Christian Bautista

Christian Joseph Morata Bautista (born October 19, 1981), more popularly known by his screen name Christian Bautista, is a Filipino singer, actor and model. He was a finalist of Star In A Million, a Philippine reality show aired on ABS-CBN channel, winning the 4th place in the competition in 2003. After the contest, he signed a recording contract with Warner Music Philippines^[1] and released his self-titled debut album, Christian Bautista. The multi-platinum album established his name as an OPM artist with songs such as "The Way You Look At Me", "Invincible" and "Hands To Heaven" topping the charts. The singer gained popularity not only in the Philippines but in other countries in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand^[1].The singer also collaborated with fellow Filipino singers Nina, Sitti, Rachelle Ann Go, Sarah Geronimo, Sheryn Regis, Erik Santos and Mark Bautista. He regularly appears in ABS-CBN's variety show ASAP XV. Bautista was born in Manila, Philippines on October 19, 1981^[2]. He is the eldest of three siblings of Jo and Ebert Bautista. He was a choir member in their church since he was seven years old^[2].Bautista studied grade school and high school at the International Christian Academy, which also hailed other Filipino actors such as Ryan Eigenmann, Geoff Eigenmann, Rico Yan and Billy Joe Crawford. He then took up Landscape Architecture at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree^[2].He was a table tennis varsity player during college before focusing on singing and entering showbiz.^[3] He joined ABS-CBN's reality talent show Star In A Million in 2003.First thrust in the spotlight as ABS-CBN’s Star In A Million’s most popular non-winner, his future was sealed soon after with a recording contract with hit-making label Warner Music Philippines^[4][5][6]. The partnership produced the phenomenal hit “The Way You Look At Me^[7],” and life was never the same again for the 25-year old Landscape Architecture graduate from the University of the Philippines. Christian’s self-titled album^[8], which carried his first hit song reached Multi-Platinum status in the Philippines, and Indonesia^[9].Christian’s international success began with “The Way You Look at Me” was released on his single on December 12, 2004, getting frequent airplay in Indonesian radio stations. The song became an instant hit among the country’s young music lovers, even if they had yet to see the artist behind the ballad.The song, penned by American composers Andrew Fromm and Keith Follese^[5], became so popular that record label Warner Indonesia decided to bring Christian there to the great delight of the fans whose support for the Filipino singer has been steadily growing and even spreading to neighboring countries.