Martin Nievera

Nievera developed an interest in music, particularly in singing, at an early age. In their first year in Hawaii, the family lived on the fifteenth floor of the Outrigger Hotel, and the young Nievera "would watch him [his father] perform downstairs with the Society of Seven, and every night I would dream and imagine myself as one of the members of that group, singing for audiences both big and small." While working as a burger flipper at a restaurant that his family owned in Hawaii or at another family-owned restaurant, called Roadrunner Burgers, in Concord, California (where they would eventually move to), Nievera received singing lessons from his father, learning "how and when to belt and how to end the song in a big way." By the age of fourteen, he was performing with him in Society of Seven shows. Nievera said in 2018, "It all happened in the main showroom in that Outrigger Hotel  [...] That room is now known as the Blue Note Hawaii, and I still perform there to this day. It has become a very sacred room for me probably because that's where dad gave me my first set of wings."

In 2018, Martin won as the Myx Magna Award in the Myx Music Awards, for contributing his achievements in music as a singer, performer and also being a talk show host and as a funny comedian.

In July 2010, Nievera's album, As Always was released. In May 2011, his album, Himig Ng Damdamin was launched and contains all of his covers. In March 2012, he was announced as one of the four celebrity judges of The X Factor Philippines, which aired on ABS-CBN by the 2nd quarter of 2012.

He appeared with Hawaii's Society of Seven and Lani Misalucha at the Flamingo Las Vegas from February 13 through April 13, 2008. He performed a pre-Valentine/post-birthday concert with Pops Fernandez titled "Missing You" on February 6, 2009, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. He co-hosts the weekly music show called ASAP on ABS-CBN.

Inspired by his father, Nievera returned to the Philippines in 1982 to begin his own singing career. By June 1983, he released his first LP, Martin...Take One. Nievera began co-hosting the TV variety show The Penthouse Live! with Pops Fernandez, who would later become his wife. Nievera's second LP was 1984's The Best Gift. In 1987, The Penthouse Live! was changed to Martin and Pops Twogether, in celebration of their marriage. His recording Forever led to two sequels, Forever Forever and Return to Forever.

After graduating from Clayton Valley in 1980, Nievera joined in the 1981 California State Talent Competition in Santa Clara, which he won. As contestant number 1049, he competed against over four thousand other contestants for "[f]our days long  [...] you had to win the first day to compete the second day to compete the third day. The third day was the championship, the fourth day is a championship of all the champions of the different categories. So I won the third day, then I won the overall grand champion." Nievera said of his victory, "It was a big moment in my life. That was when I knew I was gonna be a singer." His winning piece was "The Greatest Love of All", the song that he learned from his father while working at the restaurant.

In c.  1980 – c.  1982, Nievera was among the singers chosen to perform with Barry Manilow at his three-day concert in Concord Pavilion, singing back-up in a choir to the latter's "One Voice". After this experience, he said, "Okay, I'm gonna be a singer." Around this time, when he was nineteen, Nievera's parents were having problems with their relationship. Nievera resented this and attempted to commit suicide. In a 2011 television interview with Boy Abunda, he recalled going to church and venting his anger on God, screaming "What the hell is happening? What else can I do?"

In the 1970s, the family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Nievera enrolled at Clayton Valley High School in Concord, where he was part of the basketball team. He was encouraged by the school's wrestling coach to enter the choir, impressed by a rendition of Morris Albert's "Feelings" that Nievera sang while showering in the locker room. Bert said that his son began to realize "he could sing professionally" when he was sixteen, the same age when he did. Aside from his father, who always supported his singing, Nievera also credits for his skill his Cebuana maternal grandmother, Lourdes Corrales, a famous mezzo-soprano opera singer and radio personality in the 1940s. Unlike Bert, Conchita was against their son's dream, instead wanting him to become a doctor or a lawyer. "She knew what she [his grandmother] and my father went through  [...] the [show] business takes a lot out of you."

Martin Ramon Razon Nievera (/n j ɛ ˈ v ɛər ə / ; born February  5, 1962) is a Filipino singer and television host. In his career spanning more than three decades, Nievera has garnered eighteen platinum, five double platinum, three triple platinum, and one quadruple platinum albums. He is often referred to in the Philippines as the "Concert King".

Martin Ramon Razon Nievera was born on February  5, 1962 in Manila to singer Roberto "Bert" Nievera and Conchita Razon. He has a twin sister, Victoria (nicknamed "Vicki"); a younger sister, Rachel; and many half-siblings from his parents' other marriages. His father was a member of the Hawaii-based troupe Society of Seven. His mother left her first husband and fled with the twins to Hawaii when they were three years old to finally live with Bert. At this age, Nievera underwent to a surgery to have his inguinal hernia repaired. Attending elementary and high school in Hawaii, he said that he was regularly bullied by his classmates because of his appearance and "I wore a belt and shoes, so they thought belt and shoes meant mayaman ka [you are rich]. I would get beaten up for my lunch money, so my twin sister Vicki would defend me in school. The following day mas nabugbog ako [I was beaten more] because na-defend ako ng babae [I was defended by a girl]."