him and his family to move from one province to another. With the children's schooling interrupted so often, it is a wonder that Regine finished high school at all at St. Lawrence Academy in Bulacan. She attributes her good English diction to her years at St. Lawrence and to her favorite foreign singers, to whom she listens carefully. "I told her never to get the lyrics of the songs from song hits. Listen to the original singers and capture every word correctly," says her omnipresent singing coach.
"Si Chona!" a little girl excitedly says upon seeing Regine walk toward the ancient camachile tree for the pictorial. The child runs to her mother when I begin asking her about Regine. "Ninang niya si Chona, e," says Aling Leonila, Regine's neighbor and distant relative.
"Hindi naman nagbago yang batang 'yan. Gustong-gusto siya rito. Lahat nga yata ng bata rito ay inaanak niya," she continues.
Regine's neighbors remember when their mornings were not complete without hearing little Chona, then about 10, vocalizing. "Palagi niyang kinakanta nuon yung kay Eva Eugenio at kay Imelda Papin, they recall with amusement. Of course now she rehearses in air-conditioned studios, although her barriomates are still occasionally treated to free mini concerts whenever she practices in her apartment. Right now she's more into jazz music.
Regine has never thought of moving to Manila. Not even now. She has all the love she needs in San Juan. And that, to her, is the most important thing. Certainly it couldn't have been by coincidence that almost every female in this rural neighborhood, whether young or old sports Regine's daring, boyish do.
"I feel I have matured a lot since I started six years ago. Marami na akong na experience, Regine intimates. "That Hong Kong trip for me was a big deal. It contributed a lot to my growth.
"You see, I was scared at first of going there to compete. I felt I wasn't that good. Beside, it's like I've gotten tired of competing. All my life that was what I did. I was tired of the pressure," she says. It took her good friends and mentors Nanette Inventor and Ivy Violan to convince her. "They said, 'You were chosen by Channel 7 of all singers. That means they believe in you. That did it."
Before the contest proper Regine had been obsessed with winning. "I didn't think of anything else. I didn't realize that the reason I was there was not just to compete but to interact with the other competitors who were from other countries, to make an impression of my country on them. When I got there, I forgot all about the contest and making friends with the other foreign contestants became a bigger challenge. At first it was difficult because some didn't even know how to speak English. Now two have already written me."
It was in that contest that she rendered what she considers the most difficult song she has ever sung: "I'm Telling You' from the Broadway play Dream Girls.
A mongrel comes along and waits for a pat on the head. "This is my dog Askar, Regine says as she runs her skinny fingers through the dog's tan-colored hair. "Askar means Asong Karaniwan."
It is only now, she confides, that she is able to savor the fruits of her labor. "Before, I always had to think of what was needed first before I would buy what I wanted. Now, I can get both...Ang pangarap ko ngayon ay ang mapatapos ang mga kapatid ko."
Her sister Maricar, 19, is a business administration student at St. Paul College, Manila; brother Jojo, 16, high school senior at La Consolacion, Bulacan, and twin sisters Deanne and Decca, 13 are in first year high school at La Consolacion.
"They make lambing to me whenever they need something in school or maybe want something," Regine says, stressing the difference between "need" and "want".
She has no regrets that at 20 she has felt neither the throbbing of passionate love nor the pain of unrequited love. "I think my maturity came from the experiences I had with my family," she says confidently. "I'm still very young. Love can wait. For now, my concerns are my family's needs. I might go back to school when Maricar graduates and is able to help in sending the other children to school."
Regine still dreams of enrolling in a fine arts course someday. When not singing on TV or concertizing, she indulges in her favorite pastime...sketching. She's into hand painting shirts now, and explains that she herself did the t-shirt she was wearing when we arrived. She fetches the tee and shows the painting of a woman's face whose long hair sensuously covers her left eye She colored the hair orange and lips neon pink. "I like sketching and painting women's faces. The contours of the eyes and lips are just beautiful. They're so nice to draw," she explains.
She tells the story behind her new haircut: "I had it shortened to ear length on my 18th birthday. I was supposed to have a concert then but a foreign band, The Jets, came over and I was advised against staging my concert on the same date, which was my birthday. In rebellion, I cut my hair, which was already down to my chest, very short."
But after that act of rebellion came, the stories in the tabloids and movie columns that her face had undergone cosmetic surgery. So why didn't they make your nose better, I kid her. She laughs. "You've seen me before, do you see any change?" Oh, but I don't mind those intrigues. I try to tell them it's just my make up, that now I already know how to blend with colors or enhance my features but then they say I'm being defensive.
Inside her room clothes are strewn here and there, the improvised shelves over her bed are stacked with encyclopedia volumes and innumerable little stuffed dolls. She plans to clean all the dolls for Christmas and distribute them to orphanages. "Not that I've outgrown my love for them. Actually, they're so precious to me because they were gifts from my good friends But doesn't that fact make the dolls more special and worthy of being given as gifts to orphaned and abandoned kids?"
Regine disputes rumors that she is auditioning for the role of Kim in Ms. Saigon. "I'm afraid I might not be able to endure the rehearsals. I developed nodules in my throat before and they had to be taken out by surgery. And with my hair, I might be considered for the part of soldier," she says, laughing at herself.
We keep quiet as she treats us to an acapella rendition of her favorite song, "On My Way To You" by Barbara Streisand. Softly, at first, like a wind song but full of intense and emotions. I remember that day in Mindoro when she sang that Whitney Houston song, except this time, her father doesn't interrupt. He listens as intently as we do.
Mang Gerry's girl has definitely grown up. And how!
[edit] Reverted the article to a more current version.
The article was subjected to vandalism. Somebody reverted to an older edit but that version had a lot of problems such as broken links, missing picture files, no source cited, and some inaccuracies.
I reverted to a more recent edit. I hope that this is ok. Maoster 16:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
