Meet KUMU Star DK Tijam

DK Tijam (Dean Kristoffer Tijam) is a Filipino-Canadian singer based in Toronto Canada. He is best known as a finalist of “Star in a Million,” a 2003 singing competition on ABS-CBN, hosted by Zsa Padilla and Edu Manzano.

Dubbed the ”RnB Heartthrob,” DK Tijam competed with Erik Santos, Sheryn Regis, Christian Bautista, and Marinel Santos for the title, “Star in a Million” and won 6th place. He had performed with Zsa Zsa Padilla, Agot Isidro, Bituin Escalante, Nina, Gary Valenciano, and other artists of ABS-CBN.  Star Records released a compilation album performed by all the finalists and reached Platinum status in 2004.

DK Tijam’s rendition of Ella Mae Saison’s “Till My Heartaches End” was used as the theme song of the 2003 TV series “Buttercup” which starred ABS-CBN’s big stars such as Claudine Barretto, Piolo Pascual, Diether Ocampo, and Angelu de Leon. It became the number one song on numerous radio stations in the Philippines.

 

Earlier in his career, he performed the backup vocals for “RNB Queen of the Philippines” Kyla for her song entry “Kulang Pa Ba?” at the 2003 Metro Pop Song Festival. He also did the backup vocals for two of her songs from her album “Kyla Queen of RnB” in 2018. 

 

DK Tijam released his solo debut album “A Different Kind” and was nominated for Best New Male Artist and Best RnB Song at the 2006 Awit Awards.

 

His musical career was set to soar then, as album promotions, TV guesting, mall tours, radio interviews, and bar shows, were all scheduled but his immigration to Canada beckoned, and he had to leave the Philippines. 

 

Even after he left the Philippine music scene, he continued to represent Filipino singers in Canada. He performed in prestigious venues such as the Massey Hall, Roy Thompson Theatre, and Toronto’s version of “Times Square,” the Dundas Square. He also opened the Canadian concerts for Regine Velasquez, Ogie Alcasid, Lani Misalucha, Vice Ganda, and international singer and Grammy award winner, Patti Austin. 

 

In 2017, DK Tijam won the weekly battle of a Worship Song Writing Competition for A Song of Praise (ASOP) for the song “Wala Kang Katulad” aired on Net 25.  That same year, he had his sold-out homecoming concert at the Teatrino in Greenhills, San Juan, with his special guests Erik Santos (Star in a Million), Musica Cristobal (Star for a Night), Froilan Canlas (Tawag ng Tanghalan), Tim Pavino (The Voice Philippines), and Kyla.

He was featured on Wish 107.5 Bus and performed “Hanggang Ngayon” with over 700,000 views. DK Tijam has more than 1 million plays now on Spotify and he is working on putting more of his music out! 

DK Tijam recently ventured on live-streaming to showcase his music and talent on Kumu, a Filipino-made live-streaming application. He is under the management of House of Stars headed by Bianca Lapus. He continues to amaze Filipinos from all around the world with his passion and emotions and he believes that a singer should also be a storyteller. As DK’s streams flourished, his achievements on the live-streaming app did as well. Aside from consistently being part of the Top 100 Earners on Kumu, he has topped many campaigns and has had many successful virtual shows. Aside from impressing Filipino audiences, he has also enthralled many OPM Music Icons on the platform such as Regine Velasquez, Dulce, Dessa, JayR, Ella Mae Saison, Mon Faustino, and Ivy Violan, to name a few that he has performed alongside with. 

 

Now, his passion continues as he teaches and guides young Filipino and Canadian kids on how to be a storyteller in singing and he helps them to gain more confidence and find their style. 

 

As a vocal coach, he has had many successful students that have won numerous Canadian singing competitions, and even students who have joined Idol Philippines. Some even joined TV shows and movies on Amazon Prime and Netflix. He also has taught some members of the Canadian musical performance group named Mini Pop Kids with millions of views between their YouTube and Spotify accounts. 

 

His other skills include songwriting, podcasting, events management, and hosting. 

 

DK Tijam is also an advocate of mental health awareness and kindness, which is why he uses his music and podcasts to influence and inspire the many people he engages with.

 

Follow DK Tijam on Kumu, Facebook Page, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify.