Singing keeps her young

Singing is what keeps her young. No wonder at 73, grand lady of jazz Annie Brazil enviably continues to flex her vocal pipes and performs before an audience.

"I sing to stay young," Annie grants. "Music will make you feel young because your spirit is there. Singing is like food for your soul. I really love to sing."

Annie, now based in New Jersey, performs regularly at Cucina Stagionale, the popular Italian restaurant on Bleeker St. in Greenwich Village in New York, where she has been singing for eight years now. There was even a time when Matt Dillon was in the audience.

"Before, I did four performances a week," Annie relates. "But now, I perform only on weekends — Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant has regular customers who go there because they want to listen to me. Word of mouth also makes people come. The owner hates it when I go on leave and somebody substitutes for me. He said he loses the customers who leave when they find out I’m not there."

Annie has been based in New Jersey since 1990 with daughter Rachel Anne Wolfe and the latter’s four sons. Rachel, now 38, is married to an Italian publisher and advertising executive, John Spitaletta.

Two years ago, Annie was hospitalized due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which forced her to give up smoking. While playing mahjong with friends in New York one weekend, she suddenly experienced difficulty in breathing and was rushed to the hospital where she stayed for six days.

"I was smoking since I was 28," Annie offers. "But after I got sick, I gave it up totally. Two days after I came out of the hospital, I was singing again. Singing is my life. I feel like I’m alive when I’m singing. When I talk to people, I may be a different person. But when I’m on stage, that’s the real me."

Annie took her musical inclination from her father, Gualberto Bulawin, and started singing at six. She adopted the maiden name of her mother (Socorro Brazil) as her stage moniker.

At 15, Annie did the rounds of popular night haunts in the city, performing at Jimmy’s Night Club along Dewey Blvd. (now Roxas Blvd.), Sportsman, Millionaire’s Club, Skyroom along Taft Ave. with the Payawal band, Sta. Ana Cabaret with Carlos Aguilar and Avenue Theater in Avenida with Cesar Velasco. She also got to act on stage briefly with Angel Confiado and Roger Nite.

Annie later wowed audiences in Sydney (Australia) and in Okinawa (Japan), where she met James Bernard Merk, an American airforce announcer who became the father of her first born, Richard Merk.

In 1959, Annie tied the knot with concert impresario David Wolfe in Hong Kong. They would have been blessed with seven children, but five died of different reasons. The only living ones are Rachel, who also sings like her mom, and Ronnel, 35, who was once a regular on German Moreno’s That’s Entertainment.

In 1969, Annie got the thrill of her life when she was invited by Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein to attend the outdoor musical spectacle in New York, where she met jazz greats like Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Nina Simmons and pop icons The Bee Gees. She also watched the Jackson Five at the Apollo Theater.

Now in Manila for a brief vacation, Annie gets to perform in the Wednesday Jazz Festival at Merk’s Bar and Bistro (Greenbelt 3, Makati City), owned by son Richard and his wife Roni Tapia. Before she returns to New Jersey late this month, Annie is also set to complete a new, 12-track CD under Merk Media, produced by Richard and released under Manna Records.

Selections on the CD include Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, Lullaby of Birdland (duet with Isabella), It Had To Be You (duet with Richard), Somewhere Over the Rainbow, September in the Rain, I Only Have Eyes for You and It Could Happen To You.

Annie does not see herself giving up singing. "I get a different kind of high when I sing," she asserts. "I enjoy every song when I perform. I believe that’s important. Whatever it is, if you sing it right, it will come out good. Duke Ellington once said that whatever music you play, if it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad."

Annie insists she is now living on an "extension," her second lease on life. "Twenty years ago, I asked God for longer life when a baby boy came into my life," she shares. "I adopted him and named him Ralph Francis Wolfe. The day I got him, I prayed to God to give me 20 more years so I can see the boy on his own two feet. He is now 20 and will finish college next year. After I got hospitalized two years ago, I prayed again for another extension because I still want to see my grandchildren grow up. But if He doesn’t give that to me, I’m ready anytime. He can take me."