Who is the famous and great performer in ASIAN REGION?

Question

REGINE VELASQUEZ dubbed by the Asian Press as Asia's Songbird because she can belt-out song's (using natural voice) effortlessly. No wonder she won in ASIA PACIFIC SONG FESTIVAL in Hongkong and earned Multi- Platinum hit's ALBUM'S in ASIAN REGION and hailed as Asia's Singing Fantasy.

Regine Velasquez participated in about 200 singing competitions. She won about 67. She first used her nickname. She did not eat ice cream until she was 15 years old. She heard when she was young that cold food affects one's voice so she sacrificed eating ice cream. They were so poor that her mom sometimes did not eat so that the kids could eat. But even if they were poor, they were brought up properly (with values) and there was never a time when there was no singing in their home. Regine was quite a loner when she was a kid. She always thought of how to alleviate the condition of her family.

In 1990, she was being eyed by the Cameron Macintosh group (the people who created "Les Miserables,""Miss Saigon" and such) to play the lead role of Kim in the "Miss Saigon" musical in London or Broadway but she declined. She felt that she was not cut out for it because she did not have any theater or stage experience at that time and she was uncomfortable doing some kissing/love scenes. As you can see, she's conservative and very religious (Catholic), too. Before Lea played Kim in Broadway, Cameron Macintosh brought Dulce, Jamie Rivera and Regine to New York. He gave them round trip plane tickets for them to participate in the special auditions. Cameron offered work to Jamie and Regine. Jamie accepted the offer and she played Kim in London. Jamie told the press when they got home that the Americans were more impressed with Regine's voice than hers. Dulce was considered over-qualified. Regine stayed.

One of her frustrations is her junior-senior prom. She was not able to go because she had to sing that time. Her family needed money then.
She and Cacai are roommates up to now.
Regine appeared in the no.3 issue of "Wetworks," an American comic book like the Marvel comics. Her character was not that of a singer but that of a t.v. reporter.
Regine was dubbed as the standing ovation queen. In her first major concert - "Narito Ako,"she was given a standing ovation by the audience while she was only in her 3rd or 4th song ("The Greatest Love of All").
She wants to take up a Fine Arts course but her schedule will not permit. She likes to draw a lot and her favorite pastime is sketching aside from trying on clothes and putting make-up. She is into handpainting shirts now.
Her no.1 idol is Barbra Streisand but she also likes Bjork and Tori Amos. She said that she can die at the moment she meets Barbra Streisand personally.
She has a big crush on Mel Gibson.

Ryan Cayabyab (a highly-noted composer, arranger, musical director and producer in the Philippines) once said that Regine is different from other singers in the sense that in reaching such high notes, Regine is natural (she uses her natural or normal voice) while the other singers are already using a falsetto voice.
In the Philippines, her songs are always sung in singing competitions. Most of the songs sung are her Filipino songs and not her English songs and these are: "Sana Maulit Muli" ("I Hope It Happens Again"), "Isang Lahi" ("One Race") and "Narito Ako" ("I'm Here"). Her Filipino songs require more of vocal calisthenics than her English songs.
The story of "Do Re Mi" (Regine's 5th movie) is sort of true for her. When she was just an amateur singer, she was singing in Angelus and D'Markus music lounges in Bulacan. In those places, she was with two other singers: Camille Victoria and Carol Santiago. The 3 of them used to alternate as featured singers. They were good friends.

She has released 6 local (Philippine) albums and these are: "Regine" (gold record award=over 20,000 copies sold), "Regine Special Edition" (double platinum award=over 80,000 copies sold), "Nineteen'90 "(double platinum award), "Tagala Talaga" (gold record award), "Reason Enough" (platinum award=over 40,000 copies sold) and "Love Was Born on Christmas Day." She took part in the soundtrack of "Wanted: Perfect Mother" that reached the platinum mark. Her major concerts were sell-outs: "Narito Ako,""A Song For You,""Music and Me," "Retro" among others, all held at the Folk Arts Theatre. She has released around 24 singles. She has ventured into every area related to showbusiness in the Philippines: concerts and stage shows, TV shows (variety, drama, sitcoms, talk), musical plays ("Kenkoy Loves Rosing" and "Noli Me Tangere"), commercials (Lux, Coke, Wendy's, Duty Free's Anti-Drug Campaign) and the movies (she has done 6 films-"The Untouchables,""Pik Pak Boom,""Elvis and James 2," !

As we all know, she has gone regional (Asia). She was discovered by Alex Chan and Norman Cheng. Alex Chan is the regional marketing manager of Polygram Far East and Norman Cheng is the president of Polygram Far East. They watched her in her concert "Music and Me" in July, 1993. After the concert, they approached her and they told her that they want to work with her. First, they featured Regine in a duet with Paul Anka entitled "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" which is in the album "Reason Enough." After that duet, Regine started to record "Listen Without Prejudice." This album sold over 250,000 copies in Asia. In Taiwan, it turned platinum just 7 days after its release. About the duet "In Love With You", they recorded that song for only 2 hours in Hong Kong. Jacky Cheung was so impressed with Regine because at that time when he met her before the recording, she was eating . Jacky never ate before a recording and there was Regine, eating pizza. It was also his first time to do a duet.

Answer 1

Asia is huge:

Rajini Kanth from India
Gong Li from China
Rain from south Korea
Ashwarai Rai also from India
Siti Nurhaliza from South East Asia

Answer 2

The King of Thailand has released many albums. Seriously.

Answer 3

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Kitaro (though he really lives in San Francisco)

Answer 4

Maria Ozawa, you will love her.

Answer 5

SMAP