(By Ricky Tuason)

Singled out among the front acts during Kamustahan 2004 was a singer with a distinct touch of élan. It was her introduction to the community and queries were made to the identity of this vivacious singer who indeed is another valuable addition to our treasure chest of celebrities and entertainers What distinguished her from the rest was her genteel performance, sophisticated and stylish. Her next public performance was at the benefit concert of Nu Driz in July 2004 and again she was a definite standout belting out a repertoire on another genre. A rather classy and adept singer, with a dynamic and effervescent voice, her repertoire excludes run-of the mill songs as her well-defined and superb singing style is attuned to jazz, rock and blues. The official introduction of this protean artist to the community was at DPA day 2005 when she wowed the audience with her top-rate repertoire in a zestful and prominent interpretation of an exclusive repertoire. In 2006, she was also featured in a benefit show of the Pinay Sa Holland's "Isang Awit ....Babae Bayani Ka!",a rapturous musical tribute to the International Working Women's Day.

Singing has always been the focal point of Joyce San Mateo's life. She started singing at a very tender age, even before she learned to walk. Whenever her parents had visitors at home she would warble songs from the Jacksons 5. As she grew up she continued singing and was a member of the church and school choirs and excelled in both that eventually she was promoted to a soloist rank. Although singing was mainly her hobby, never in her wildest dreams did she expect this to be her bread and butter. She inherited the gift of music from her father Romy San Mateo who is a pianist and musical director. He was musical director of prime television shows such as: Darigold Jamboree in the 1960s, Nora Aunor's Superstar in the 70s, Aliw Awards in the 80's and Bert Nievera's Chairman of the Board in the 90s.

Joyce's passion for singing developed as she grew older as well as her singing voice that acquired a jazzy tint. As such she was hired to sing professionally at jazz lounges and five-star hotels in the Philippines at a very young age of 15 and was chaperoned constantly by her doting mother. She was not allowed to perform anywhere else and her strict parents saw to that, as she was still busy with her studies. She graduated from the St. Scholastica's College, Manila with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Psychology as well as Bachelor of Arts in Guidance and Counseling. After graduation she was able to land a job with Philippines Air Lines. Her singing talent was not left unnoticed as pretty soon she was behind the voices of the multiplex recordings in the 90's together with Lani Misalucha.

After her stint with PAL she decided to make singing her career and toured different five-star hotels in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Osaka. She also continued her engagements in the 5-star hotels in Manila. However, her talent was not limited to singing as she also undertook composing and recording of her original compositions.

Finally she met the man of her life and was transported to the Netherlands in March 1998. As singing had become part and parcel of her being, she had to compromise motherhood with furthering her career in singing. Due to her proficient singing prowess she was hired immediately by different cover bands playing pop, soul, old-school-funk, dance and jazz music. Her vocals were included in the Baja Beach club CDs in 1998, sang the versions of "You to me are everything" and "Celebration". She also recorded "Tell Me" that was included in the Trance 100, with the stage name of "Missy J". She was a finalist of "De Grote Prijs van Nederland-Vocalist of Dance Music Division". Furthermore, she has composed, collaborated and recorded different types of music such as dance, lounge, hip-hop, jazz, soul and broken beats with different recording producers.

At present she is still performing all throughout the Netherlands with live show bands such as Brother Sister, Sunday Special and Dr. Groove. She will also be performing at DPA Day 2007 on 29 September 2007.