Freak accident fails to dampen Sharon Cuneta's birthday concert

The birthday concert of Megastar Sharon Cuneta, titled the Mega 2011 Sharon Birthday Concert, which was held Tuesday night at the Araneta Coliseum was taped live to a capacity crowd that stayed on till the end of the three-hour musical spectacle that had the best Kapamilya stars in attendance.

Some of the biggest of stars of the Kapamilya network who came to perform were Piolo Pascual (who sung a duet with KC Concepcion in “Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin?”), Sam Milby and Toni Gonzaga as well as Jericho Rosales and Karylle for the movie themes medley.

Sam and KC also performed a dance number that had both of them swinging and flying in mid-air. KC was even more daring as she went on top the metal railings before jumping into the arms of the dancers. Sam and KC flipped and tumbled on air as the crowd watched in awe.

A surprise guest that night was Lani Misalucha who performed a medley with Sharon via the hits “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas,” “Bituing Walang Ningning” and “Pangarap Na Bituin.”

Cesar Montano did the song number “All My Life” with the megastar. Ai Ai de las Alas delivered a special dance number and then later did hosting chores. Sarah Geronimo, who was greeted by wild cheers from the crowd, did a duet with Sharon.

Sharon was also greeted by her friends led by Roderick Paulate, Direk Joey Reyes, Bayani Agbayani, Direk John D Lazatin, and Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista.

Serving as hosts of the night were K Brosas, Erik Santos and Zanjoe Marudo, who was ribbed a lot by K Brosas because at that time he couldn’t or was too slow to react to their banter.

When it was Ai Ai’s turn to host, Zanjoe also got his share of ribbing because Ai Ai teased him about Bea Alonzo, who is rumored to be Zanjoe’s current squeeze.

But the night belonged to Sharon who thanked the crowd for being with her each time she has a birthday concert at the Araneta, and ever since she started her career in showbiz.

It would have been a perfect night if not for the freak accident wherein Sharon slipped onstage and fell on her buttocks before the rock and medley number she did with Billy Crawford and RJ Jacinto. She was helped up her feet by Billy, while RJ started to sing as the band led by Homer Flores started playing.

But even if she was hurt, Sharon gamely went on with the number, singing and dancing as if nothing happened. She went on to finish the taping of the birthday show and it was only after the concert that the megastar agreed to be brought to the hospital for check up.

Sharon’s birthday concert will be aired on ABS-CBN.

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She was pro in China—a professional singer, that is. For six years, Lara Cuevas, a native of Batangas, had been entertaining and impressing different nationalities in bars and hotels in Shanghai and its nearby city, Ningbo, with her every performance. She would sing anything—jazz, blues, pop and she would even rap in Chinese. She loved her job and was utterly contended. But fate had something wonderful in store for her.

In December 2009, while on vacation in Manila, Lara passed by a small recording studio and was reminded of a friend’s advice to record songs for demo. So in she went and sang songs like “Get Here” and “Through the Fire” on videoke. After completing eight songs, she got her demo CD which she gave to her friend. This ended up in the right hands. To Lara’s surprise, the well-respected producer Christian de Walden of Viva Records got interested in her talent. A meeting with Boss Vic clinched it. Only three months after making that demo CD, she was now ready to make her album under Viva Records.

In June 2010, Lara flew to Los Angeles, California to record her 12-track self-titled album. It boasts of four original tracks namely “Wala Nang Mahihiling Pa,” “Bakit Pinaglaruan?,” “Running Into Love” and the carrier single “This Moment:” with lyrics by Palela Philips-Oland and music by Jimmy Borja. She describes the single as “positive and victorious... a must hear especially when you’re feeling down.”

The rest of the tracks are covers like “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” “Genie in a Bottle,” “Unbreak My Heart” and “The Trouble with Hello is Goodbye.” Lara is as excited with the remakes as with her originals because they are all given a twist to sound new. Some of the arrangements are Latin style, which she likened to the song “Rosalinda.”

Lara is grateful to Christian de Walden and four-time Grammy award-winner Kenny O’Brien (owner of the studio where she recorded in LA) for their guidance. “It’s an album for everyone,” she said. Love, which is album’s theme, is something everyone can relate to after all. But what everyone can really expect from Lara us a wide range of voice thick with emotion. She doesn’t just sing the songs, she feels them. And that way, she is able to touch her listeners as well.

Lara hopes to be part of people’s lives and she said that it would be nice if people could remember her songs and how they were able to relate to them. Her dream duet? “Lani Misalucha and Jaya,” was her reply.