Dulce (Filipino singer)

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In this Philippine name for married women, the birth middle name or maternal family name is Abellare, the birth surname or paternal family name is Llamedo, and the marital name is Cruzata.
Dulce
Dulce in December 2021 performing at the 90th anniversary of the Manila Metropolitan Theater
Dulce in December 2021 performing at the 90th anniversary of the Manila Metropolitan Theater
Background information
Birth nameMaría Teresa Magdalena Abellare Llamedo
Born (1961-07-22) July 22, 1961 (age 60)[1]
Cebu City, Philippines
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Years active1975–present

Dulce (born Maria Teresa Magdalena Abellare Llamedo on July 22, 1961), is a Filipino singer and actress.

Early life and career[]

Llamedo was born to a poor[2] family of musicians on July 22, 1961 in Villa Bulsita, a sitio of Barangay Bulacao in Pardo, Cebu City.[3] Her father, Leoncio, was a carpenter who played the double bass in the village band while her mother, Andrea, was a dress-maker who sang in their local chapel.[3][4][2] She is the sixth[2] of eight siblings having four sisters and three brothers.[3]

Among her siblings, Llamedo is the only one who completed her elementary education. However, due to financial problems, she couldn't enroll even in public schools for higher education.[2] She did later finish high school through the Alternative Learning System.[5] She started singing at a very young age, joining her first amateur singing competition when she was just two years old.[3] When she was 10, she became a regular at a Saturday television show hosted by Justo Justo.[2][5] At 12, she was already performing at soda fountains in Cebu City.[3]

In the early 1970s, she auditioned for Tawag ng Tanghalan but was initially rejected in her first attempt as she was still underaged.[6] When she finally got to enter the competition, she became a weekly and then monthly champion but failed to make it to the grand championship. After the competition, she stayed in Manila for five months, performing covers of songs by Shirley Bassey, among others, and had occasional stints at the Manila Grand Opera House.[3] She returned to Cebu with her mother but left and came back to Manila[4] at age 16[6] where she worked as a singer at a club-restaurant owned by a "controversial public official" who had raped her.[2] It was in this club-restaurant, however, where Llamedo was discovered by the composer George Canseco who was searching for a singer to sing his theme for the 1978 film Miss Dulce Amor, Ina starring Lorna Tolentino.[4] Considered to be her big break, from then on, Llamedo became known by her famous stage name Dulce.[1][4]

In 1979, Dulce recorded her most famous song Ako Ang Nasawi, Ako ang Nagwagi ("I Had Been Defeated, I Had Won").[7] The song was sent by its composer, Canseco, to compete at the Metropop Song Festival but lost. Later that year, Dulce was sent to Hong Kong to compete at the Asian Singing Competition using an English-translated version of the song as her performance piece. She, however, decided at the last minute to scrap the English translation and sing it in its original Tagalog form.[8] She won the grand prize of the competition and later recounted that her win was the event that changed her life.[8]

In the 1980s, there was an unofficial ban imposed on Dulce by several recording executives. During this time, she had joined the Philippine government's "Balik Saya" musical caravan singing theme songs of local movies in the United States and Canada. Recording executives, however, would block other deals she would make calling her "too rebellious". A second rape incident also transpired around this time.[2]

In 1987, Dulce placed first runner-up at the ABU Popular Song Contest in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] The following year, she won Best Singer at the Asia Pacific Singing Competition where she sang Memory.[1] Dulce auditioned for the role of Gigi in Miss Saigon when the producers first came to Manila. She was, however, unable to proceed with the audition due to acute pharyngitis. When the musical director came back in 1990, she auditioned again and was instructed to fly to New York City. In New York, Cameron Mackintosh reportedly told her that she was "over-qualified" for the small role that was open and that it would be a waste of talent.[9] Claude-Michel Schönberg is said to have commented that her voice "is like a Boeing 747 taking off".[4]

From 1991 to 2004, Dulce's rendition of the song Maalaala Mo Kaya served as the theme song of the television drama anthology of the same name.

In 2003, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Aliw Awards.[1] That same year, she played Aling Saling in the first run of the musical Himala at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).[10] She returned to the musical theater stage in 2008 where she played Motormouth Maybelle in a local production of Hairspray also at the CCP.[11]

Her other monikers include "Asia's Diva", "Theme Song Queen", and "Timeless Diva".[12] She has since sung around 30 theme songs.[5]

Personal life[]

Dulce was first married to singer Danny Cruz, with whom she had three children: Daniel, David and Dana.[13] She is currently married to Bernard Beltran Cruzata, with whom she had two daughters, Jemimah and Abigail. Separated from first husband because she was not allowed to fart in front of him.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Film Company
2017 Ang Larawan Donya Upeng Culturtain Musicat Productions
2010 Emir Ester Film Development Council of the Philippines

Television[]

Year Title Role Network
2018–2021 Tawag ng Tanghalan sa It's Showtime Judge ABS-CBN
2010–2011 Juanita Banana Donya Digna Buenaventura

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Dulce". Everything Cebu. 6 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Azarcon-dela Cruz, Pennie (February 5, 2008). "After a life like a gritty telenovela, things just got sweeter of Dulce". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Red, Isagani (March 27, 1994). "The Have The Power". Manila Standard.
  4. ^ a b c d e Corporal, Lynette (November 3, 1995). "Dulce with the PPO? And why not?". Manila Standard.
  5. ^ a b c Newman, Jenara Regis (2020-10-01). "Dulce: Diva with a Cebuano soul". Sunstar. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  6. ^ a b ABS-CBN Entertainment (October 25, 2018). "The Bottomline: Dulce recalls the time she competed in "Tawag ng Tanghalan"". YouTube.
  7. ^ "La Dulce vita". The Philippine Star.
  8. ^ a b ABS-CBN (October 25, 2018). "The Bottomline: Dulce recounts the time she represented the country in the Asian Singing Competition". YouTube.
  9. ^ Lam, Lulubelle (December 25, 1990). "Bravo, Dulce!". Manila Standard.
  10. ^ Torre, Nestor (November 21, 2003). "Viewfinder". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
  11. ^ "Dulce is cast in local version of "Hair Spray"". PEP.ph. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  12. ^ "Dulce: Timeless Diva". The Philippine Star.
  13. ^ "La Dulce Vita (Or, The Soundtrack of Dulce's Life)". The Philippine Star.


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