More than 17 years in the business, Regine could still look back at the early days when she, together with her father Mang Gerry, would travel from one town to another to join amateur singing contests. It wasn’t a surprise when the young Regine (Regina Encarnacion Velasquez in real life) would take home the top prizes.
“Those were the hard times that I learned to embrace throughout my childhood,” Regine recalls. “Hindi biro-biro ‘yung pinagdaanan ko. Hihiram pa ako ng damit sa kapitbahay namin sa Bulacan o minsan sa mga pinsan ko para lang may maganda akong maisuot. I would do my own makeup at ako rin nag-aayos ng buhok ko. As a child, I was always praying na sana guminhawa na ang buhay namin. I knew all along that singing would be our main source of income. Bread and butter ko itong boses ko ever since.”
Regine Velasquez
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS
COMING from a musically inclined family, it was Regine or Chona to her friends and relatives in Bulacan, that inherited the powerful voice which very much became her trademark.
“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” she says smiling. “Mahirap to maintain kasi bata pa lang ako, nilulubog na ako sa dagat ni Tatay. We used to live in Leyte, sa may tabing-dagat before we settled in Bulacan. I would vocalize under water. Noong medyo teenager na ako, I learned to vocalize in different ways. I would lie flat on the floor with books on my backs. Or I would dangle my head on the sofa. Maraming ways akong natuto na mag-vocalize. And during those times, I wasn’t allowed to eat ice cream. It’s true! Nakatikim ako ng ice cream mga 16 years old na ako. Nakakatuwang isipin na I’m endorsing an ice cream product now.”
Her first taste of the big time was when she joined the popular talent show on television, Ang Bagong Kampeon. She won the weekly and monthly finals until she was named the national champion on its grand finals night with the song In Your Eyes. It’s no wonder why Regine accepted to host the talent show Star For A Night because she believe so much in the Filipino talent.
“I like to give back what other people have given me,” she says. “Noong una, I never expected to get anywhere. Sino ba ako before? I only wanted to sing para makatulong sa pamilya ko. It turned out that I wasn’t only helping out my family but other people as well. They say nga that I inspire young people to achieve their goals in life. Tama ‘yon. We all have dreams and we all want them to come true kahit na isa lang doon, ‘di ba? Kaya nga mas maganda if we encourage young people to hone their talents, lalo na sa singing, because who knows, that would be their ticket to fame in the future.”
As a singer, Regine has achieved more than what most ordinary singers have achieved. Her exceptional and phenomenal rise from being a frail and shy Bulakeña to one of the country’s unbeatable divas is still, by far, unmatched.
“Singing has been my life,” she states. “It’s what I live for and what I’m going to do until I grow old na siguro. I have been to so many places around the world because of singing. I made so many people happy because of singing. And I made people fall in love as well. Kumbaga, sa ating mga Pinoy, natural na sa atin ang pagkanta. We all love to sing kaya nga ang daming videoke bars every where, ‘di ba? Nasa kultura na natin ‘yan and we shouldn’t be ashamed to sing. As long as you sing from the heart, kahit na sintunado ka pa, it will come out as beautiful as you wanted it to be.”
A MOVIE ACTRESS
ASIDE from being the country’s top-selling female singing artist, Regine is also a movie actress with a string of box-office hits tucked under her belt. She’s at her best doing romantic comedies and her gifted acting skills are very well seen in her films Dahil May Isang Ikaw, Pangako… Ikaw Lang, Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw and Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon. In 2001, Regine was crowned as Box-Office Queen by the GMMSF.
“I was so shocked when they told me na ako ang Box-Office Queen that year. Akala ko binibiro nila ako pero noong may tumawag na akin from the GMMSF, doon lang ako naniwala. Imagine, ako Box-Office Queen? What did I do? Pero happy ako because it only means na tanggap na tanggap na ako as a movie star. Puwede na akong matawag na singer-actress ‘tulad ni Sharon Cuneta,” she says laughing.
This coming Manila Film Festival, Regine has a film entry titled Ang Pangarap Ko’y Ibigin Ka under Viva Films. This is her first time to join a film festival and her second time to be paired with Christopher de Leon whom she first worked with in the 1996 movie Wanted: Perfect Mother.
MATTERS OF THE HEART
BELIEVE it or not, Regine is still loveless. When talks of romance seeps in, you can just expect Regine to clam up because according to her, she had only loved once and no one has yet followed after that “almost tragic” love story.
“The first time I fell in love, I almost died a little when I broke up with him (him being Ariel Rivera no less),” she reveals. “Though I never naman thought of committing suicide. Why should I? Life is so precious. I faced the problem squarely. If I have to cry, okay, I cry and cry and cry. As soon as my tears dried up, everything was okay again. I moved on eventually.”
One thing about Regine is that even though how ultra-hip she is with her looks and her music, she still carried that conservative image that she has grown to have all these years.
“I’m not the type who would grab the first guy that comes along,” she says. “I’m not that desperate naman. Hindi ako hopeless romantic in that sense. It takes time for me to trust somebody. My trust slowly develops through the years. But once I fully trust a person, he or she would be my friend for life. Ganyan din ako sa mga suitors, kung meron sana. I’m not the city girl type kasi. Probinsiyana at heart pa rin ako.”
PRIME OF LIFE
AT 33 years old, Regine has no plans of hiding her real age. She says that wisdom comes with age and whatever she is now and what status she has already reached, she owes it all to her maturity – her prime of life.
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Regine: Reigns Supreme