Unique Torralba Salonga, known mononymously as Unique or stylized as UNIQUE, (born April 26, 2000) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

singer-songwriter and musician. He began his career as a vocalist and original frontman of

IV of Spades IV of Spades (stylized as IV OF SPADES, pronounced "four of spades") is a Filipino rock band from Metro Manila, Philippines, consisting of vocalist, bassist and keyboardist Zild Benitez, vocalist and lead guitarist Blaster Silonga, and drummer ...

and later pursued a solo career.

Career

Band frontman

2014–2018: ''IV of Spades''

In June 2014, Allan Silonga decided to form a band for his son Blaster, who would become the band's lead guitarist. The Silongas were able to recruit drummer Badjao de Castro and bassist

Zild Benitez Daniel Zildjian Garon Benitez (born April 23, 1997), popularly known as Zild, is a Filipino musician, producer, and singer-songwriter. He is currently the lead vocalist, pianist/keyboardist, synth player and bassist of IV of Spades. Personal ...

, who are the sons of Allan's friends. Unique Salonga, who was already writing his own music, was later recruited to become the band's lead singer. IV of Spades signed to a record label and released their first single "Ilaw sa Daan" under

Warner Music Philippines Warner Music Philippines (WMP) is a record label in the Philippines. It is a regional branch of the multinational music conglomerate Warner Music Group. Founded in 1977, the company gained its self-distributed status and has since began release ...

. The group's second single, "Hey Barbara" was released on July 9, 2017, and followed up by their third single "Where Have You Been My Disco?", released on December 9, 2017, via YouTube. In 2018, the band released their fourth single called "Mundo". It became the group's highest viewed single on YouTube. The band's videos have over 100 million views on YouTube. IV of Spades won the New Artist of the Year and the MYX Bandarito Performance of the Year and Nominated as Group of the Year at the annual

Myx Music Award The Myx Music Awards, currently known as the Myx Awards, are accolades presented by the cable channel Myx to honor the biggest hitmakers in the Philippines. The awards ceremony is held annually and occurs most commonly in March, and broadcast del ...

s. The band also won the Dreams Come True with Air Asia, the airline's search for the most promising acts in the region. The band performed with

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

as part of their prize. They also won the Favorite New Group award at the 30th annual

Awit Awards The Awit Awards are music awards in the Philippines given annually by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) to recognize the outstanding achievements in the music industry. The word "Awit" means "song" literally in Filipino. T ...

. On May 4, 2018, Unique Salonga left

in order to pursue a solo career.

Solo career

2018–present

In 2018, Salonga released his debut single, ''Midnight Sky'', under the label of O/C Records of

VIVA Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...

. In the same year, Salonga released his debut album, ''

Grandma Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic gra ...

,'' and his first solo concert was held on September 29, 2018. He released his second album, '' PANGALAN:'' in 2020.

Discography

Albums

Singles

as Solo Artist with

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unique Filipino rock musicians 21st-century Filipino male singers Filipino songwriters Living people ABS-CBN personalities Viva Artists Agency Viva Records (Philippines) artists 2000 births Singers from Manila