Star in the Making

Twenty-five-year-old singing sensation J Rey Soul tells us her journey on how she made it to become the lead singer of the international pop group, Black Eyed Peas

- Jove Moya

She has the charm, talent and determination needed to complete the recipe for stardom. Born in Hong Kong, J Rey Soul was adopted and raised by Filipino parents in the province of Laguna. At the tender age of nine, she joined a local singing show where she realised she wanted to sing and make music forever. The rest, as they say, is history.

She is fondly called Jessica Joy Seria Reynoso in her hometown, but the singer prefers J Rey Soul on stage. “I’ve always had J Rey in the back of my head for a very long time, but I never committed to it until that one-time American rapper Will.I.am asked me what my last name was,” she recalls. “I said ‘Reynoso,’ and he said ‘Rey no so, sounds like Rey no Soul [but] you have this amazing voice and so much soul, I think you should take out the no and just make it Rey Soul’ then there’s J Rey Soul”.