Jamie Rivera

Mary Jane Cruz Mendoza (born August 29, 1966), known professionally as Jamie Rivera, is a pop singer from the Philippines and also known as the Inspirational Diva.

Since her debut album Hey It's Me, Rivera has had five gold and two platinum-selling albums issued by PARI. Rivera has sung to Pope John Paul II, and played the role of Kim in the Miss Saigon musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in the West End of London, England. Most recently, she is known for singing the theme song of the Papal Visit 2015 We Are All God's Children. She also met Pope Francis during his Apostolic visit to the Philippines on January 15–19, 2015.

Family and education

Rivera is a Roman Catholic. She is married to JB Mendoza and has a daughter named Reine Mendoza, who was born on December 12, 1996.

She graduated from University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Economics.

Discography

Studio albums

• Hey It's Me (debut album) (OctoArts International, Inc., 1987)
• All Out for Love (OctoArts International, Inc., 1988)
• We Can Show the World (OctoArts International, Inc., 1990)
• Pangako (OctoArts International, Inc., 1993)
• Second Thoughts (OctoArts International, Inc., 1994)
• Once More (Star Music, 1996)
• Feels So Right (Star Music, 1999) Gold award
• Heal Our Land (Star Music, 2001) Gold award
• Seasons (Star Music, 2001)
• The Purpose Driven Life (Star Music, 2004) Gold & Platinum awards
• Inspirations (Star Music, 2012) Gold award
• My Christmas Gift (Star Music, 2013) Gold award
• We Are All God's Children (Star Music, 2015) Gold & Platinum awards

Compilation albums

• Greatest Hits (OctoArts International, Inc. "now PolyEast Records", 1991)
• OPM Timeless Collection (OctoArts-EMI Music, Inc. "now PolyEast Records", 1997)
• The Story of Jamie Rivera: Ultimate OPM Collection (EMI Philippines, Inc., “now PolyEast Records”, 2001)
• Jamie Rivera... At Her Best (Star Music, 2005)
• Best of Jamie Rivera (Star Music, 2013)
• Hey It's Me, Jamie!: 30th Anniversary Tribute Album (Star Music, 2017)

Singles

Controversies

"My Life In Your Hands"

In August of 2003, Jamie was accused for incorrect lyrics involving one of its songs, "My Life In Your Hands" from her 2001 album, Seasons. The song was composed by Kathy Troccoli and Bill Montvilo, and originally performed by Troccoli in 1994 and later by Kirk Franklin in 1997. In Jamie's version of that song, the lyrics was eventually changed, including the words "People" replacing "Keeping" and "Love" replaces "Hope" in the chorus, and the word "Stone" replacing "Lord" in the coda. Careers-BMG Music Publishing and Floating Note Music, publishers of that song, did not granting the permission for inclusion of the song in the album released by her label, Star Records. In addition, they eventually misspelled the composers' names in the album's liner notes. Narciso Chan, the sales and marketing director of BMG Pilipinas (now Sony Music Philippines) says that the incorrect lyrics, the misspelling of the song's composers and uncrediting of the publishers of the song "My Life In Your Hands" is 'blatantly illegal' under the United States copyright laws. Nixon Sy, Star Records' assistant marketing director, did not received the letter from Mr. Chan and the company had decline to comment. Star Records' VP for operations Annabelle Regaldo, managing director Enrico Santos and marketing director Heinrich Ngo said that her album Seasons will reissued with correct lyrics of the song "My Life In Your Hands" in October of 2003, with the correction of the song composers' names and inclusion of the publisher's credits in the album's liner notes, as well as three additional tracks for the 2003 re-release of the album.