I was pleasantly surprised to find Christopher Cross so painfully shy and so soft-spoken like the way he sounds in his songs that he talks almost in a whisper.
“He’s really like that,” Ernie Pecho, PR man of Universal Records, “warned” me before I sat down with Cross yesterday noon at the UR office, “in spite of his stature as a singer who won six awards in 1981 (an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Arthur’s Theme from the movie Arthur; three Grammys for Sailing as Record of the Year, Song of the Year and for Best Arrangement; and another Grammy as Best New Artist).”
“Yeah,” admitted Cross who flew in Wednesday night from Dubai (where he said he visited his girlfriend) for a series of shows here with Workshy (featuring Chrysta Jones). “You know, it’s all about the music and not about the person. All the artists that I’ve always loved...like Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman...most of them are shy. I let my music speak for itself and for me. The press has been good to me. They respect what I’ve been doing.”
Actually, the Philippines is not an alien territory as far as Cross is concerned. He has been here thrice, the first time was in 1983 and the last in 2000.
“What do I remember most from those three visits? Well, the people are great, very warm and very friendly. They embrace my music, that’s why I keep coming back. The Philippines is one of the first places I played where English is not the main language and so I was very surprised and very touched by how the people were very responsive to the songs and how they knew the lyrics by heart.
“I noticed that the Filipinos are very passionate about their music, especially romantic music. The Filipinos have been very faithful to me. In the States and in England, they ask, ‘What have you done lately?’ If you are successful at the moment and you have a big hit, it’s fine. But as soon as you don’t have something that’s popular at the moment they forget about you.
“But the Filipinos are very loyal, you know, they continue to support me and come to my concerts and embrace my records through the years. So it’s nice to be coming back.”
For a while, Cross disappeared from the scene. What happened?
“Well, you know, it was such a big beginning that anything after that...it was hard to sustain the momentum. You can’t win all those Grammys every year, can you? But I continued to do what I love to do. I made seven albums over the years; I continued to make music.”
Aside from Mitchell and Newman, Cross also mentioned as his musical influences the likes of Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Beach Boys and The Beatles.
As expected, when asked what among his songs does he consider closest to his heart, he named Sailing which is included in his repertoire for his concerts here, along with such well-loved Cross hits as Ride Like The Wind, Think of Laura, No Time For Talk, All Right and Never Be The Same. He’ll also sing selections from his new album, The Cafe Carlyle Sessions, which is, like the A Christopher Cross Christmas, likewise released by UR.
“Sailing is an introspective song, kind of artistic but also a commercially successful song.”
And what else can we expect from his concert?
“Well, besides the hits that people know, we’ll do an acoustic set midway on the show. It’s so much more like a songwriter’s show. There’s not a lot of production numbers or dancing girls. It’s going to be a simple show, featuring pure music, just like a James Taylor concert. It’s all about the music.”
[Note: The Philippine STAR is among the sponsors of the Christopher Cross and Workshy (featuring Chrysta Jones) concert scheduled at the following venues: Waterfront Hotel, Cebu City, tonight; Araneta Coliseum tomorrow, Nov. 29; La Salle, Bacolod, Nov. 30, Sunday; and at Limketkai Atrium in Cagayan de Oro on Dec. 1, Monday. Tickets to the Big Dome show are priced at P3,700, P3,200, P2,700, P1,700, P800 and P500. Call Ticketnet 911-5555. Producer is Renen de Guia of Ovation Productions.]
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)