Lilián Annette Garcia^[6] (born August 19, 1966)^[7] is an Americanring announcer,singer, andpodcaster. She is signed toWWE as a ring announcer for special events. She also announces for theProfessional Fighters League (PFL).^[8]

Lilian Garcia
Garcia in 2018
Birth name	Lilián Annette Garcia
Born	(1966-08-19)August 19, 1966 (age 58) Panama Canal Zone, U.S.
Alma mater	University of South Carolina
Spouse	Christopher Jozeph[1] ​ ​ (m. 2009;div. 2022)​ [2]
Website	liliangarcia.com
Professional wrestling career
Ring name	Lilian Garcia[3]
Billed height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[4]
Billed weight	110 lb (50 kg)[3][4]
Billed from	New York City
Debut	August 23, 1999
Musical career
Genres	Pop,dance,rock
Years active	2007–present
YouTube information
Channel	Lilian Garcia
Years active	2007–present
Genre	Professional wrestling
Subscribers	41 thousand[5]
Views	3 million[5]

García was born on August 19, 1966,^[7] in thePanama Canal Zone.^[9] At three months old she went to Spain. She then spent eight years of her life inSpain due to her Puerto Rican father's employment with theAmerican Embassy, and was educated on an Americanmilitary base, leading her to describe herself as a "military brat".^{[10][11][12][13]} She is fluent inEnglish andSpanish.^{[citation needed]}

Upon returning to theUnited States, Garcia graduated fromIrmo High School inColumbia, South Carolina. She went on to attend theUniversity of South Carolina, graduatingcum laude.^{[citation needed]}

García was a top-ten finalist in theMiss South Carolina beauty pageant.^{[citation needed]} Garcia was also one-half of a popular morning show on radio stationWYYS,"YES 97" inColumbia, South Carolina, with Chuck Finley in the early '90s and later had her own drive time show.^[14] She was aVJ inAtlanta, Georgia forWTLK-TV.^[15] She also served as karaoke host at the Nitelites nightclub in the Embassy Suites Hotel inColumbia, South Carolina.

García began singing when she was a child inMadrid, Spain. She participated in singing contests with her sister starting when she was five years old.^[16] In her early teens, she sang with a band at clubs aroundColumbia, South Carolina. Garcia's mother chaperoned so she could sing.^[14] She appeared in the 1990 filmModern Love as a singer.

In addition to her announcing duties withWWE, García sang thenational anthem of theUnited States of America before mostMonday Night Raw shows from February 14, 2000, until her departure on August 1, 2016.^[16][17] She sang "America the Beautiful" atWrestleMania 2000,WrestleMania 21 andWrestleMania XXVIII, joining a list of recording artists that includesAretha Franklin,Ray Charles,Reba McEntire,Gladys Knight andWillie Nelson. With her performance atWrestleMania XXVIII, she surpassed Franklin for most musical performances atWrestleMania. Garcia now holds the record for most musical performances atWrestleMania with three.^[18]

After joiningWWE, García became a fixture in professional sports with performances for theNational Football League, theNational Basketball Association, theNational Hockey League andMajor League Baseball. She also performed at the1996 Summer Olympics, theMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,Live with Regis and Kathie Lee,Dancing with the Stars and as an opening act forJames Brown.^[19]

García's first single, "Shout", debuted at No. 69 on theBillboard Hot 100 in October 2002. On her reaction to the news, Garcia said in 2007, "When my single came out years ago, and it was just a single, I remember the very first week it charted No. 69, and I was screaming as I grabbedBillboard, running down the streets ofNew York, holding it up and screaming, 'I madeBillboard! I madeBillboard!' I'm dreaming for that moment again."^[20]

Garcia recordedTorrie Wilson's entrance theme, "Need A Little Time", forWWE Anthology, acompilation album WWE released in November 2002. She co-wrote "You Just Don't Know Me At All" with producers Doug Kistner and Anthony Krizan, which WWE released in January 2004 on theWWE Originals album and became her entrance theme.^[21]

García began work on a solo album in 2005 withGrammy award-winning record producersGeorge Noriega andTim Mitchell, who worked withmulti-platinum artists such asShakira,Ricky Martin andJennifer Lopez. Her album¡Quiero Vivir!, which is Spanish for "I Want to Live!," got released on October 9, 2007, via Universal Music Latino. Garcia co-wrote 11 songs on the album, including three withJon Secada, who she duets with on "Adonde". The album features 10 Spanish language tracks, and two English translations; "Under in Love" ("Desenamorada") and "Where Did Love Go?" ("Adonde").^[22][23][24] The title track, "¡Quiero Vivir!", became her entrance theme.

After leaving WWE in August 2016, García began work on a follow-up album. She reunited with Noriega and Mitchell to record the first song inMiami, Florida in February 2011.^[25] Garcia also recorded tracks with Grammy-nominated producerOh, Hush!.^[26] On August 17, 2012, Garcia released anEP titledMy Time. The EP features six English tracks: "U Drive Me Loca", "Ur Girl (til the end of the world)", "Fix You", "Over & Over", "Tell Me", and "My Time."^[27] To promote the release ofMy Time, Garcia made her music video debut in December 2011 with "U Drive Me Loca."^[28] The second song off the album, "Ur Girl ('Til the End of the World)", was her entrance theme during her return to WWE.^[29] She released a music video for the track in March 2012.^[30] In January 2013, Garcia released a music video for "Over & Over".^[31]

Garcia appeared at the53rd annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011, at theStaples Center inLos Angeles, California.^[32] Her appearance on the red carpet got shown the following night onJimmy Kimmel Live!.^[33]

On May 27, 2014, Garcia announced that she and her band, The Fuse, would be performing at Club Madrid in the Sunset Station Casino inHenderson, Nevada, nearLas Vegas. She performed her first show on June 14, 2014.^[34]

In 1999, García was hired byWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) as aring announcer. She made her debut on the August 23, 1999, episode ofRaw is War in Ames, Iowa.^[35] She was involved in her firstangle on the September 13 episode ofRaw is War, whenJeff Jarrett applied afigure four leglock to her after she angered him by announcing his loss by disqualification toLuna Vachon.^[36]

Garcia's second angle occurred on the December 13, 1999, episode ofRaw. She introducedMiss Kitty for aWomen's Championshipchocolate pudding pool match. After Garcia announced her, Miss Kitty grabbed the mic and informed Garcia that she was now to be known as "The Kat". Her opponent,Tori, came out for their match and right after the two women began,X-Pac came poolside in a skin diving suit complete with snorkel, flippers, and goggles. As he was adjusting his goggles Tori jumped on his back causing both of them to fall into the pool with X-Pac landing up on top of Tori, giving Miss Kitty an easy pinfall. Garcia announced the winner as "Miss Kitty", which infuriated The Kat, who threw Garcia into the pool of pudding.

Garcia sang the national anthem of the United States of America for the first time on February 11, 2000, at ahouse show inDenver, Colorado. After hearing that she did a great job,Chairman andCEOVince McMahon had her sing the anthem beforeRaw went on the air on February 14, 2000, inSan Jose, California. Impressed with her performance, McMahon then had Garcia sing the anthem every week beforeRaw.^[16][17] Her first televised performance aired on April 2, 2000, where she openedWrestleMania 2000 inAnaheim, California. Following theSeptember 11 attacks, Garcia sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the September 13, 2001, episode ofSmackDown!,. In the course of the evening, Garcia commented on the attacks, saying "Well, to say the least, this has been a real roller coaster of a week. And especially because I live in New York City. I have loved ones there, and I'm just very fortunate and very glad that a specific one didn't get to go to his meeting at 8:30 in the morning that he was supposed to be at the Twin Towers, and so I thank God for that, and I still don't know about a lot of my friends. I have, we'll be finding out, I guess, little by little. I pray for everybody there..."^[37]

In August 2002, García brieflyfeuded with rival announcerHoward Finkel after Finkel left her to be decimated by3-Minute Warning, culminating in an "evening gown versus tuxedo match" that Garcia won with the assistance ofStacy Keibler andTrish Stratus.^[38] During the Memorial Day episode ofRaw on May 26, 2003, Garcia was singing "America the Beautiful" to the crowd when she was interrupted byLa Résistance membersSylvain Grenier andRené Duprée as they insulted America saying they should've been more like the French and they mocked the American people by calling them "fat and ugly". Just then, Garcia's friend, co-general managerStone Cold Steve Austin came down to the ring and tossed Grenier out of the ring and delivered a Stunner to Duprée. After the two Frenchmen walked out of the ring, Austin sang "America the Beautiful" with Garcia and the two celebrated with a beer bash. During the November 24 episode ofRaw, Garcia announced Trish Stratus as the winner of abra andpanties match overJackie Gayda. Infuriated, Gayda stripped Garcia down to her black bra.

In June 2005, García began an on-screen romance with wrestlerViscera. The angle saw Garcíapropose to Viscera, stating that she wanted to marry him during theVengeancepay-per-view on June 26. The angle ended atVengeance when Viscera rejected Garcia in favor ofThe Godfather'sHos. The angle was briefly resurrected eleven months later when Viscera proposed to Garcia on the May 22, 2006, episode ofRaw, but was interrupted byUmaga and his managerArmando Estrada before receiving an answer.^[39] García took part in her first majorDiva publication in 2005 with the release of theDivas 2005 swimsuit magazine and related DVDViva Las Divas of the WWE.^[12]

On the June 5, 2006, episode ofRaw, Garcia (legitimately) suffered a sprained wrist when wrestlerCharlie Haas inadvertently knocked her to the ground as she stood on the ring apron. One week later, the accident was metamorphosed into a storyline, with Haas incurring the wrath of Viscera. The storyline ended on the July 10, 2006, episode ofRaw, when Viscera accidentally performed aSamoan drop on Garcia while confronting Haas. Garcia was removed from television for several weeks in order tosell the Samoan drop.

García took part in her second major Diva publication in 2007 with the release ofWWE Divas Do San Antonio, in honor of the WWE being in San Antonio for theRoyal Rumble. On the April 2, 2007, episode ofRaw, García was humiliated in the ring when her blue satin frilled skirt was torn off byBobby Lashley, revealing her black lycra bikini panties after Vince McMahon attempted to hide his newly shaven bald head under her skirt. The incident resulted in a large surge in searches for Garcia on the Internet, with searches for "Lilian Garcia" jumping 301% and becoming the fourth most searched-for term on the search engineYahoo!. She returned to announcing on the July 2, 2007, episode ofRaw after taking time off to recover from a skiing injury in which she tore the ACL in her right knee. She was not fully recovered as was evident from her only announcing the first two matches from the ring and the rest from the floor. On the August 6, 2007, episode ofRaw, Garcia announced her new album entitled "Quiero Vivir". Lilian then started a feud withJillian Hall, who claimed to be a better singer than Lilian. The next week, she competed inWWE Idol, a parody ofAmerican Idol, in which she sang "New York, New York" byFrank Sinatra before being interrupted bySantino Marella. In addition to announcing onRaw andpay-per-view matches, Garcia also announced onWWE Superstars, making her first appearance on April 23, 2009.^[40] During the last week of August 2009, Garcia celebrated ten years with WWE, becoming the organization's first and only "Decade Diva".

On the September 21, 2009, episode ofRaw fromLittle Rock, Arkansas,Jerry Lawler announced to the live audience that it was Garcia's final night with WWE. Garcia then made an emotional speech in the ring, thanking the fans and all of her colleagues. The final match she announced live featuredRandy Orton,Chris Jericho, andBig Show taking on the team ofJohn Cena,Montel Vontavious Porter, andMark Henry, although a match betweenPrimo andChris Masters was taped earlier that evening and aired three days later onWWE Superstars, marking her final television appearance. Garcia made a special appearance before theMadison Square Garden audience on November 16, 2009, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to the evening'sRaw telecast. Garcia filled in forRaw ring announcerJustin Roberts on April 19, 2010, due to being stranded in Europe with other WWE Superstars and crew as a result of theEyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption. Her appearance caused a surge in online searches, resulting in the term "Lilian Garcia" becoming the eighth most searched-for term onGoogle that evening and into the next day.^{[citation needed]}

On December 5, 2011, WWE announced that Garcia would be returning to ring announcing full-time, appearing onSmackDown.^[41] She returned at the December 6 tapings of the show. She also served as the ring announcer forMain Event and pay-per-views. Garcia suffered accidents prior toSmackDown tapings in 2012. While heading to the ring prior to the March 13 taping inColumbus, Ohio, the strap on her left shoe broke. One month later, during the April 17 taping inLondon, England, she tripped overpyrotechnic equipment on the top of the stage and fell down on the ramp, landing on her knees. On the April 19, 2013, episode ofSmackDown, Garcia was instructed dance steps byFandango and insulted.

On the June 6, 2014, episode ofSmackDown, she was involved in a confrontation withAlicia Fox after Fox lost a match toNatalya. On October 20, 2014, afterJustin Roberts was released from WWE, Garcia returned as the full-time ring announcer forRaw.^[42][43] Lilian returned from knee surgery on May 31 atElimination Chamber.^[44] On August 1, 2016, Garcia announced her departure from WWE.^[45] Garcia made a one-night return on December 14, 2016, atWWE Tribute to the Troops where she sang the American national anthem.

She made another special appearance before theTalking Stick Resort Arena audience inPhoenix, Arizona, on July 4, 2017, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to the evening'sSmackDown Live telecast. She was also the ring announcer for the finals of theMae Young Classic on September 12, 2017.

On January 22, 2018, in theRaw 25 Years special episode, Garcia was honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success, includingBella Twins,Maryse,Kelly Kelly,Torrie Wilson,Michelle McCool,Terri Runnels,Maria Kanellis and theHall of FamersJacqueline andTrish Stratus.^[46] She announced the first-everWrestleMania Women's Battle Royal inWrestleMania 34's pre-show on April 8, 2018.^[47] On October 28, 2018, she announced the first-ever WWE Women's Pay Per ViewWWE Evolution.^[48] On the July 22, 2019, episode ofRaw, Garcia made a special appearance at the Raw Reunion.

Around the end of May 2019, Lilian Garcia announced on herChasing Glorypodcast that she had joined themixed martial arts organization, theProfessional Fighters League (PFL), as a ring announcer.

Lillian revealed on the CVV podcast that late in 2023 she found she was unable to use her announcing voice and due to this PFL informed her that they would not be renewing her contract for the 2024 PFL season. It was later discovered that her voice was being affected due to a severe gas leak that was in her old family home in South Carolina. Once she had moved from that home to her current residence in Atlanta, her singing and announcing voice recovered and returned, which led to her current return to part-time announcing with WWE.

On May 13, 2024, Garcia made a one-night return onWWE Raw where she was asked by ring announcerSamantha Irvin to help introduce aKing of the Ring Quarterfinal tournament match betweenGunther andKofi Kingston.^[49] On the October 21, 2024, episode ofRAW, Garcia would serve as announcer for the entire night in place of Irvin, who had announced her departure from WWE earlier that day. It was later announced that she had re-signed with the company on a full time basis.

From January 3, to March 14, 2025, Garcia served as theSmackDown ring announcer once again, switching roles withAlicia Taylor. After the March 14 episode ofSmackDown, she announced it was her last as full-time announcer of the brand, though would continue working with WWE as the ring announcer forSaturday Night's Main Event and other roles within the company.

After leaving WWE, Garcia began hosting two podcasts,Making Their Way to the Ring and the Spanish-languageLuchando Con Lilian Garcia, distributed byMaria Menounos'AfterBuzz TV network. On July 31, 2017, Garcia debuted her new podcastChasing Glory with Lilian Garcia onPodcastOne.

On March 31, 2017, Garcia appeared onCBS daytime game showThe Price Is Right as a contestant during the show's College Rivals special (taped February 12, 2017, aired on March 31, 2017)^[50] representing her alma materUniversity of South Carolina. She won a trip to London along with some fashion accessories.

Garcia appears as a wrestling ring announcer in Season 3 Episode 7 “Aces Wild” of theNBC comedy seriesA.P. Bio.

Garcia is a devout Christian. Garcia credits wrestlerMolly Holly with reconnecting her with God.^[51]

She was previously married for thirteen years, but divorced.^[52] Garcia married her second husband, Christopher Jozeph,^[1] on September 28, 2009.^[53] On April 11, 2022, Garcia filed for divorce from Jozeph.^[2]

She also shares a close friendship with seven-time WWE Women's ChampionTrish Stratus, whom she first knew during both their early days at WWE.^[54]

On March 17, 2007, García twisted her knee in heavy snow while skiing inKillington, Vermont, incurring atornanterior cruciate ligament. She underwent surgery on her knee on April 5, 2007, in New York City underArmin Tehrany.^[55] She returned toRaw on July 2. On November 6, 2009, Garcia almost got robbed during theNew York Yankees'2009 World Seriesticker-tape parade. She said that a "punk kid" came up to her and tried to steal her phone. When Garcia wouldn't relinquish the phone, the assailant threw her to the ground and ran away. Garcia suffered a scraped elbow.^[56] On October 26, 2012, Garcia was struck by a car in Los Angeles, causing multiple contusions and lacerations on the left side of her body. Doctors immobilized Garcia's neck, after which she was said to be in a stable condition. She was released from the hospital two days later.^[57]

On December 26, 2016, Garcia announced that her father had died on Christmas Day, who was battling two different unidentified types ofcancer.^[58]

• WWE Anthology (2002)
• WWE Originals (2004)
• ¡Quiero Vivir! (2007)
• 2008 Año de Exitos Pop (2008)^[59]
• My Time (2012)^[27]

• Official website 
• Lilian Garcia onWWE.com 
• Lilian Garcia's profile atCagematch.net ,Wrestlingdata.com ,Internet Wrestling Database 
• Lilian Garcia atIMDb