A love story in motion

Some 32 years ago, 20-year-old Gary Valenciano stood behind the curtains at the Araneta Coliseum, not knowing what was behind those curtains, wondering if his career was over. Were there only 150 people who came to watch his concert in a coliseum that could seat 15,000?

Those were uncertain times for Gary. He says he was crazy enough to put his career on the line for the love of then girlfriend Angeli Pangilinan and their unborn child. Gary was urged to have Angeli deliver their baby abroad, and “hide” him.

For Gary, there was no choice. There was only a decision, and that was to proclaim the baby’s birth.

“You know what? I’m marrying this woman, and if people won’t love me, at least my son will. I was thinking, what if my son asks me why I hid him? If he asks me that at the age of 13, 14 to 15 maybe I can address that, but when he’s only seven? It’s easy to say, but he’s my son and he’s always going to wonder why. Why was his dad afraid to expose him to the public?” Gary V. recalls as we have coffee at the terrace of the Shangri-La at the Fort, where he is having his Valentine’s concert on Feb. 14 and 15.

That night 32 years ago, before he stepped out from the wings and on to center stage, he knew that whether there were 15 or 15,000 in the audience, he would be fine.

And then he saw his sister Gina crying. Ready to comfort her, he asked, “Why are you crying?’’And she turned to him and said, “You’re so loved.”

There were 15,000 people in the audience.

* * *

Next week, Paolo Valenciano, the son Gary fought for come hell or high water three decades ago, is directing his father at the latter’s Valentine’s show, Gary V. Love In Motion at Shangri-La at the Fort. Now an accomplished director, Paolo also directed the show that wowed the APEC heads of state (including then US President Barack Obama and hottie Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) at the Mall of Asia Arena last year.

Thus, the Valentine’s show, Gary’s first solo since 2003, is truly “love in motion.” It is utterly fuelled by love.

“We have also asked Anna Fegi who has just undergone a major trial to join us in this cause. She lost her baby on her ninth month last November and we want her to bounce back as we want Bicol, Marinduque and the rest of the Philippines that suffered from the typhoon to bounce back,” adds Angeli, who is mounting the event with her Manila Genesis team. (Of his wife and the mother of his three children, Gary says simply, “I think I wouldn’t be physically alive today if not for Angeli. She’s known me and my diabetes, she’s one of the most selfless people that I’ve ever met. She doesn’t live for herself. She lives for those she truly loves.”)

All proceeds of Gary V. Love In Motion will go to the Shining Light Foundation Inc., Operation Blessing Foundation Inc. for the benefit of victims of the recent typhoon Nina and UNICEF for special causes of children.

In Gary V. Love In Motion, expect a love-filled, fun, dance-inducing time as Gary performs with the 19-piece AMP Band. “It’s my first time to perform with a big band and I am looking forward to surprising the audience and being surprised as well with the kind of show we will come up with,” says Gary, who often bikes to his appointments from his home in Antipolo. His longest trip on a bike was from Antipolo to Alabang, which he accomplished in 45 minutes.

To the uninitiated, big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section. During the war years, big band music lifted people’s spirits.

So he’ll be dancing like a millennial but singing like Frank Sinatra?

“I’ll be dancing like Gary V. And I’ll be singing like Gary V. but with the musical sound of Frank Sinatra,” smiles Gary V.

* * *

I asked Gary, now a grandfather to Paolo’s daughter, to define what love in motion means in his life, and quickly, he replies,  “It’s the little things that for me sometimes expose the greatest things, the things which are done consistently that really define who the person is. When it’s the birthday of somebody and you do something special, it makes the person know you treasure him or her, but what about the other 364 days that is no longer the birthday of that person? That’s for me where love in motion can be described. Consistency. Another way I can describe it is what you say and do to people, things that continue to generate thoughts that tell them who they are to you and more importantly who they are to me.”

What’s the most romantic thing he’s done for love?

“I think the best one was when Angeli and I went to El Nido — Lagen, Miniloc, Pangulasian — that’s for me and honestly I can say this now, that’s my favorite place in the world. El Nido is not just the resort, it’s everything else you can do there. There’s hidden beach, and there’s a secret beach. The secret beach is accessible with a boat and you go to rock formation, enter a hole. Then you come out, then there’s the beach.”

He and Angeli loved the place so much they returned with their three children, Paolo, now 32; Gab, 28; and Kiana, 24, in tow. Gary’s eyes glisten as he asks me, “Do you want to see a video of our trip?” He then takes out his phone and like a father showing off photos of his first born, he plays the video of their El Nido trip — love in motion, if ever there was one.

So if he were to sing a Valentine’s song to his love, what would it be?

“You cannot love a person, you cannot even learn  about it, you can’t even want to love a person, unless you know the One who created love in the first place. So my song will not be one toward Angeli, it will be toward the One who gave me Angeli. Do you know what I’m saying? If not for Angeli, I won’t have Paolo, I won’t have Gab and Kiana. So I’m really thanking Him.”

To Him, he would sing, God and God Alone.

And to Angeli, he would croon Kenny Rankin’s What Matters Most.

“Because what really matters most is that we had each other.”

So the man singing onstage on Feb. 14 and 15 will be singing from the bottom of a heart so deep, love will be in motion all around the stage.

(Musical director for Gary V. Love In Motion is Mel Villena, vocal music director is Mon Faustino while stage direction is by Paolo Valenciano. For more information follow

@GaryValenciano1 on Twitter, @therealgaryv on Instagram or visit Gary Valenciano Official on Facebook. For inquiries or table reservations, call 0917-5399584.)

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)