MANILA, Philippines—She can be utterly rowdy, incredibly expressive, yet downright engaging. But when chatting with “Asia’s Songbird” Regine Velasquez, it comes as a pleasant surprise that she remains the simple province-bred lass who emerged RPN-9’s “Bagong Kampeon” winner in 1984.

Yes, she doesn’t forget her roots, the family she always worked hard for, and the dreams she always had for them, now grandly realized with 22 years of phenomenal success in music recording, movies and, now, being the current toast of telenovela fare.

But through it all, she has this particular loathing for “change.” Change, she qualifies, that would make her somebody different from the Chona Velasquez that townsfolk from Balagtas, Bulacan always knew.

“Success should not change you,” Regine tells INQUIRER.net in an exclusive interview. “Dapat kung ano yung na-e-experience mo within the business that should improve your personality. If the business changes you, yan yung mga sinasabing lumalaki yung ulo. Iba yun parang nakakahilo yun.”

Looking back, Regine would not look at the several gold or platinum records she earned, the sold-out concerts she headlined, the movies that were box-office blockbusters, or the television shows that rated high as her biggest accomplishment.

Struggles

“I was able to help my family. Kasi yun ang nasa isip ko noon eh. My family. Kasi we were very poor. So nung kumakanta na ako, parang it made life easier for us. Since then nakita ko na yung parents ko na hindi na nahihirapan. May struggle na ako, bata pa lang ako,” she says.

The struggle, Regine says, was taking the load off an ailing father, Gerry, to earn a living for the family at a very young age.

“Kasi yung tatay ko, he found it hard to provide for the family. Sira na yung katawan niya kasi he had a bad scoliosis. So I kinda promised myself na I don’t want to see my father working na ganyan ang condition niya. Gusto ko ako na. Parang kinuha ko na yun. Although they didn’t ask me, parang kinuha ko na yung responsibility.”

But even when she had faced that gargantuan task of being the sole breadwinner, Regine says she loved and enjoyed it.

“Yung binigay na talent sa akin I happen to love very much. I love singing so you know I’m helping my family but in the same time I’m helping myself. I’m making a career out of singing.”

‘I’m dyslexic’

Not even a childhood learning disability could stop her.

“I’m actually dyslexic. Not a lot of people know,” Regine says. “I’ve had it since birth. I remember when I was younger malabo yung mata ko. Kasi bali-baligtad yung ‘v’ at ‘b’ ko. Di naiintindihan ng nanay ko kung ano ang sinusulat ko. I can’t spell right. Di ako masyadong magaling mag-spell. Mabagal ako magbasa.”

Dyslexia is a disability that impairs sufferers from correctly translating written images into spoken language; a difficulty in processing letters and sounds that results in poor reading and spelling skills. Such disability can afflict even the smartest, most intelligent individuals.

Regine says her being dyslexic made it difficult for her to adapt to a formal school environment when she was a child.

Even now, this disability affects her singing on televised programs, such as “SOP,” because it requires learning new songs each week and using a teleprompter, a monitor near the stage wherein lyrics of the song are shown to the performers. Regine says that when she gets distracted, she often loses concentration and sings the wrong lyrics.

“Nilalait nila ako. Wala talaga akong kantang na-perfect. Hirap kasi akong magbasa eh. This is my problem. Kaya dati pa nila ako in-o-offer na hosting job, never ko tinatanggap. Kasi alam ko magbabasa ako. That’s my fear kasi alam ko na that’s hard. Kasi ang ginagawa ko mine-memorize ko na. So pagkanta, may kahit konti lang na tumawid, mawawala na ako kasi kailangan kong makakatutok ako doon. Otherwise, wala di ko na makakanta,” she says.

To address this, Regine says, she learned more about the disabilities by watching TV discussions and documentaries.

“So dati hindi ko alam kung ano yon until I watched ‘Oprah’ and Discovery Channel. Sabi ko, ‘That happened to me.’ Sabi ko I’m like that and I remember when I was younger malabo yung mata ko,” she adds.

Regine emphasizes that the best way to overcome this defect was to rely on what she calls her razor-sharp memory.

“Actually yung best friend ko sinasabi niya sa akin, since you have a really good memory, yun ang ginagamit ko para ako makabasa ng maayos. Sabi nga niya na-a-amaze din siya kasi nga wala naman nagturo sa akin noon eh. Inisip ko lang, magaling naman ang memory ko so minememorize ko na lang siya,” she notes.

Regine said she has learned to cope with the disability and would not consider any immediate remedies.

“Meron na akong coping mechanism. Mahirap ko na yun gamutin especially at my age. Kasi na-a-ayos naman yun eh. You have to go back to square one. Tuturuan mo ulit yung sarili mo. It’s hard for me to catch up,” she says.

Amazing career

Overcoming the seemingly huge odds poised by this disability, Regine held on to build an amazing career.

While winning the “Bagong Kampeon” competition opened doors for her, the accomplishment wasn’t enough to make a mark in the industry. It took more painstaking efforts before finally she got noticed. After a TV guesting in “Penthouse Live” in 1986, however, the singing champion Chona Velasquez transformed into the recording sensation “Regine Velasquez,” a name suggested by “Penthouse” host and fellow recording star Martin Nievera.

Martin’s ex-wife and “Penthouse Live” co-host Pops Fernandez, who will perform with Regine in the landmark “Divas 4 Divas” concert together with Zsa Zsa Padilla and Kuh Ledesma on December 6 at the Araneta Coliseum, also gave Regine the needed breaks.

“Si Pops naman, isa siya sa mga nag-discover sa akin. Pinakita niya ako sa mga mall shows. Magkasama kami doon. Then naging guest ako sa ‘Penthouse’,” Regine says.

Since that “Penthouse” performance, talent manager Ronnie Henares charted the early years of her career. Ronnie, she says, expressed his intention to be her manager by sending her a “telegram” in Bulacan. “Promise, telegrama talaga. Wala pa kasi kaming telepono noon,” she says.

Breakthrough

Since her “Penthouse” appearance, Regine recorded her first, self-titled album that spawned the hits “Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang,” and “Urong Sulong” and became a regular fixture in variety shows, concerts and in bit parts in coming-of-age ensemble films. But, according to her, topping the 1988 Asia Pacific Song Festival in Hong Kong was her first breakthrough.

“Parang nagsimula ako ulit. Kasi before that, parang nobody really knew me. They knew that I could sing pero parang wala lang,” she says.

An unforgettable concert at the Folk Arts Theater in 1990 led to what was going to be a phenomenal show biz odyssey.

With “Narito Ako,” Regine became a certified star, “Asia’s Songbird.”

After producing hit album after hit album, including international releases, Regine took the next step by starring in a movie opposite Christopher de Leon in portraying her very first lead role as an unconventional nanny in the 1996 blockbuster hit “Wanted: Perfect Mother.” Since then, she became both a bankable recording artist and movie star—a feat rarely seen since Sharon Cuneta in the early 1980s.

Regine ruled record sales and the radio airwaves for such big hits as “You Are My Song” from the “Wanted: Perfect Mother” soundtrack and other theme songs from her blockbuster movies, such as “ Ikaw,” “Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw,” “Pangako,” and “Hanggang Ngayon,” a duet with her now-boyfriend Ogie Alcasid. Ogie had penned most of her latter hits.

She also appeared on television as host of the musical variety program “SOP,” and the defunct talent searches “Star for a Night,” “Search for a Star,” and “Pinoy Pop Superstar” and the worldwide talent franchise “Celebrity Duets.” She also starred in television soaps and dramas, such as “Forever in my Heart,” her award-winning performance in “Maala-ala Mo Kaya?” and the recently concluded “Ako si Kim Samsoon.”

Handling fame

Since singing George Benson’s “In Your Eyes” in the “Bagong Kampeon” finals that catapulted her to fame, how does Regine handle her popularity and success?

“I expect so much from myself. When they say, ‘Ang galing mo,’ but I know sa sarili ko I could have done better, I’ll just say thank you but I know, no, I could have done better,” Regine says.

“To accept praises like that, it’s okay, wag lang pumunta sa ulo mo. I’m still hard on myself, but I learned to laugh at my mistakes, laugh at myself, and I tell myself na tapos na eh. There’s always a next time anyway,” she adds.

Above all artists, Regine has the highest respects and admiration for her “Divas 4 Divas” co-performer Kuh Ledesma, who organized the once-in-a-lifetime concert. Regine said Kuh is her idol and inspiration.

’It’s Kuh’

“Si Kuh talaga promise. I’ve watched her perform since her Music and Magic days. Nag-solo na rin siya noon. Sabi ko, ang gara! Kinakalibutan ako pag kumakanta siya. Basta I remember na galing na galing ako sa kanya. Parang iba yung boses niya eh. Ang lamig,” she said. “This was before I discovered sina Whitney Houston, even si Barbara Streisand. Siya talaga yung idol ko.”

According to Regine, one fateful, “depressing” day in a dressing room in the mid-1990s made her realize that she was making a name for herself in show business. That was because Kuh offered to do a concert with her, which became the sensational “Power of Two” concert on October 1996 at the Music Museum.

“I remember her saying, ‘mag-concert tayo.’ It was in the (Sunday noontime show) ASAP nasa labas kami ng dressing room. Parang depressed na depressed ako noon. Tapos kinausap ako na, ‘mag-concert tayong dalawa’ tapos talagang, ‘huh? Sure ka? Guest ako?’ Sabi niya, ‘Hindi ah, back to back.’ Kasi parang si Kuh Ledesma ka eh. Kilala mo ba kung sino ka, sabi ko. Parang okay naman ako noon pero she’s Kuh Ledesma. Then we had 12 shows. Hanggang ngayon yun pa rin ang isa sa mga pinaka-gusto kong concert at pinaka-naka-enjoy akong concert,” she recalls.

Ten years after “Power of Two,” Regine celebrated her 20th year in show business with the “Twenty” concert at the Araneta Coliseum.

“I never thought I will truly last that long,” she says.

Ogie and George

These events, and her “coming out” to reveal her relationship with singer-songwriter-comedian Ogie Alcasid last year, were also among her key milestones. “It’s also a milestone because it changed both of us, personally and professionally.”

Aside from Ogie, Regine mentions another important character in her life—her pet shih tzu George, which was a gift from her “SOP” co-host Jaya.

“Parang siya ang nakatulong sa akin ng malaki na makalimutan ko muna ng sandali kung ano yung mga pino-problema ko. I love him so much kaya ganyan na lang ka-importante yan sa akin,” Regine says.

After “Divas 4 Divas,” which will also hit the road in North America next year, Regine will again appear in yet another primetime drama, “Totoy Bato,” opposite Robin Padilla. Her latest album, “Low Key” has reached gold.

Another movie is also in the works.

But will she slow down anytime soon, or “settle down”?

“Hindi pa naman ako sabik,” Regine declares.