Katrina Velarde

Katrina Copino Velarde (born December 5, 1994) is a Filipino singer known for her vocal range and belting technique.

She began joining local singing competitions at age 7 and grew online fame for her covers and vocal impersonations.

She also finished as first runner-up on the reality show Masked Singer Pilipinas and currently appears in Tawag ng Tanghalan Kids (Season 2) as a judge and the variety show ASAP as a performer since 2023.

After posting consecutive wins, the group was named the 11th Hall of Famer.

After New Born Divas disbanded, she joined The X Factor Philippines season 1 as a solo act.

She sang "Dangerously in Love" by Beyoncé and got four yeses from the judges.

On her bootcamp performance, Velarde sang (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin.

After that audition, the judges called the names of Velarde, Alyssa Quijano, Auriette Divina, Monique Lualhati, Jhelsea Flores and Ashley Campbell to inform them that they were chosen as the last act in groups category that made it to the Top 20 and it was mentored by Gary Valenciano.

At the judges' home visit, A.K.A. J.A.M. performed Seasons of Love by the cast of Rent the musical and made it to the top 12.

On the first week of their live show, their group performed Got to Be Real by Cheryl Lynn.

On the second week, they performed This Is My Life (La vita) by Shirley Bassey.

On the third week of their live show performance, A.K.A. J.A.M. performed Survivor by Destiny's Child.

Unfortunately, their group didn't make it to the next level after losing to Daddy's Home via text votes of 4.42% and 5.53%, respectively.

After she uploaded a video of herself singing Dangerously In Love 2 by Beyoncé while holding a plastic comb as her microphone, netizens started calling her Suklay Diva (Comb Diva).

It went viral after catching the attention of the netizens and started to gain international fame through social media.

Her video went viral after Chris Brown and Beyoncé's guitarist Bibi McGill shared it on social media from worldstarhiphop.com and became a female talent of the week.

Because of her viral video.

Velarde got an invitation to showcase her talent on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

A segment that open its door for Filipino singer and internet sensation like Charice Pempengco.

But due to her Bell's palsy condition, Velarde turned down the offer.

Velarde became part of TV5's weekly drama series "Trenderas" with Isabella de Leon and Lara Maigue where she played the role of Diva Salambangon.

Her work has earned her a number of nominations from various award-giving bodies, including an Awit Award, a PMPC Star Awards for Music and a Golden Screen Award for her role in the series Trenderas (2014).

Born and raised in Tondo, Manila, Velarde started to join singing contest at age 7 to help her family's financial difficulties.

She also sold Sampaguita lei made by her mother.

Velarde was known as a veteran contender in singing contests.

She became part of Little Big Star hosted by Sarah Geronimo together with her batch mate Charice Pempengco and Sam Concepcion.

Velarde together with her friends Alyssa Quijano and Jennifer Maravilla formed the group New Born Divas to join the second season of Talentadong Pinoy, one of the most popular reality talent shows of its time.

Her natural wit and sense of humor brought her to nomination at the 2015 Golden Screen Awards as Outstanding Breakthrough Performance by an Actress.

In 2015, she also played a main role in TV5's Wattpad presents #Bitterella.

Velarde had a chance to showcase her talent on Wish 107.5 Bus YouTube channel singing her rendition of Go The Distance by Michael Bolton.

Because of her ability to imitate local and international singers, she started to upload a video of her song covers that became popular to some foreign reactors on YouTube.

In October 2018, Velarde performed in the 2018 Philippine Popular Music Festival, an annual songwriting competition organized by the Philpop MusicFest Foundation.

She interpreted "Tama Na", an original song written by Michael Rodriguez & Jeanne Columbine Rodriguez which was chosen as one of the 10 finalists but the song did not place in the competition.

Velarde sang theme songs for VIVA films "Magkaibang Mundo", the Original Sound Track of the movie Just A Stranger starring Anne Curtis and Marco Gumabao.

Followed by "Isang Himala" from the box office movie Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2019 Philippine film) written by Miguel Mendoza.

Velarde released her first album Sikat Ako.

The title of her album was based on her first solo major concert last February 2019 where Regine Velasquez surprised and joined her for a duet of "Araw Gabi".

Due to its success, it follows her 2nd major solo concert "SiKat i2".

She later joined Masked Singer Pilipinas 2020 as DIWATA where she became 1st runner up over Daryl Ong.

Her successful journey from that contest made her as a judge on a reality singing competition Born to Be a Star.