''Star for a Night'' was a Philippine singing contest produced by

Viva Television Viva Television Corporation is a Philippine television production company owned by Viva Communications. History Viva Communications ventured into television production in 1986 with ''The Sharon Cuneta Show''. Cuneta's big screen success easily ...

and broadcast by

IBC IBC is an initialism that can stand for: Broadcasting *Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, Channel 13, Philippines * International Beacon Project, Worldwide network of radio propagation beacons *International Broadcast Centre *International ...

from March 31, 2002 to March 1, 2003. The host was the Asia's Songbird

Regine Velasquez Regina Encarnacion Ansong Velasquez ( ; born April 22, 1970) is a Filipina singer, actress, and record producer. She is considered one of the most influential figures in Philippine popular culture and is known for her vocal range and beltin ...

. The grand finals took place in Ultra in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

City.

Show summary

The show was a Philippine version of the British singing talent show '' Star for a Night'' and auditioned singers across the country to perform on a 1-hour Saturday night show (started airing Easter Sunday of 2002), broadcast from 8-9pm on

. It is best remembered for the performances of

Sarah Geronimo Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo-Guidicelli (, , born July 25, 1988) is a Filipino singer, performer and actress. Geronimo rose to prominence after winning the television singing contest '' Star for a Night'' earning her a recording contract with Vi ...

, who at the age of fourteen won the competition, including a

₱ The Philippine peso sign (₱) is the currency symbol used for the Philippine peso, the official currency of the Philippines. The symbol resembles a Roman letter P with two horizontal strokes. It differs from the currency symbol used for the pe ...

1 million cash prize and a managerial contract with Vicente Del Rosario, owner of

Viva Artists Agency Viva Communications Inc., formerly known as Viva Entertainment Inc. and simply Viva, is a Philippine media and entertainment company headquartered in Pasig City. It was founded on November 11, 1981, by Vic del Rosario and his sister Tess Cruz. ...

Anne Curtis Anne Curtis-Smith(; born 17 February 1985) is a Filipino-Australian actress, model, television host, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is dubbed as the "''Multimedia Superstar''" for her talent and influence. Curtis has received numerou ...

, who just started her showbiz career, once served as member of the Board of Judges. Singer and actress

Athena Tibi or Athena Tibi is a Filipino singer, YouTuber, stage actress and movie actress from Manila, Philippines and raised in Saitama, Japan. She is best known for her role as Kristine Santos in the 2009 film ''A Journey Home'' by Paul Soriano and ...

was also discovered on the show and signed to

, where she debuted as part of pop group 3Yo, before moving into musicals and later moving to Japan.

was given the title of ''Pop Star Princess'' as a result of the show. Her mother said, "Her cash prize in Star For a Night was a big help, This school year, we don't need to borrow money from other people because of my children's tuition fees." Other notable contestants including

Mark Bautista Mark Arazo Bautista (born August 10, 1983) is a Filipino singer, actor and commercial model. Bautista received his career break when he became a grand finalist on the Philippine reality TV talent search ''Star for a Night'' where he placed third ...

who also became a successful recording artist and actor, Florie May Lucido or Reema Lucida became a contender in ''

Born Diva ''Born Diva'' is a Philippine reality show on ABS-CBN and internationally on The Filipino Channel, hosted by Zsa Zsa Padilla. It aired from August 28 to November 13, 2004, replacing ''Star in a Million''. Overview Finalists *Shayne Corpuz *Ree ...

'', Maureen Marcelo who won the ''

Philippine Idol ''Philippine Idol'' is the first version of the Idol series in the Philippines, the 35th country in the world to air a local ''Idol'' adaptation and the sixth in Asia broadcast by ABC (now TV5). Similar to the premise of original show ''Pop Id ...

'', Mae Flores who made it as one of the top 12 contenders in ''

Pinoy Idol ''Pinoy'' ( ) is a common informal self-reference used by Filipinos to refer to citizens of the Philippines and their culture as well as to overseas Filipinos in the Filipino diaspora. A Pinoy who has any non-Filipino foreign ancestry is often ...

'' who finished in 11th place and member of Blush which is an Asian girl group originally composed of five members from the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea,

Angeline Quinto Angeline Ticman Quinto (; born November 26, 1989) is a Filipina singer, actress, entrepreneur and winner of '' Star Power: Sharon's Search For The Next Female Pop Superstar'' in 2011. Quinto has been dubbed as the "''Philippines’ Queen of ...

, the winner of '' Star Power: The Search for the Next Female Pop Superstar'' and Kristela Musica Cristobal who was one of the greatest contenders and

Klarisse de Guzman Klarisse de Guzman (born September 6, 1991) is a Filipino singer and composer who rose to prominence after winning as the first-runner up of the first season of The Voice of the Philippines in 2013 and being crowned the winner of the third s ...

, runner-up of the first season of ''

The Voice of the Philippines ''The Voice of the Philippines'' is a Philippine reality television singing competition on ABS-CBN. It is based on the reality singing competition ''The Voice of Holland'', which was originally created by Dutch television producer John de Mol ...

'', with

as her coach. This is their first collaboration after more than a decade. The success of the show led to a second season, called ''

Search for a Star ''Search for a Star'' is a Philippine television singing talent show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Regine Velasquez, it premiered on June 21, 2003. The show concluded on March 13, 2004 with a total of 39 episodes. It was replaced by ''Star ...

''. The grand finals night of ''Star for a Night'' was re-aired on TV5 on January 30, 2016 as a preparation for the newly produced singing talent search '' Born to Be a Star''.

Grand finalists

- Winner *

* Maureen Marcelo * Florie May Lucido * Jason Velasquez *

* Mailyn Yu * Angeli Mae Flores * Roxanne Castro * Kristela Musica Cristobal * Carlo San Jose

Semi-finalists

*Argie Jazmin *

*Arnie Vale

References

External links

Star for a Night (Viva Entertainment site)
* {{IMDb title, 0372096, Star for a Night Philippine reality television series Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation original programming 2002 Philippine television series debuts 2003 Philippine television series endings Television series by Viva Television Filipino-language television shows tl:Search for a Star