Nonoy Zuñiga: The Filipino ‘voice’

At the recent fourth anniversary bash of Merk’s Bar and Bistro, we caught Rico J. Puno and Hajji Alejandro hamming it up on stage as they were wont to in their Greatest Hits concerts with Nonoy Zuñiga, Marco Sison and Rey Valera.

It was late into the evening and Rico J. announced that they were still waiting for Nonoy who, he said, would possibly arrive when everyone had gone home. After all, he wasn’t the country’s "Slowest Balladeer" for nothing.

Nonoy confirms this lovingly mischievous appellation from Rico, although others have dubbed him as the "Cool Balladeer," "Quintessential Singer" and "The Voice." It is this last moniker, we feel, that fits him best, a label that has been attached to possibly the world’s best balladeer – Frank Sinatra.

Nonoy is perceived to be a serious singer, not your usual glib-tongued entertainer. In fact, Nonoy himself admits that "before they watch my show, in their minds, I’m a serious, straight-forward singer, probably boring. But after the show, still high and excited, they would say stuff like, Ang galing pa rin! Walang kakupas-kupas at komedyante pa pala siya!"

He is all of the above and more. Not one to banner his accomplishments, Nonoy whose real name is Zeno Zuñiga remembers "already singing when I started to talk." At 15, he was folk singer at My Father’s Moustache, Brick Chimney, Alfie’s and TGIF. At 17, he was lead guitarist and one of the lead vocalists of the Family Birth Control Band, juggling his Pre-Med with his singing.

Then came the horrendous bombing incident of Oct. 4, 1980 where Nonoy lost a leg and decided to stop singing and concentrate mainly on his Med Proper entrance review.

However, fate does have a way of intervening. Shortly after the bombing incident, Nonoy was asked by Willy Cruz to sing Ako ay Ikaw Rin, a song he had composed in celebration of the United Nation’s "Decade of the Disabled" at the Fourth Metropop. It was apparently, felt that guesting a singer with a handicap would bring across the message more emphatically.

"At first, I didn’t want to because in my mind I would make the audience feel bad or uneasy. I was super reluctant na baka kaawaan ako ng audience at nahihiya rin ako dahil may kapansanan ako." There were so many if’s and but’s in his mind. "Baka tapunan ako ng barya sa stage at pagtawanan ako." In the end, the encouragement of family and friends prevailed. Grudgingly, Nonoy acquiesced.

Almost overnight, he became a solo singing sensation, and immediately Willy Cruz offered him a recording contract. This first album turned platinum, and included some of his greatest hits Doon Lang, Kumusta Ka and Never, Ever Say Goodbye – all of them tremendous hits up to the present and staples of all karaoke bars. It also started the Willy Cruz-Nonoy Zuñiga collaboration which has resulted in many best-sellers of the ’80s.

Since then, Nonoy has recorded 12 albums, all of them turning either gold, platinum or diamond. Some memorable albums were The Duet Album with an interesting line-up of guests like Martin Nievera, Janet Basco, Monique Wilson, Nanette Inventor, Lloyd Umali, Rico J.; Impressions, an all-pop, all-English, all-acoustic album; and his latest The Love Album from Viva Records which turned gold on the second month and platinum on the fifth.

The Love Album, released last year to celebrate his 25 years as solo performer consists of the world’s favorite love songs that have become standards like The Way You Look Tonight, When I Fall in Love, I Only Have Eyes for You, I’ll Be Seeing You, Moon River, What Matters Most. Although these songs have been recorded a lot of times over by many great vocalists, there must really be something in the Zuñiga voice that instills a mood for romance in the listener, which translates itself into an actively ringing cash register.

We had hoped to find Of All the Things by Dennis Lambert in the album since Nonoy singles this out as his utmost favorite. "I used to sing it a lot when I was still with the band in the ’70s. I still sing it now in most, if not all of my shows. It is my wedding song. The lyrics sum up my feelings for my beautiful wife, Grace," he tells us.

Like many of our entertainers, Nonoy Zuñiga also holds two jobs – the other being a doctor. He is happy never having had to choose between the two. "Let’s just say that singing is for material wealth. Medicine is for spiritual wealth. I am blessed to have both."

Material blessings nonetheless, Nonoy still admits to getting a high out of performing, enjoying and savoring every performance. He is active in solo and group shows both here and abroad where he observes "the crowd is super sabik; they already cheer, shout and clap even before the show starts, which becomes more intense as the show progresses." In fact, the Greatest Hits show which has had unbelievable success abroad performs in Europe this month.

Nonoy remembers how it all began in 2003 when he was asked to join Rico J. and Marco Sison for Valentine concerts at the Music Museum. It was such a great hit that Hajji Alejandro and Rey Valera were incorporated into the line-up for the Greatest Hits concert at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Big Dome was filled to the rafters. Twenty-five thousands fans poured in, singing with the veterans. The show proved that there’s indeed a market for the entertainers of yesteryear, and their stars shone again as bright as ever like when they started two decades before. Of course, there had to be a repeat, which we watched, and again the Araneta was packed like it had never been before. The audience was bigger than that of the most popular foreign acts, or the most popular basketball championship games. To top it all, the crowd was boisterous, singing along with those on stage, and we found the mood most contagious. Even the young among the crowd were awed and amazed at the combination of talents churning out those great hits they had only encountered in karaoke bars.

As a singer, Nonoy has never stopped making albums and performing in concerts in the Philippines and abroad since 1983 in the US, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Dubai and Europe.

As the ultimate balladeer with that gift of "Voice," he is most at home with folk, pop and standard, and lists among his foreign music icons Lou Rawls, Jack Jones, James Taylor and Cat Stevens. He finds having a soothing baritone voice more of an advantage than anything. "Since there are only a handful of baritones around, sabi nila mas napapansin daw kami," he quips.

Since 1981 when he started going solo, Nonoy has amassed numerous awards from the Aliw Foundation, Guillermo Mendoza, Cecil Awards, Awit and Katha Awards. His hit songs that have become classics are Kumusta Ka, Mahawi Man ang Ulap, Init sa Magdamag, Ikaw, Sana’y Wala ng Wakas and Never Ever Say Goodbye.

After finishing Medicine in 1988, Nonoy was immediately tapped by then Sen. Orly Mercado to co-host GMA 7’s Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko and join its medical team where he found great joy in helping the indigent.

Apart from Kapwa which he still hosts, he has a new show MedTalk with Dr. Z on IBC 13, and a radio program on DZXL-RMN Tambalan sa Kalusugan. He heads EcoWise and NOW, which deal with environmental concerns; was once executive director of the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons, technical adviser to former President Fidel Ramos on the Moral Recovery Program, president of the Pilipinong Maykapansanan (sectoral) party, consultant on special projects of the Department of Health.

Nonoy now sits on the board of directors of MedCentral, a multi-specialty clinic at Robinsons Galleria covering a wide range of services in general medicine and specialty consultations, and boasts of a combination of high technology facilities and a medical team of top-rate certified physicians.

"Medicine is more of a vocation now than a profession," he says. "I do a lot of medical missions, which for me is more rewarding at this point in my life."

His fans remain hopeful, however, that this "Voice" won’t ever be stilled, and that he will never ever say goodbye.

(E-mail me at [email protected].)