True Faith

She was faced with both an advantage and disadvantage when she entered the music industry to launch a solo singing career. She had the familiar last name with an esteemed lineage. But then, people were wont to compare her with her more famous relative and expected a lot from her. Yet, Faith Cuneta turned everything to her favor.

Capitalizing on her famous last name (she is Sharon Cuneta’s niece), Faith made her mark in the music scene without buckling to any comparison with her aunt. While she acknowledged that Sharon became a big influence in her chosen career, Faith proved that she, too, has the musical genes to make it in the business.

Thanks largely to the top-rating GMA 7 telenovelas for which Faith rendered her voice to the theme songs — Endless Love, Stairway to Heaven, Love Letters and Jewel in the Palace. Since then, Faith had several opportunities which she could only imagine before her showbiz salvo.

Thanks, too, to Sharon’s hit, Pangarap na Bituin, which Faith revived for her second album under Galaxy records. The song was also used as the theme of the Koreanovela, Jewel in the Palace.

"Through these telenovelas, people came to know me," Faith allows. "For a time, people thought I would merely be singing telenovela themes. I don’t find anything wrong with that. In fact, I’m thankful that I’ve been given that good break. But I’m so thankful that by doing that, several opportunities came my way."

Clearly enough, Faith’s star was really destined to shine. And shine it did. For someone who started singing when she was still a kid, Faith has been greatly rewarded for her journey to become a singer and make a name for herself — undaunted by her Megastar aunt’s huge popularity.

"I’ve always wanted to become a singer," admits Faith, who joined the business armed with a business administration degree from De La Salle University. "So after I finished college, I decided to pursue a singing career. It was really the direction I wanted to take. I realized an office desk job was not the career for me. Being a singer was my dream and now, I’ve fulfilled my dream."

Since she won second place at the Metro Pop Star competition of GMA 7, Faith has come a long way. In 2005, she won the gold medal as Best Female Vocalist in the World Championships of the Performing Arts in Hollywood, where she sang the Louie Ocampo composition, One in a Million You.

Last year, she was honored by Aliw Awards with a Best Performance in a Concert (female) trophy. She was also chosen by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as the spokesperson for the National Arts Month 2007.

Recently, she released her Viva Records debut, Faith Begins, a generous, 18-track selection of tunes from the ’30s to the new millennium. It was an ambitious album launch which could turn even seasoned music artists green with envy. Faith performed with the members of the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra and her musical director, John Garcia. She emerged on stage in an elegant Jun Escario gown.

In the new CD, Faith pays tribute to her lounge days with such cuts as No Other Love, I’ll Be Seeing You, Sealed With a Kiss, Suddenly It’s Magic and This Girl’s in Love With You. She duets with jazz crooner Arthur Manuntag in the hauntingly sentimental If Ever I Would Leave You from the musical Camelot. The song was arranged by jazz great Colby de la Calzada, who also produced the album.

Faith also renders romantic pop classics, with her beautiful versions of the Barbra Streisand-Barry Gibb duet, What Kind of Fool, Dusty Springfield’s Something in Your Eyes, Bread’s If, Bachelor Girl’s Buses and Trains, Patti Austin’s In My Life and Take Me, I’ll Follow, the theme from the movie Mac and Me.

Mark Bautista, himself a Viva Records artist, joins Faith in Unbreak My Heart, which even has an Italian version. Faith also included One in a Million You, her winning piece in the Hollywood singing competition. Carrier track of the new CD is Come What May, an Air Supply original.

During the launch at the Podium mall, Faith did a mini-concert for her guests. Gifted with a clear and distinct voice, she proved she got what it takes to be the next biggest recording artist in the industry — and it’s only a matter of time.