Gary Valenciano: Singing to the World

For someone who three years ago said he wanted to slow down, to travel less, Gary Valenciano has been spending a lot of time lately on airplanes and singing to very diverse audiences at home and abroad.

Just this month, he launched a new album (One2One, an album of duets that turned gold on the day of its release), then spent nine days in Germany giving four performances (three in Frankfurt and one in Berlin). Immediately following that was a week-end performance in Singapore. Next week he’s off to Australia for shows in three cities (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) and at the end of the month he flies across the Pacific for shows in four key U. S. cities (Chicago, Atlantic City, Los Angeles and San Francisco). In between he has to put up with persistent interviewers like me.

And imagine, he’s been at this for 18 years.

I used to snicker at his moniker "Mr. Pure Energy"–but I’m beginning to get the point. The man is tireless.

Gary and his wife and manager Angeli are understandably extra-excited about the Germany trip. As guest of the audio equipment manufacturer Sennheiser, Gary made a special appearance at the giant (over 1,500 exhibitors from 48 countries) Musikmesse trade fair in Frankfurt, where he was presented to the international media along with the new GARY V Limited Edition evolution series microphone from Sennheiser. Gary is the first artist in the world to have the distinction of having a microphone named after him. An evening concert for Sennheiser’s international dealers plus a guest stint at the Musikmesse festival where he shared the stage with the German-Irish band Reamonn and other international artists highlighted Gary’s participation in the trade fair.

Extending the hurrahs for the Philippines was the award for Best Special Project for Marketing Excellence given to the Philippine delegation, led by Yupangco Electronics’ Philip Yupangco, for the Gary V microphone project at the Sennheiser distributors’ conference held just before the Musikmesse. The project bested over 90 projects from 15 regions in the world, including projects of Madonna’s concerts in Czechoslovakia and Portugal, Sting in Central Europe, Backstreet Boys at the US Superbowl and a Paul McCartney event in England.

Before flying back to Manila, Gary did his share to boost Philippine tourism by performing at the Department of Tourism sponsored grand Philippine reception at the International Tourismus Borse 2002, a travel trade show held in Berlin.

His Singapore show, the Revive Concert, drew an audience of over 3,200. "We had a ball," Gary says. The audience obviously shared that assessment, because there were almost immediate calls for a repeat.

Among Gary’s greatest gifts as a performer–let’s not even talk about his energy on stage–is the connection, the rapport he establishes with the audience. He calls it being "transparent" on stage: "People can see I’m just like them," he says, "and I can meet them at their point of need." In a recent interview to promote "One2One", he puts it this way: "It’s the fact that someone out there has been moved toward a better change because of a song or two of mine that made a difference in his/her life. Every project, whether it is a CD or concert, movie or song, has this as its main objective."

Long before it was chic to proclaim one’s faith Gary stood up and declared his Christianity. He blazed the trail in the country for Christian pop–indeed, proved that the term wasn’t a paradox–and lately has expressed a desire to do more Christian shows. That coupled with his newly acquired mission as unicef ambassador, Gary sounds almost missionary in his zeal.

"I want to serve unicef as its ambassador and give back to society what it gave me," he says. "I am doing things that I feel are more important to me now. Seeing a soul come to Christ during my evangelistic concerts and a little child laugh with me in my unicef trips mean more to me than fame and fortune."

It is perhaps due to this strong faith that Gary has always had his priorities straight. Family, for example, is not to be traded in for success, not even success on the international music scene. While he admits that the prospects of a career in the US was "exciting", the choice was obvious: "How to balance my career through the traveling required of a musical career and yet having to have a mother and father for my children was an impossible feat...it was really a tough decision (but) my children are everything to me."

America’s loss, however, is the Philippines’ gain, as Gary continues full speed as concert and recording artist. His next major solo concert is planned for November, and there are plans as well of a Gary Valenciano-Martin Nievera concert before that. A compilation of hit songs entitled "I Will Be There" from his three latest albums released on the Universal label is set for release in six Asian countries. He is thinking of a second inspirational album, following the success of his "Revive" album.

With over 200 industry awards and recognition even from non-industry groups (he recently received a toym award from the Philippine Jaycees), more hit albums than I care to count and sell-out concerts all over the globe, Gary Valenciano is success personified. There are no signs of slowing down for this 37-year-old dynamo who loves Aling Nena’s barbecue (the only pork he eats), pan de sal (although it sends his blood sugar levels haywire), galunggong and monggo (even in the US, that’s the meal he looks for); music is his life and–fortunately for us–the channel for his boundless energy.

Gary says...

Volumes have been written about Gary Valenciano in the span of his 18-year career in show business. But there are certain things that define Gary and set him apart. STARweek asked Gary to give us a perspective on what place faith, his diabetes and fame have in his life.

It would be very difficult to separate the three as different elements I have to deal with on a daily basis simply because what I do for one affects all the rest.

Faith would have to be the pillar on which I lean. Without it I don’t think I could’ve stood the pressures of showbiz, the demands of my health, the needs of my family. It’s hard enough to go through life without having to be a diabetic but I do deal with it everyday, and the only way I get through is by faith in the God who created me, and is still very much at work in me. It is by faith that I take each step in life. It is by faith in a real, good, awesome, loving, powerful, gracious, faithful, and forgiving God, that I am still alive today doing what I love to do.

Diabetes is a constant partner waiting for a slip-up. I know it works too, constantly attacking my body in ways I may yet have to feel. It is like a "thorn in the flesh" for me. But this is where it all comes together–in moments when sugar levels go haywire, God uses it to bring me back to the backbone of life...FAITH. (Gary injects himself with two types of insulin two to three times daily–and has been doing so for the last 23 years.) The good news is my doctors have said my organs are healthy and my eyes glaucoma-free. How can I not sing songs for the One who has made it all possible for me?

Fame. It’s one thing I don’t really think much about. Why? Because it all happened through a gift that I was given. I’ve realized that it is indeed not my talent but HIS, not my voice but HIS, not my words but HIS, not my music but HIS, not my moves but HIS. Fame is just a small example of a word I try and live by. It’s found in Matt. 6:33: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Fame is fleeting. God is not.

As one grows older the need to do adult roles is, of course, a must and I was not willing to do the kind of scenes that were required of such roles. Also, music is my life. I really love to produce music. To arrange songs. The high I get after hearing a fully mastered song is different from the feeling I get after a movie.

In a recording, as the over-all producer, I have almost total creative control on the final product. Of course the producers and arrangers are given a free hand but I guide them sometimes on how I want it to sound. Unlike most of the other singers who step into a studio, do the vocals and leave, I normally stay up to the mixing. I sometimes do my own mixes of my own productions in my recording studio at home. It takes me ages though.

In concerts we prepare the repertoire and hire the sound and lighting suppliers. So we pretty much control the quality of the production. Not so in the movies. And the schedules drive me crazy! I can’t lack sleep when I have a concert the next day.

And recently I also started doing AVPs (audio-visual productions); I do video direction already. I felt that I had too many limitations and I didn’t want to impose these on the directors or producers. But hey, I agreed to two taping dates for Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin (a soap opera on GMA- 7)–that’s a start. We turned down Pangako sa Iyo last year because of my skeds.

I will always remember Lino Brocka, my favorite director. I want to continue to act also because he believed so much in this side of me. I want to do a movie one day and dedicate it to him.