Maria Teresa Magdalena Abellare Llamedo-Cruzata (born July 22, 1961), professionally known as Dulce (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈdʊlsɛ]), is a Filipino singer and actress.

[2] Llamedo was born to a poor[5] family of musicians on July 22, 1961, in Villa Bulsita, a sitio of Barangay Bulacao in Pardo, Cebu City.

[6] Her father, Leoncio, was a carpenter who played the double bass in the village band while her mother, Andrea, was a dress-maker who sang in their local chapel.

[6] She returned to Cebu with her mother but left and came back to Manila[7] at age 16[9] where she worked as a singer at a club-restaurant owned by a "controversial public official" who had abused her.

[5] It was in this club-restaurant, however, where Llamedo was discovered by the composer George Canseco who was searching for a singer to sing his theme for the 1978 film Miss Dulce Amor, Ina starring Lorna Tolentino.

Later that year, Dulce was sent to Hong Kong to compete at the Asian Singing Competition using an English - translated version (adaptation, “I Am Not Crying Over You”) of the song as her performance piece.

During this time, she had joined the Philippine government's "Balik Saya" musical caravan singing theme songs of local movies in the United States and Canada.

In New York, Cameron Mackintosh reportedly told her that she was "over-qualified" for the small role that was open and that it would be a waste of talent.

[7] From 1991 to 2004, Dulce's rendition of Constancio de Guzman’s Maalaala Mo Kaya served as the theme song of the television drama anthology of the same name.