Nonoy will never ever say goodbye

Show me a celebrity and I’ll show you someone who treats his looks like he would a 24-carat diamond ring. Not that all of them are born vain. It’s just that their high-profile job requires them to be. The viewing public simply laps up good looks like it’s the most important thing that can happen to a celebrity.

That’s why Nonoy Zuñiga is not leaving anything to chance. He keeps his weight down, his skin glowing and smooth. Otherwise, he knows not even that golden voice can attract as many people to his concerts here and abroad as they usually do.

The balladeer learned his lesson the hard way.

“I was in a US concert tour with the Hitmakers (Rico J. Puno, Marco Sison, Hajji Alejandro and Rey Valera),” he recalls. “They were eating and eating and I followed suit. I became 15 pounds overweight!”

Soon, Nonoy paid the price of his overactive appetite. His artificial leg couldn’t fit him anymore. And since it became useless, Nonoy was forced to stay home with his wife and three children.

He didn’t let the weight gain bring him down, though. He went into a fruit diet for three days, pronto. He stuck to fish. The discipline worked like magic. Nonoy returned to his ideal weight.

Today, he’s not taking any more chances. So history won’t repeat itself, Nonoy lifts 20-pound weights at home. He’s into stretching exercises, sit-ups and push-ups. He plans to go back to the gym. He spaces his meals, eating only at 11 and 6 p.m.

And since his damaged leg (the result of a bomb blast at the then Philippine Plaza Hotel during martial law) needs special care, Nonoy takes Power Joints food supplement once a day (more if his knee hurts). Nonoy, who has been endorsing Power Joints for a year now, should know whereof he speaks since he happens to be a doctor as well.

“I’ve tried other brands but they didn’t work,” he testifies. It was when he took Power Joints that the pain vanished. Nonoy attributes it to the product’s glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate ingredients that stop further degradation of osteoarthritis and related illnesses.

Having thus freed himself from pain, Nonoy can go about his usual business. He has organized this year’s Wheelchair Race at the Quezon City Memorial Circle on July 20 at 6 a.m. The project, held in cooperation with the National Council for Disability Affairs and sponsored by Power Joints, involves 30 men and women in a three-kilometer and five-kilometer wheelchair race.

Oh, what a sight it will be: 15 men and 15 women from Tahanang Walang Hagdanan and institutions for person trying to “outrun” each other in their wheelchairs. It will be a celebration of mind over matter, a show of will power and the refusal to give in to limitations.

The men will join the five-kilometer run, while women will vie in the three-kilometer race.

 Aside from the prestige of being the fastest person on wheelchair around, the contest will also make the winners richer. The first prize winner will get P10,000, the second placer P5,000 and the third prize winner, P3,000.

Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista and Nonoy will lead the ceremonial run, part of the observance of the 30th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.

Having thus helped people with disability, Nonoy will get back to what he’s best known for. He is producing his upcoming album Beginnings, which includes all the songs he used to sing (hence, the name).

“It’s hard to come up with original songs these days because of piracy,” he notes. Thus, 10-track album will contain eight revivals and two original songs. One of the original songs, Ramadan, a tribute to our Muslim brothers, carries a deeper message: Religious tolerance.

The album is almost done, and Nonoy hopes to find a distributor for it soon. He also wants to mount a show with his younger counterparts: Christian Bautista, Mark Bautista and Erik Santos.

Too long has Nonoy teamed up with those of his generation. And Nonoy — with reason — thinks bringing the young and the senior balladeers together would be refreshing.

“They will bring in their fans and I’ll bring in mine,” he explains.

This way, the music of the old and the new will meld in one seamless series of melodies. The senior will learn from his juniors and vice-versa. This is the best way for the music to live on, and as Nonoy sang so movingly years back, for him “never ever to say good-bye” to the public.

For, as he will never tire of saying, “I will continue to sing as long as my voice is here.”

Even his children, aged 10 to 18, have imbibed their father’s passion for singing. All of them easily break into song.

No wonder then that if he can help it, Nonoy the singer will never ever have to say goodbye.