Remembering Natalie Cole

I brought Mama to one of Natalie Cole's concerts and in the middle of her show, she did some of her 70s and 80s hits.

At that time, I didn't know that she was the one pala who did the version of this song, Someone That I Used to Love, which was one of my favorites as a kid.

As a ten-year old though, I didn't know the gravity of feeling that the song had since at that age, I haven't experienced romantic love yet.

Anyway, what surprised me, was that Mama suddenly sang along as Natalie was doing the song! I rarely hear Mama sing along to contemporary songs! Connie Francis, Jack Jones, Frank Sinatra, yes, but to a song that was a hit in the early 1980s?

And you know, she sang it with a bit of hugot and alam na, she was singing it for somebody in her past. I did make kwento about this incident to her and she told me the back story to the song, but I won't write about it here because it's her personal life LOL!

The colorful lovelife of mader as interpreted by the late Natalie Cole. Kaya ayun, everytime this song is played, I remember her story. Of course, I can relate to the song now, and I have ascribed it na to a certain guy - a guy who was someone that I used to love, charot!

Natalie Cole: We Will Miss Her First Rate Performances

Natalie Cole is probably one of the classiest singers I have ever seen perform - and also, one of the most mataray.

She performed here in Manila a few years ago, in her own show, and as a guest performer for David Foster, and both times, she showed such immense sophistication and coolness in her repertoire and delivery.

She's really the antithesis of a birit singer and young aspiring singers can learn a lot from her style, especially that our country gets so crazy for singers who go the birit route.

In her own concert though, she scolded fans who were eager to take pictures of her and the show and told everyone to put their cameras down and just enjoy the show. At that time, camera phones were not yet ubiquitous and digital cameras were still the rage.

Kaya ayun, wiz ako pictures or videos of her show. Sayang, because it would've been great to have a personal souvenir of some of her performances.

When she performed here, we already knew she was in and out of the hospital, but it did not really show in her performance. She looked in tip top shape.

RIP, Natalie Cole. Thank you for sharing your beautiful music!

David Foster Keeps His Hits Coming and Coming and Coming

David Foster's concert last night was probably the most fun the guy had in a long time, and he said it over and over again to all of us!  It was fun for us too since, aside from him, there were several hitmakers in their own right who made his show possible.  As he said, if only he can sing like those guys, he could do the show himself, but God had other plans for him

He actually opened the show with his instrumental version of the Love Theme to St. Elmo's Fire.  This song was very memorable for me since I was third year high school when this song came out and everytime I was feeling low or unhappy, this song was one of those things that would lift me up, maybe due to the beautiful way the strings were arranged. I actually prefer the instrumental version (which was the US hit) than the one where somebody sings a vocal.  He also does one more instrumental before he introduces the first act.
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The first group to perform were the Canadian Tenors and well, their voices were just ok and didn't really impress the very picky Pinoy audience.  I was surprised though that they sang Hallelujah. Almost everyone I like seems to have a version of this former UK #1 song!  Even Justin Timberlake has a version of the song!  Anyhow, I learned later on that Leonard Cohen wrote it so, no surprise there!

Natalie Cole came in next and her musicality shone through once again tonight.  When she sang 'Miss You Like Crazy', David got to experience for the first time (according to him), a whole coliseum sing along with the singer!  And that gave me goosebumps too since the venue had the ability to keep the sound intact so no wonder the performers love it!  She also does Unforgettable where she got to work with David, and her version tonight was really classy, as usual.

American Idol winner Ruben Studdard performed next and he's a very good vocalist, but I guess what he lacks is the connection with the fans, I mean, this guy really needs to have real fans if he wants a career, otherwise, he should just sing in a hotel.  His performance is flawless though and he's a deserving Idol winner.  I'm just surprised all those who voted for him didn't bother to follow up in building this poor guy's career.

In the next segment of the show, David went down to the audience and picked randomly, people in the audience and asked them to sing!  I'm sure it was nerve-wracking for everyone down there but anyhow, he picked five different people.  The first one sang 'Because You Loved Me' then he picked three girls who did a lively version of 'Pyramid'.  After that, the fun part begins.  When he goes to the right part of the audience, he sees the audience point to a guy in the front, and that guy happened to be Randy Santiago.  And Randy went upstage with David and he did Wildflower.  After that, David goes to the left part of the audience and the audience again were pointing to a woman, who turned out to be Pilita Corrales. And she did a fantastic version of 'Dahil Sa Iyo'!  This woman is a real national treasure and should be conferred National Artist.  Her version was accapela and I'm sure she was caught offguard when asked to sing, a real trouper.  Finally, David returns to the right side of the audience again, and spots Arnel Pineda, who joins him in the stage.  He asks Arnel to sing 'Hard Habit to Break' which Arnel does wonderfully. Right then and there, Peter Cetera comes out and surprises Arnel who kneels down and says 'I'm not worthy'.

Peter Cetera did mostly Chicago's hits and the crowd just sang along with him, song after song!  The song which David produced for him solo was 'Glory of Love' and that was his last song, before Charice came out.  He was just in awe of Charice's talent and tonight I realize why.  David Foster's songs, especially for the female vocalists, are virtual vocal gymnastics. It's like, if you don't have the voice, do not sing my songs.  Simple as that.  Any other singer who has to go through Charice's set tonight will have to have the pipes for it (and yes, many of our Filipina singers could actually do that - I'm thinking Regine, Lani, Dulce), so I know why we aren't surprised anymore.  And Charice hit her notes, perfectly, from All By Myself, to I Will Always Love You and To Love You More.  She was so comfortable onstage she was like a veteran, holding her own with some of those real veterans.  And David really wishes her well and had a lot of nice things to say about her.

The encore song was a mini-tribute to Michael Jackson and David confesses that he wished he cherished more his experiences with Michael since like most of us, he too was shocked that he left us so suddenly.  They then did a version of The Earth Song which was fitting really, since the end of the song is a rousing chorus! 

As the show was going on, I realized David had worked on three albums which won 'Album of the Year' honors in the Grammys! 1991 with Natalie Cole's Unforgettable, then 1994's The Bodyguard and then 1997 with Celine Dion's 'Falling Into You'.   Impressive!!