Jaya Age, Bio, Family

After four years of hiatus in the music scene, Jaya returned with her seventh studio album entitled, Fall in Love Again. She forwent the soulful embellishments that were plentiful in her first two albums, although every so often she added a few unwritten notes in a passionate, soulful manner. Her performance as the demon king Ravana’s sister, Soorphanaka, was memorable for her skillful treatment of risque songs and sultry dancing.

In 2023, Jaya became subject to controversy after John Lapus posted a blind item on Twitter, alleging that there was an unnamed singer repeatedly liking anti-transgender Tweets on the platform. She was one of the «Big Four» judges of GMA Network’s new musical variety show Sunday All Stars which began airing on June 30, 2013. The first single was «Is It Over?» https://jaya9betting.com/bn/ originally sung by Ronnie Milsap which received a Platinum award in 2009. Another one is Vehnee Saturno, who wrote and produced most of Jaya’s early hits. She approached her last album, 1999’s Honesty, in the refined manner that she furthered on Unleashed. In 1999, Jaya faced a big challenge when she did her first musical, the Ramayana-based Rama at Sita that starred Lani Misalucha.

• She also won as Best Interpreter at the Asia Song Festival held in Hong Kong in February 1997 for her rendition of the song «You Lift Me Up», composed by Danny Tan with lyrics by Dodjie Simon.
• In 1999, Jaya released, her fifth album released in her native country since 1996, entitled Honesty originally done by Billy Joel, was also her career single.
• Though, as before, Honesty contains mostly passionate, easy-listening love songs, this time out her approach is more intimate.
• Jaya returned to the Philippines and signed a record deal with Viva Records in March 1995 and completed her first local album.

New label

Her mother was Elizabeth Ramsey, a Filipina comedian and singer of Jamaican and Spanish-Filipino descent. Jaya also ventured into musical theatre, playing the role of Surpanakha in the 1999 Filipino musical Rama at Sita staged at the University of the Philippines Theater. Referred to as the country’s «Queen of Soul», she is known for her distinctively deep voice and soulful singing style.

Compilation albums

After five years in the recording scene, she released her first greatest hits album, entitled Five featuring a duet of Habang May Buhay (While There’s Life) with Regine Velasquez and Kung Wala Na (If It Is Gone) from the Abandonada soundtrack. In 1999, Jaya released, her fifth album released in her native country since 1996, entitled Honesty originally done by Billy Joel, was also her career single. The album consists of songs taken from an earlier Jaya album, also called A Love Album, released in the United States in 1989, as well as songs recorded specifically for the 1992 Japanese release. She released a Christmas album, entitled Kung Kailan Pasko which contained traditional carols alongside original compositions, including a jazz version of The Christmas Song. Jaya’s follow-up single, «One Kiss Per Minute», was a minor dance hit, but failed to make the pop chart and the third single from the album failed to chart as did another non-album single in 1993. It was her third cover album, containing classic R&B and jazz songs that she grew up listening to.

In 2007, she released her eighth album Cool Change under her new label, GMA Records, featuring covers of international hit songs including Donna Summer’s «On the Radio» and the Chaka Khan’s «Through the Fire». Jaya released an album under Universal Records entitled All Souled Out, a CD album containing 12 tracks of all revival songs. In 2001, Jaya released her sixth Unleashed album where she sang the songs in a relaxed, confident manner, and performed middle-of-the-road songs that mostly have depth and quality.

Studio albums

In 1999, PolyMax Records, a label of then-PolyGram Records Philippines (now an affiliate of Universal Records) released Jaya’s A Love Album, first released in 1992 in Japan under the same title. She adorns Magpakailan pa Man (Up to the End), with soulful, Toni Braxton-styled flourishes, and renders the upbeat, «Together» with panache and verve. She also won as Best Interpreter at the Asia Song Festival held in Hong Kong in February 1997 for her rendition of the song «You Lift Me Up», composed by Danny Tan with lyrics by Dodjie Simon. She was a big hit when Pinoys first heard her belt out soul ditties in 1996. Jaya returned to the Philippines and signed a record deal with Viva Records in March 1995 and completed her first local album. Corrales then asked Jaya if she would like to return to Manila and record an album, to which she agreed.

She doesn’t add many soulful flourishes as before, nor does she allow herself to soar passionately to the heavens, which she often did on her previous albums. Honesty differs greatly from Jaya’s two previous major albums released in the Philippines, 1996’s Jaya and 1997’s In the Raw. A Love Album is exquisitely produced, and Jaya acquits herself well on the album’s upbeat R&B/dance-styled tunes and soulful ballads.

It hit top 10 in several markets and made it to number one at the crossover powerhouse KMEL. The song did well in many markets but at different times, thus diluting its Hot 100 rank. The album consisted largely of freestyle dance tracks written or co-written by Stevie B, who also provided backup vocals. After high school in the U.S., Ramsey became a back-up vocalist to Miami freestyle singer Stevie B. She entered show business at the age of ten as a backup dancer for her mother, and at the age of 12 was a backup singer and front act for some minor and major shows.

In 1997, she released her third album In the Raw, (second in the Philippines) the follow-up to her massive-selling 1996 Philippine debut album, Jaya, which sold nine times platinum, (360,000 units; platinum is 40,000 units sold). Her first album under Viva Records hit an all-time high of 9 times platinum. The song hit number 14 on Billboard’s Top 40/Dance crossover chart and number 25 on the 12-inch Singles Sales chart.