Some 25 hits from 25 years of Sharon Cuneta

Sharon Cuneta, the daughter of Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta and Elaine Gamboa, was a few days short of her 13th birthday when she recorded her first single for Vicor Music Corp. in January, 1978. The song Tawag ng Pag-ibig was produced by her uncle, Sen. Tito Sotto, who was then working for Vicor. In June of that year, Sharon followed up with Rey Valera’s composition Mr DJ. Sweet and innocent, Sharon’s rendition instantly captured public attention. At a time when the local hit charts were dominated by the soulful ballads of Rico Puno, Didith Reyes and Basil Valdez, Sharon was like a whiff of fresh air. Mr. DJ became a huge hit and a future megastar was born.

The years that came after Mr. DJ found Sharon making one hit after another for Vicor. Eventually she also ventured into films and television where in true Sharon fashion, she notched one box-office hit after another and garnered high ratings for her shows. When Vic del Rosario left Vicor and founded Viva Entertainment, Sharon followed suit and continued the hitmaking frenzy. Nearly 25 years later, her star has not dimmed. It glows brighter with maturity and talent tempered by wisdom gained from experience.

In celebration of 25 years with Sharon Cuneta, Vicor, where she made her early hits and Viva, where she rose to unprecedented heights, recently combined efforts to come up with a two CD album titled 25 Years, 25 Hits, which contains her biggest sellers from both companies. The songs may have already been released in other collections, but this is the first time they will be heard one after another in a single release.

Instantly noticeable in the credits is the presence of songs from Valera, George Canseco and Willy Cruz, the three great songwriters and producers who played very important roles in Sharon’s success. They composed and produced Sharon’s biggest selling songs, most of which were used as themes in her blockbuster films and have become modern classics.

Valera started Sharon’s rise to stardom with Mr. DJ and also wrote Kahit Maputi Na ang Buhok Ko for her. Some years later when Sharon was in search of a theme for her first film with Robin Padilla, she remembered Valera’s Maging Sino Ka Man. The result was not only one of the biggest grossing films in movie history but also a hit song and an entire album of Valera songs produced and arranged by Willy Cruz.

The country’s leading composer of the ’70s gave his best works to the likes of Pilita and Basil but Canseco saw something extraordinary in the teen-aged Sharon. He is credited with guiding her to maturity as a performer. After doing High School Life, Canseco gave her the chance to sing her first adult song Langis at Tubig, the theme from the movie of the same title in 1980 which was directed by Danny Zialcita.

Impressed with Sharon’s rendition of Langis and with the public’s reaction to her, Zialcita offered Sharon the movie Dear Heart. Of course, Canseco came up with another beautiful song for the film that established Sharon as a movie star. As other box-office hits came up, so did more Canseco hits for Sharon like P.S. I Love You, the first film produced by Viva, Kahapon Lamang, Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin and others. Later in her career, as she did with the songs of Valera, Sharon revisited the Canseco catalogue and did his Kapantay ay Langit, and Ngayon at Kailanman. Both songs landed in the Sharon Sings Canseco album also produced and arranged by Willy.

The first song Willy wrote for Sharon was Init Sa Magdamag, a duet with Nonoy Zuñiga recorded in 1983. This was soon followed by several compositions that remain greatly identified with Sharon to this day, Pangarap Na Bituin from the movie Bukas, Luluhod ang mga Tala, Bituing Walang Ningning, Sana’y Maghintay ang Walang Hanggan and Sana’y Wala nang Wakas.

All of these songs are included in the silver collection plus other hits that chronicle Sharon’s rise to fame with Vicor and the years of successes with Viva that followed. Other songs found in 25 Years, 25 Hits are Now That You’re Gone, Mahal Kita, Mahal Mo Siya, Mahal Niya ay Iba, To Love Again, Kahit Konting Pagtingin, You’re My Everything, Hagkan, Ikaw and Both Sides Now, used as the theme for Sharon’s latest awardwinning picture for Viva’s Magkapatid.