The Born Diva finalist was born to sing

Her story can rival any weepy telenovela. Born Diva grand finalist Reema Lucida was born amidst mirth and merrymaking during a town fiesta on May 29, 1986. Thus, her real name, Florimae. But her story is hardly the stuff of which flowers and gay buntings are made.

Her father, a vocalist in a band, abandoned her mother Jenette, a public school teacher when Reema was one. It seems the lure of beautiful women in every place he sang in was too much for him. So Reema has a half-sibling on his side, and, after the marriage was annulled, another one on the mother’s side.

The genes manifested themselves early in Reema’s life. At six, her mom prodded her to sing Karen Carpenter’s Top of the World in a school program.

The bobby-socked second grader then joined an amateur singing contest in her native Cavite, where she was one of only two kiddie contestants. Reema didn’t bring home the bacon, but the judges’ hearts melted at the sight of the spunky, talented little girl and gave her a special prize.

Reema was then too young to understand that her piece, Bakit Ako Mahihiya, spoke of forbidden love, but sing it she did with all her might. She went home P500 richer and headed straight to the nearest Jollibee store to savor the fruit of her labor.

No one could be prouder than her mom, who admonished her eldest daughter, "Don’t worry about not winning. Just keep on trying."

That piece of advice stuck to Reema’s mind. Years after, placing third in the widely-followed Star for a Night tilt where Sarah Geronimo bagged the grand prize and Mark Bautista emerging runner-up, Reema never lost hope. And with reason.

Reema proved that mother knows best when Viva Entertainment’s Veronique del Rosario saw the petite teenager perform and called her for an audition to ABS-CBN’s newly-launched Born Diva..

The race was tough. At Viva’s Tektite Tower office, 700 contestants had to pass through the eye of the needle for that single chance at stardom. Reema made it to the final four, until she was finally proclaimed the best of the lot.

Today, the Caviteña sports a more sophisticated look. Part of her prize is a nose job from a plastic surgeon. You can tell it has made her shed her shrinking violet ways and boosted her confidence. It has also served as her launching pad to showbiz. Reema appears on ASAP Mania and now sings regularly at Suburbia Malate. She has guested in Sarah’s Music Museum concert and sang a cut in the Star for a Night’s album. Reema is also part of a Christmas album in the making.

But while success is sweet, it also has a price.

"My relatives have increased in number," says Reema. So have the suitors and detractors who accuse her of letting success get into her head.

Nothing hurts Reema more than hearing those words.

"I’m happy I can help others," she says. "If I win in Born Diva, I will build a mausoleum for my late grandfather, who passed away last June. He did not live long enough to see me so blessed."

Like most young people from a broken family, Reema grew up close to her grandparents. In fact, she lives with her maternal grandma in a rented Pasig apartment. Lola also accompanies her to her showbiz commitments.

Reema even believes her late grandpa has a hand in her victory.

"I dreamt of him the day I sang on Born Diva," she relates. "He was praying in church and he told me to wear a ring. I woke up after that. Try as I might to resume my dream, I cannot."

She did wear a ring from an aunt come contest night. And the dream was right. Reema’s life took a turn for the better after that.

With P200,000 cash, a house and lot in Filinvest homes, a car and a Star Records contract at stake in the Born Diva grand finals, Reema is not resting on her laurels. The minute she opens her eyes in the morning, she sings any tune that comes to her mind. Reema watches herself in the mirror as she rehearses her songs. She scrutinizes videos of her favorite singer, Whitney Houston. And she avoids cold drinks and ice cream like the plague.

The nose job, Reema swears, has hardly altered her cool, crystal-clear singing voice. Now, the 18-year-old Reema is all set and ready for that Born Diva grand finals that could change her life again in ways she never imagined.

Will her absentee father suddenly pop up and talk on nationwide TV to claim him for her own? Reema falls suddenly silent. Her memories of her father are vague and she’s not prepared for this possibility.

No matter what happens though, she can at least thank him for the genes that are making life for the baby girl born with weak lungs, a lot rosier.