IT’S BEEN many decades since the Philippines first welcomed Pilita Corrales who has since become one of the most enduring icons of the local music industry.
And in celebration of her career which spans more than half a century, Ms. Corrales will be performing her signature hits and regale the audience with the story of how she started in a one-night engagement on Nov. 17 at the Theatre in Solaire.
This performance will be the “Asia’s Queen of Song’s” first concert – called An Evening with Pilita – in Solaire which has recently hosted several other Philippine music icons including Basil Valdez and Celeste Legaspi in various sold-out concerts.
“Solaire is home of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) and what better way for us to establish this than to highlight ‘icons of Filipino music,’” said Audie Gemora, Solaire’s entertainment director, in a press statement. “Who can be more iconic that Pilita Corrales? Her distinct voice, performance style and image have regaled generations. She is the only one to have had numerous hit albums in Spanish, English, Tagalog and Bisaya,” he noted.
Ms. Corrales, during a press conference in September, mentioned that the concert will tell the story of when she got her career started in Australia including the “shocking parts” from her Australian career.
Born on Aug. 22, 1939 in Sampaloc, Manila, she went to school in Cebu, then to finishing school in Spain before finding herself in Australia in the 1950s. She started her career in 1957 when she became a host on the Australian radio show La Taberna on KZPI. She became famous for singing in Spanish and her career took off when she became the first woman to top the Australian pop charts with the song, “Come Closer to Me,” recorded in 1959. She went on to record four albums Down Under.
Her popularity was so great that a street in Victoria, Australia was named after her, something she said fills her with joy and pride.
She returned to the Philippines in the early 1960s to pursue a musical career and has recorded albums in Spanish, English, Tagalog, and Cebuano. She also hosted the long-running television music show called An Evening with Pilita which ran from 1965 to 1972.
She also performed locally and abroad with international music stars including Sammy Davis, Jr., the Beatles, Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra, and Julie Andrews.
Of all the people she sang with, she mentioned Mr. Davis being a favorite because he was “wonderful.”
“[Those] with the best talent are the nicest people,” Ms. Corrales said of Mr. Davis.
It was thanks to Mr. Davis that Ms. Corrales became the first Filipino to perform in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, in the 1970s.
Her signature song, “A Million Thanks to You,” by Alice Doria-Gamilla, was translated in seven languages. Through the years, she has worked with many Filipino composers including George Canseco (most notably with “Kapantay ay Langit”), Willy Cruz, and Ryan Cayabyab. She has released 52 albums, and among her best known songs are “Ang Pipit,” “Balut,” “Cariñosa,” “Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak,” “Dahil Sa ’Yo,” “Kapantay ay Langit,” “Matud Nila,” “Sapagkat Kami ay Tao Lamang,” and “Historia de un Amor.”
Now 78 years young, Ms. Corrales said she’ll keep on singing “as long as there are people who want to hear me sing.”
Her Nov. 17 concert will feature the AMP Band and the string section of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra with Mel Villena as musical director, all in order to provide the “big band sound of the ’50s and the ’60s and a taste of the classics,” according to a press release.
Ms. Corrales will be joined onstage by her daughter Jackie Lou Blanco and son Ramon Christopher Guttierez, as well as her granddaughter, Janine Guttierez, and her old friends and colleagues in the industry, Nikki Ross and Angie dela Cruz, better known as the Wing Duo. – Zsarlene B. Chua
An Evening with Pilita will be held on Nov. 17, 8 p.m., at the Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort and Casino, 1 Aseana Ave., Entertainment City, Parañaque City. Tickets, which range in price from P1,000 to P5,500, are available at Ticketworld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).
