RIYADH, 4 June 2006 — Kimverlie Molina, a student of the Philippine School in Dammam, topped the TFC Popstar 2006 singing competition in Dubai on Friday, bringing home not only fame but also wealth.
The 14-year-old singing sensation won a house and lot worth more than a million pesos, located in Antipolo, Rizal, east of Manila. She also won airline tickets, a cash prize and home electronics products.
Molina defeated seven contestants including a fellow teenage representative from Saudi Arabia, two teenagers from Bahrain and Kuwait, one male service crew in Kuwait, a housewife in Bahrain and two professional band members in Dubai.
“The interpretation of my daughter of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and I Have Nothing has elevated her into the final three,” her dad, Dr. Ronnie Molina, told Arab News in a telephone interview.
The other contestants who got into the final three were Daryll Kit Concepcion and Angelita Pacia, both band singers from Dubai. Molina’s final song that made her win the competition was Mariah Carey’s Emotions.
Molina, who will be a senior student at PSD when classes begin next week, has a very big passion for music. Her father said she was already singing at age two and formally performed onstage at the age of three.
A three-time champion of the Little McDonalds Talent Contest from 1996-98, she has also won the titles Ms. Talent and Darling of Al-Hokair for the Little Miss Al-Hokair Search 2001. At age nine, she started modeling for popular brands.
She loves to play drums, strum the guitar, and is currently learning piano. Through her musical inclination, her dad was inspired to organize a group called the “Filipino Pop Music Club,” which is now a music center located in her own school.
The TFC Popstar quest is conducted annually since its inception in 2004 in Dubai. It was the first time Filipinos from Saudi Arabia joined the contest. The SE Productions of Ranny Basanta is the franchise holder of TFC Popstar in Saudi Arabia.
TFC is the flagship product of ABS-CBN Global, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation.
ABS-CBN Global is the only Philippine television network which has the most extensive news bureau in the Middle East with more than 20 correspondents spread in all countries comprising the Gulf Cooperating Council.
