Are You The Next Big Star? is a reality music competition to find two new solo musical talents, created and developed by GMA New Media, Inc.. It debuted on May 16, 2009 on GMA Network, and is hosted by Regine Velasquez, with comedian-singer Keempee de Leon as the co-host.

The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nation-wide auditions. The public decides the outcomes of the later stages through text voting. The judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances have included Pops Fernandez, Randy Santiago;Danny Tan, Mon Faustino and Annie Quintos.

The prizes at stake includes one million pesos (P 1,000,000), a condominium unit from Avida, a management contract from GMA Artist Center and a recording contract from GMA Records. There will be two winners in the show: one male and one female.

On August 23, 2009, on the show's big finale, Frencheska Farr and Geoff Taylor were announced as the next female big star and next male big star respectively. Following the third and final round of the competition, Zyrene Parsad and Jay Perillo were eliminated. Camille Cortez and Alex Castro joined Frencheska Farr and Geoff Taylor in the final round of competition.

Alex Castro (born September 27, 1992 in Marilao, Bulacan) is a Filipino singer, actor and performer signed to GMA Network, yet later transferred to its rival network ABS-CBN.

Tony Vega (born July 13, 1957 in Salinas, Puerto Rico) is a renowned salsa singer and bandleader.

Vega received his primary education in his hometown. He was born into a family of musicians and therefore learned how to play the bongos and conga at an early age. In 1967, when he was 10 years old, he played the conga for a kids band called "La Prefeida". His family moved to New York City in 1968. In New York, Vega continued to go to school. In his free time however, he played the conga for various local Latin rock bands including "City Trash".

Latin music was very popular in New York during the 1970s and while Vega played the conga for Latin rock bands, he started to become more and more interested in the afroantillano style of music better known as salsa. He listened to and was influenced by Ismael Rivera, Rafael Cortijo, Rafael Ithier and El Gran Combo.

In 1978, after he graduated from high school, Vega auditioned and was accepted by "La Selecta" a well known salsa band directed by Raphy Leavitt. He sang with the band and recorded "Cosquillita" (Tickle) "Sheila Taina" and "El Picaflor", which became "hits". In 1980, Vega was doing a show with La Selecta and in the audience was another salsa bandleader, Willie Rosario. Rosario was impressed with Vega and invited him to join his band. He did and participated in many recordings, and from 1981 to 1986, he shared credits with a young singer by the name of Gilberto Santa Rosa. Vega also played an essential role in the recording of "La Nueva Cosecha" (The New Harvest) which was nominated for a Grammy Award. He stayed with Rosario for eight years.