Sitti

Early life

Sitti Navarro was born to lawyer Rolando Navarro and Lydia Baiddin, in Manila, Philippines. Sitti is of Samal and Tausūg descent. She identifies herself as being Jama Mapun (Sama Kagayan), one of the Sama-Bajau subgroups in Tawi-Tawi. She graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman in April 2005 with a degree in Business Economics and was a dean's lister at said university. In high school, she was editor-in-chief of the school paper and graduated as valedictorian of her class.

In college, she was an active member of the AIESEC Local Committee where she was the Vice President for Outgoing Exchange from 2003 to 2004. She was also a member of the Organization of Business Economics Majors (OBEM) in UP Diliman.

Sitti has won two beauty pageant awards: the title of Miss Visayas 2001 in the Miss Travel Girl Pageant, and the first runner-up in the search for "Miss Silka" where she was also named Miss Friendship and Best in Swimwear.

Personal life

Since tying the knot with fiancé Joey Ramirez last May at a beautiful garden wedding in Baguio City, Bossa Nova Queen Sitti Navarro — who will soon be celebrating her 10th year in the industry — has changed a lot, and we’re not just talking about her civil status.

In a press gathering to launch her latest album Sitti Singles: Bossa Nova Trio (the last album she recorded as a single woman), Sitti talked about her first few months of married life.

She and Joey — a businessman and triathlete — were matched up as blind dates by the cousin of Sitti’s bestfriend who goes biking with her regularly. She thought the two would make a good match, and they did. Since then, according to Sitti, she has noticed that everything in her life has taken on a deeper, richer tone and that includes her music. “Mas may kabuluhan, mas meaningful,” she said, becoming teary-eyed.

“I had no idea that being married could give one such happiness. This is a new chapter in my life looking how they will affect me as a singer and songwriter.”

Musical career

Since the age of 16, Sitti has been performing gigs at the Hyatt Calesa Bar and others. Although it was her dream to be a TV host, she is now one of the Philippines' newest singers. In 2004, MTV Philippines started "MTV Supahstar: D' Super Search", where Sitti was one of the winners. She also appeared in the group's music videos, showcasing her talents. It led to her recording contract.

Her debut album, Café Bossa, was released in 2006. Four songs have been released': "Tattooed On My Mind", a remake of the D'Sound hit; "Hey Look at the Sun", "I Didn't Know I Was Looking for Love", and "Para Sa Akin". A live album, Sitti Live!, was released in late 2006, and Café Bossa was re-released with a VCD in 2007.

Sitti collaborated with Club Myx to release Sitti in the Mix - The Dense Modesto Remixes, a collection of songs from Café Bossa that were made into dance-electronica songs with the help of DJ Dense Modesto, in mid-2007, before the release of her second album My Bossa Nova, which focuses on more recent songs. My Bossa Nova was re-released in mid-2008 with a VCD of Sitti Live! 2 called My Bossa Nova Live! and is now a certified Platinum album at the moment.

In the third quarter of 2008, Sitti released her first Christmas album, Ngayong Pasko. Unlike her past albums, this album is purely a cover versions album with only one original song, the carrier single and title of the album, Ngayong Pasko. This album also has reached the Gold status in less than a month after its release.

Sitti has also collaborated with Asia's Pop Idol and Romantic Balladeer, Christian Bautista for his album Captured for a duet of the song of the same title. They once again collaborated for Sitti's Christmas album on the song "Baby It's Cold Outside".

In the second quarter of 2009, Sitti released her third studio album entitled "Contagious", which contains an original which was also the carrier single, "Is This Love", co-penned by Andrew Fromm, who also penned Christian Bautista's hit song, "The Way You Look At Me".

On March 8, 2012, she released her fifth studio album, Sitti - Sessions, which spawned two singles; "Sino'ng Mag-aakala" and "Wag Mo Na Munang Sabihin". The album allowed her to experiment with other genres apart from bossa nova.

In the first Tokyo-Manila Jazz and Arts Festival, Sitti announced that her record label's Japanese branch will release one of her albums there, and that the label will decide on its release date. The album, released May 2012 on iTunes and October 2012 in stores, is titled "Bossa Covers".

In 2013, she participated in the Philippines' highly esteemed Elements National Music Camp, where she was mentored by the likes of Ryan Cayabyab, Joey Ayala and Gary Granada, among others.

On June 25, 2013, it was announced that she will be entering the second Philippine Popular Music Festival as an interpreter with Julianne Tarroja for the song called "Pansamantagal" written by Jungee Marcelo.

Television work

Sitti was also co-host of Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 on Studio 23, alongside Asia Agcaoili, ending with the victory of Beatriz Saw. She is currently the official endorser for Lush Group of Companies, specially for the brands Fruitas, Buko Ni Fruitas and The Mango Farm chains all over the Philippines.

She also ventured into acting in Judy Ann Santos' primetime teleserye, "Isabella", where she portrayed 'Tere', an aspiring lounge singer. Sitti was also featured in ABS-CBN's "Your Song" where her song "Ikaw Lamang" was the single for the episode she acted in with Sam Milby.

She also had a few hosting stints in Studio 23 such as Pinoy Dream Academy and Travel Time.

Sitti is currently a semi-regular on ABS-CBN's top-rating Sunday variety show, ASAP '09. She appears on a segment called ASAP Sessionistas together with MYMP, Aiza Seguerra, Nina, Richard Poon and Duncan Ramos.

Stage Acting

Sitti was part of "Katy! The Musical" which was staged last December 27, 2008 at Harbor Garden Tent Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila wherein she played as Mary Walter. Alongside her was KC Concepcion, Jericho Rosales, Mitch Valdez, Dulce, Eugene Villaluz,Rachel Alejandro, Bituin Escalante, Jonalyn Viray, Aicelle Santos, Maricris Garcia, Frenchie Dy, Gian Magdangal, Gab Valenciano and Jennylyn Mercado.

In 2009, Sitti played the role of "Martha" in the Philippine staging of the Tony-award winning, 19th century stage drama Spring Awakening from Atlantis Productions. Spring Awakening was directed by Chari Arespacochaga and features the set design of Tuxqs Rutaquio, choreography by Dexter Santos, costume design by Rajo Laurel, lights design by Voltaire de Jesus and musical direction by Jojo Malferari.