Regine Velasquez

Regine Velasquez is a Filipino singer and actress born on April 22, 1970. Her birth name is Regina Encarnacion Ansong Velasquez. She rose to prominence after winning the television talent show Ang Bagong Kampeon in 1984 and the Asia Pacific Singing Contest in 1989. Under the stage name Chona, she signed with OctoArts International in 1986 and released "Love Me Again", which underperformed commercially. She adopted the stage name Regine Velasquez for her debut studio album Regine (1987) under Viva Records executive Vic del Rosario and producer Ronnie Henares.

Her second and third albums, Nineteen 90 (1990) and Tagala Talaga (1991), explored Manila sound and kundiman genres. After signing with PolyGram Records, her fifth album Listen Without Prejudice (1994) achieved major commercial success across Asia, selling more than 700,000 copies with its lead single "In Love with You". She later experimented with jazz and adult contemporary on My Love Emotion (1995) and recorded covers on Retro (1996). Signing with Mark J. Feist's MJF Company in 1998, she released the R&B-influenced album Drawn. Her 1999 album R2K featured remakes of "On the Wings of Love", "I'll Never Love This Way Again", and "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing", earning certification as twelve-times platinum by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry.

Velasquez starred in romantic comedies Kailangan Ko'y Ikaw (2000) and Pangako Ikaw Lang (2001), winning the Box Office Entertainment Award for Box Office Queen for the latter. She earned a Star Award for Best Actress for her role as an intellectually disabled woman in an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya (2001). She later appeared in Forever in My Heart (2004), Ako si Kim Samsoon (2008), Totoy Bato (2009), Diva (2010), I Heart You, Pare! (2011), and Poor Señorita (2016). She won the Golden Screen Award for Best Actress for playing a document forger in Of All the Things (2012). She became a presenter on Star for a Night (2002), Pinoy Pop Superstar (2004), and The Clash (2018), and later judged on StarStruck (2015), Idol Philippines (2019), and Idol Kids Philippines (2025).

Having sold more than seven million records domestically and 1.5 million in Asia, Velasquez is the best-selling Filipino music artist of all time. Her awards include two Asian Television Awards, two MTV Asia Awards, 22 Awit Awards, 17 Aliw Awards (including 3 Entertainer of the Year wins), 22 Box Office Entertainment Awards, and 17 Star Awards for Music. Referred to as "Asia's Songbird", she has inspired generations of Filipino singers. As a Taurus born in 1970, her life-path number is 7, marking her as a seeker of inner wisdom reflected in her vocal precision and career longevity.