The lovely sound of Natalie Cole - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby A. Gil

Chase the doldrums away with the lovely sound of Natalie Cole. Or maybe I should say, bring some beauty into these chaotic times with the amazing artistry of Nat "King" Cole’s daughter. And I must admit it takes a diet of Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera to better appreciate the subtleties of singing the way Natalie does it.

I was just preparing to check out some new boy groups and a couple of young girl singers when a new Natalie Cole CD came and I quickly said goodbye to the teeny bopper idols for a while, to indulge myself with the wonderful contents of the album.

Titled Love Songs, the collection is made up of 19 cuts, each one a classic culled from albums Natalie recorded over the past 25 years. Now, that does sound like she has been around for a long, long time. But come to think of it, I only realized with the release of this album that she indeed has been here for almost a lifetime. Take note that the oldest cut in the compilation is her first hit song, the enchanting Inseparable which dates back to 1975.

Inseparable gave Natalie her first Gold Album and won two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. This was followed by a series of more hits over the years. We learned in the news that Natalie was having her own share of personal problems all that time, but amazingly, none of those affected her elegant interpretations and the big sellers just kept on coming.

Mr. Melody, This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), I’ve Got Love on My Mind, Our Love, Jump Start, Miss You Like Crazy, Wild Women Do, I Live for Your Love, My Grown-up Christmas List, The Holly and the Ivy and many others.

The biggest of them all though and the one that resulted in a multi-Grammy win and a multi-Platinum selling album was the album Unforgettable, With Love from 1991. This one paid tribute to Natalie’s famous father with her cover of some of his biggest hits. One of them was the lead single Unforgettable, which was a cleverly devised duet between father and daughter.

Nat Cole passed away a good many years before the album was released and a duet of this sort was deemed impossible barely five years before the event took place. But modern technology had by then advanced to a point wherein it was possible to take an old analog recording, turn it into digital and then do what you want with it. In this case, producer David Foster decided to create a duet out of Unforgettable for Nat and Natalie. The result became an international sensation.

Unforgettable leads the line-up of selections in Love Songs. The other duet featured is When I Fall in Love, which is another Nat Cole classic. The other cuts in the album are Miss You Like Crazy, I Live for Your Love, Inseparable, Too Young, As Time Goes By, Our Love, This Will Be an Everlasting Love, Our Love is Here to Stay, The Very Thought of You, Starting Over Again and others.

Grab a copy of this one. No collection should be without Natalie’s Love Songs. Besides, she sounds so beautiful you just have to hear her over and over again.

Red Romero passes away

I end this piece on a sad note. Internationally famous violinist, conductor and impressario Redentor Romero died of lung cancer last Wednesday, March 28 at the Makati Medical Center. He was 71 years old. Romero studied at the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music. He made his debut as conductor in Guam. He later moved to California for further music studies.

Romero was the founder of the National Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the first Filipino to conduct the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and other leading orchestras of the world. He published books on Philippine music and also produced several recordings of Filipino compositions as performed by some of these famous orchestras.

He is survived by his children Sofia Romero-Schwartz and Carlo, his son in law Daniel Schwartz and grandchildren Ili and Amalia. Romero’s body lies at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park. He will be buried on Saturday, March 31 at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina.