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Regine Through The Years by Hansel Villafuerte Miscellaneous Weekly, April 29, 1996

Regine started out conservative. But Regine Velasquez starts fashion trends. She is not beyond experimenting with her hair or wardrobe. Her music has grown and matured. Hansel Villafuerte compares her then and now

Even she is amazed at her transformation. In the ten years that have passed since Regine Velasquez made her debut in showbiz, it's more than just her name that has changed.

Back then, Regine who used to go by the rather old-fashioned nickname of Chona was a simple girl from a small town in Bulacan, utterly lacking in the sophistication that people now associate with her. She admits that when she was just starting out she didn't know any better, especially when it came to clothes. "I didn't know how to dress up, and my taste was very conservative. I was always wrapped," she says.

Her hair style was as conservative as her clothing: she either wore it hanging loose straight down to her shoulders, or tied it back with a ribbon that made her look much like a little girl.

Now, she has matured and become more adventurous. She wears a tattoo around her ankle and reads a lot of foreign fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle to keep up with what's in abroad as far as fashion trends are concerned. She is not beyond experimenting with her hair or wardrobe; in fact, it was Regine who started the trend of wearing ankle-high boots with formal gowns which she does in most of her pictorials and concerts.

She also has acquired a certain independence when it comes to fashion. If her habit of pairing boots with gowns doesn't sit well with other people, Regine couldn't care less. "I like experimenting with clothes. As long as I know I can carry a certain outfit, I'll wear it no matter what people say," she explains.

Through the years, Regine's music has also grown and matured. From very pop-flavored, youth -oriented songs like her first hit, "Urong-Sulong" (which she sang when she was 17 years old), she has gradually expanded her repertoire to include all sorts of music. She has also learned how to take control of her voice, and not let her high notes nor her tendency to belt each and every song rule her.

I've changed a lot in terms of my music, my taste and my personality although as a person, I'd like to believe that I'm still the same," says Regine, who is turning a year older on April 22.

"I used to be known as a belter, but now that I've grown older, that changed," she continues. Today, Regine, a veteran of singing contests - including the Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU) Song Festival - can sing songs that don't call for her to belt. She used to do a lot of belting songs like "The Greatest Love Of All" and "Somewhere," but now she also sings a lot of gentle love songs like those of her idol, Barbara Streisand. "What's nice about that is even if I'm like that, the people still accepted me, which liked so much." It means that my music has grown, and I've grown up too." says Regine.

Changing her image from that of a province from Bulacan to a sophisticated urbanite from the big city wasn't easy. Acquiring a new name was only the first step. Even her manager, Ronnie Henares, thought in the beginning that Regine, a name suggested by his wife Ida (who took it from her real name Regina Encarnacion Velasquez being her paternal grandmother's name) was a bit too pretentious for a person who came from the province. But as far as Regine was concerned, image and packaging were the two least important things.

The most important was her singing. "I said before, it seems so saucy - the name Regine. I thought it didn't fit me." she says. "Now I realize how important those things are, but before, I just didn't care about my image. I just wanted to perform or sing."

But obviously, her manager knew better then, so Chona the probinsyana became Regine, the music industry's fast-rising star. With the help of friends like Bernardo Bernardo (in whose music lounge she got her first big break), Nanette Inventor, Ivy Violan ( who would lend her clothes, shoes and sheet music for her shows), Freddie Santos (her very first director for her shows who taught her a lot about emoting onstage, doing spiels and voice projection), Fanny Serrano, Gina Rodriguez and Dobie Aranda of Kirei, glamour photographer Pancho Escaler, the late Bert Marcelo and Pilita Corrales, Martin and Pops and Gary V. (who were among the first major starts to guest Regine in their RV shows among concerts) and the press, the transformation was completed.

Now there is hardly an outward trace of the probinsyana that she was, although Ronnie says that even now, there are times that show that Regine really is till a probinsyana at heart. Sometimes, says her manager, Regine (while dressed in a formal gown) will suddenly stop dead in her tracks and squat on the ground, the gown between her leg and say: "I'm tired!"

Regine knows that she owes a lot to these people. "It's a team effort," she says. "But maybe the biggest part I owe to my parents, especially to my dad (the ever-present Mang Gerry, who accompanies Regine on all her activities) because she pushed me and gave me encouragement."

Her manager Ronnie is another one to whom she owes a lot. Ronnie has been with her through the years, from the time she started. But now that her career is taking her to foreign shares, she has a new manager in the person of Florence Chan, who is based in Hong Kong "Ronnie and I are a team," she states. "There's a lot of rumor, but I'm very happy where I am and I have no intentions of changing my manager. The reasons for these rumors is because I have a different manager who handles me outside the country. Ronnie handles all my bookings in the Philippines, and Florence handles me abroad. I just felt that since he was from here and his connections are here, I needed someone to handle me outside the Philippines, which is Florence's role."

Frankly, says Regine, she doesn't see any reason why she should leave Ronnie and Primeline. "Why should I?" Ronnie literally managed my career and gave me the image. As a manager, he respects my father and he respects me. We're always together, especially when it comes to major decisions. That's what I like about him."

One of her biggest coups was doing a duet with international singing star Paul Anka. When she found out that she was scheduled to do a duet with him, "I was shocked," recalls Regine. "Because I know him, and he's something of a living legend when it comes to singing. But he's a really nice guy." She has also recorded a duet with Hong Kong music superstar Jacky Cheung, which also hit it big on overseas charts.

So now Regine is a star not just in her own country, but also out of it. Despite this, she abhors the trappings of stardom. She still lives in Bulacan with her parents. She tend s to shy away from her showbiz functions. "If I don't have any work, I stay home," she says. She enjoys being with her three sisters and only brother, and they're about as closely knit as you can possibly get.

As the eldest of the five Velasquez siblings, Regine has a position of responsibility in her family. "She's a kind child. I have no problem with her," says her father. She helps them with whatever they need, and now that her younger sister Cacai, 23, is following in her footsteps and seems interested in a singing career, Regine (whom everyone in the Velasquez household calls "Ate") ("Sister") is helping her out by arraigning for Cacai to guest in her provincial and campus tours.

Last April 20, Regine gave of herself by staging a free concert at the U.P. Sunken Garden grounds at 7 p.m. Dubbed Isang Pasasalamat, the concert was Regine's way of saying thank you to all her supporters and friends in the business, people who stood by her through the years. "The purpose of the concert was for me to say thank you to these people and my fans for being there for me. I wanted to give back something I've been very blessed and the only way I can give them something back is through music."

Regine was supported by her friends in the industry, like Louie Ocampo, Ryan Cayabyab, The Tux, Janno Gibbs, Nanette Inventor, Ivy Violan and Bernardo Bernardo. Martin Nievera, on whose show Penthouse Live she first guested and her ex-boyfriend. Together, they performed on the show. How did she get him to guest? "I just asked him, and he said yes," says Regine. Besides, there's nothing to worry about, since the affair is already a closed book.

Regine has made through her years in the music business. And there will, no doubt, be more as more years pass. Truly, this young woman has been very richly blessed.