Edgardo Jose Martin Santiago Valenciano (born August 6, 1964 in Manila, Philippines), better known as Gary Valenciano or Gary V., is a Filipino musician, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. He is best known for many songs, especially those that became theme songs for movies. He is also dubbed as “Mr. Pure Energy” for his energetic dance moves. He has released 26 albums, and won the Awit Awards for “Best Male Performer” 11 times. In 1998, he became UNICEF Philippines first national Ambassador. He is currently part of ABS-CBN contract actors.
Born in the suburb of Santa Mesa in Manila on August 6, 1964, he is the sixth of Vicente Valenciano and Grimilda Santiago Ortiz’s seven children. Santiago Ortiz is a Puerto Rican woman of Italian descent who became a popular opera singer in Manila during the 1960s, and her love for music passed down to her son, Gary. He took his primary and secondary studies in La Salle Greenhills. It was during his high school days, while on a brief stint with the musical group Kundirana, that he devoted himself to music.
Valenciano started performing in 1982 and launched his career in singing and show business on May 13, 1983. He first appeared as a solo in a television show called The Pilita and Jackie Show in 1982, but he was finally noticed after his performances in the TV shows Germspesyal and Penthouse Live. He had his first solo concert, in April 1984, inside the jam-packed Araneta Coliseum. That would be followed by 21 albums, three of them released internationally, including a Christian inspired album called Out of the Dark.
He is married to Maria Anna Elizabeth “Angeli” Evangelista Pangilinan, with whom he has three children: Juan Paolo Martin (a vocalist of the band Salamin), Jose Angelo Gabriel (a dancer), and Kristina Maria Mikaela.| |
