Sharon's eventful 2009

Careerwise and personally, I cannot remember an uneventful year in Sharon Cuneta’s life. Since she burst into the local music scene at age 13 in 1979, Pinoys have been able to peg their annual memories on what happened to Sharon at a particular time, her successes and failures and in tandem with these her exciting personal life.

Think of the hit songs. Mr. DJ in 1979. The movies, Dear Heart in 1981. The first marriage to Gabby Concepcion in 1984. The birth of daughter KC a year later. More box-office hits, Bituing Walang Ningning in 1985. Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas in 1986. The acting awards, the first FAMAS trophy that same year for Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin. And so on down the line.

More box-office hits with Kahit Konting Pagtingin in 1990. Then Richard Gomez. Maging Sino Ka Man and Robin Padilla. Blockbuster concerts here and abroad throughout the decade of the ’90s. More hit songs with Ngayon At Kailan Man and Both Sides Now. More acting honors with Madrasta. Then her emergence as the country’s top product endorser. And throughout the years, her long-running presence in her own TV show that has already seen various incarnations.

She lost her beloved father, Mayor Pablo Cuneta in 1998. But she found another chance at love and marriage with Sen. Francis Pangilinan and the birth of her younger girls, Frankie and Miel. You sometimes think, people should begin to tire of Sharon by this time. So many years have passed and there are now so many new, seemingly exciting stars. But they are not.

The public continues to keep a Sharon watch. And 2009 was no different. There were two new albums, a concert at the Araneta Coliseum, a tour of the US and Canada. The fans thought a lot about her doing a Mano Po movie. They mourned with her when her Yaya Luring passed away. And then a few days later, rejoiced when she was named Best Actress at the Metro Manila Film Festival.

I have a feeling there will once again be lots of events Sharon will share with us this 2010. Life does not always work that way but maybe because she gives so much of herself and because she is celebrating another birthday today, we can pray that those due to happen will all be happy ones.

Most memorable songs

Here is a question that I have been asked several times these past days. Am I going to name a decade? This was most probably an off-shoot of the news items that came out about the top albums and songs of the years 2000 to 2009 in the US of A.

I know the pickings are small. Like I know that as far as songwriting was concerned, the output was often mediocre. Not really the fault of the composers who had to contend with the covers of time-tested tunes being recorded by most artists. Of course the producers were also not really at fault because they were losing money to piracy and were still trying to find ways of harnessing the new technology to make a profit.

Here now, not in any order, are the songs by which all of us, whether we like it or not will remember the past 10 years. Pagdating ng Panahon written by Moy Ortiz and Edith Gallardo for Aiza Seguerra; Spagheti composed by Lito Camo and recorded by the Sex Bomb Dancers; Rainbow, composed by Jay Durias for South Border; Forever’s Not Enough by Vehnee Saturno for Sarah Geronimo; Mr. Suave, written and recorded by Parokya ni Edgar; Pinoy Ako, composed and recorded by Orange And Lemons; The Day You Said Goodbye by Hale; Narda by Kamikazee; and Hawak Kamay by Yeng Constantino.

Please enlighten me if I missed out on your deserving favorites.