TESSA PRIETO-VALDES: A Solo Act

And then there was one. The last man standing — and, would you believe, singing with all her heart and soul, and all her might in all her glorious hoarseness, proving to one and all that — Yes!!! — she could beat the seven other celebrities (Wyngard Tracy, Dr. Hayden Kho Jr., Jessica Rodriguez-Bunevacz, Dr. Manny Calayan, 2007 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Anna Theresa Licaros, couturier Frederick Peralta and The STAR’s Supreme Editor Tim Yap) “aspiring” (or “straining”) very hard to be singers.

And to think that Tessa Prieto-Valdes admits that, although she’s not tone-deaf, “I really can’t sing!”

Suddenly, Tessa has nobody to “duet” with. She basks in a spotlight all her own, a class by herself, a million-peso winner, one-of-a-kind. Yes, a solo act.

So what made Tessa win?

Read on.

Until she competed for eight weeks in GMA’s Celebrity Duets, hosted by sweethearts Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid, Tessa was known as the society columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, writing about the “sosyal” goings-on in her self-titled corner (Tessa! — take note: with an exclamation point!). It was oh-so “alienating,” with ‘em “outsiders” watching with mouth watering with envy(?) the rich and the famous, the not-so-rich and not-so-famous, the true-blue sosyal and the trying-hard pa-sosyal, party and play in gay abandon as though the world would  end tomorrow.

And then, Tessa’s peers as well as those from the masa unconsciously found themselves existing in one world, connected to one another through the GMA “talent” search which has become a favorite early-Saturday evening staple. (Yes, we at The STAR watched it with mounting excitement as we cheered for our own bets to stay on in the contest and for our non-bets — same as yours? — to be booted out, pronto!)

When Tessa was declared winner (largely by text-voters), the sosyal and the pa-sosyal cheered her right on! Everybody else was asking: Who is Tessa Prieto-Valdes and why is she looking and singing “that way”?

For a starter, besides being a society columnist for Inquirer (owned by the Prietos), Tessa is happily married to Dennis Valdes by whom she has four children: Bryan (abroad), 22; Tyrone, 12; Annika, nine; and Athena, two.

Let’s “strip” Tessa and find out more what she is.

What did you do with your P1 million prize?

“I donated all of it to my favorite 10 charities, the whole P800,000 (minus 20 percent tax). Charities that support battered wives, orphans, missionaries of the Assumption, iba-bang charities. They told me I could get the money in three weeks. I don’t know why the government should tax money for charities. So I have to put in P200,000 of my own money so all the 10 chartities will each get P100,000. Nag-abuno pa ako.”

Did your husband really give you a car as a reward?

“Yes. But it’s not as expensive as the P5-M BMW that David (Bunevacz) gave his wife Jessica.”

Your prize money was not commensurate to what you spent on the costumes you wore during the contest.

(Laughs) “Yeah. Mas malaki pa ang nagastos ko sa damit kaysa sa prize ko. Gumastos pa ako. But, you know, how cute. Rajo (Laurel) made one gown for me. He said, ‘This is my share!’”

Celebrity Duets had 11 episodes and that means you wore 11 different gowns...by 11 different couturiers?

“No naman. Most of my gowns were by Pepsi Herrera and Edwin Tan, the in-house designers. My gowns were made of yards and yards of tela so there was a joke na nasisira ang budget nila sa akin.”

Didn’t your bulky costumes affect your singing?

“No, not at all. I was just having fun. I thought I would be booted out anytime. Celebrity Duets wasn’t really a singing contest; it was more of a popularity contest. The more popular you are with the viewers, the more chances you have of winning.”

How many percent ba ‘yung text votes?

“100 percent.”

So the judges (Mitch Valdes, Louie Ocampo and APO’s Buboy Garovillo) were useless. Parang tao-tauhan lang sila.

“In one episode nga, Louie said, ‘What are we here for?’ I guess they were there to persuade and sort of guide the audience who to vote for.”

During the finals, I noticed that Manny Calayan was the only “graduate” unaccounted for.

“Napikon siya. For the finals, all of us were asked to rehearse our final songs — those who were booted out and the three of us who remained, Hayden, Jessica and I — because the band was going somewhere. From the very start, we agreed that, win or lose, all of us contestants would go back for the finals. Manny begged off because, you know, magpapa-opera daw siya. I think he really timed whatever that operation was with the finals kasi natanggal nga siya.”

Oops! Lipo? Face-lift? Or any such cosmetic surgery? Maybe in Vicki Belo’s clinic or in Jessica’s clinic?

“How funny! Hayden and I were kidding around. I asked him, ‘Kunwari ooperahan  mo si Manny. Ano ang gagawin mo?’ Hayden said, ‘Aalisin ko ang lahat ng taba niya, para ‘yung katawan niya maging katulad ng sa akin.’ Joke lang ‘yon. Ay naku, baka mapikon na naman si Manny.”

You didn’t think you would win, did you?

“No.”

Who among the seven other contestants was your bet?

“Talent-wise, si Wyngard. He really has the voice. He has been in the industry for a long time and he handles among the industry’s best talents — Side A among them. ‘Yung mga ka-duets niya were really powerful singers and Wyngard blended with each of them very beautifully.”

What about as far as showmanship was concerned?

“Oh, well, ako na ‘yon. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I admit that vocally I was the weakest among the contestants talaga. But I am not tone-deaf, huh, so I can carry a tune. It’s just that my voice is naturally hoarse and my voice coach said that the two kalaban of singers are pagpupuyat and pagdadaldal, and I am guilty of both!”

Now that you are a winner, would you consider embarking on a singing career?

“No. Zero! No, no, no! No way! I’m gonna collect my money, give it away and go on  with my life.”

No intention of competing in another contest?

“No. Never!”

What do you think made you win?

“You know, being in the bottom, I never thought I stood a chance. I was joking nga that maybe they changed the rules in my favor. At the start, my votes were tinge-tinge. There was a rumor pa nga that the Calayans were paying people to vote for Manny at P5,000 per vote! Wow!”
Is it true that you mobilized Manila’s high society to vote for you?

“Ay naku, those people in high society were too tamad to text. I think the people who were enjoying my performance were the poor ones who couldn’t afford to text. Wala silang load. In one episode where Rey Valera was a guest judge, he made a comment to the effect that it wasn’t really, basically a singing contest. It’s television, you know, it’s entertainment. If it was strictly a singing contest, they would have called it Tawag ng Tanghalan.”

Were you “forced” to join the contest?

“No naman. I joined because I thought it was fun. At first, they were suggesting so many names, including politicians — Sen. Mar Roxas, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. But they couldn’t do it because of their commitments. Even MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando was mentioned.”

How did you prepare for the contest?

“GMA provided us with a voice coach. We rehearsed twice a week.

I was lucky because I later got one of The CompanY members as coach.”

What about your ka-duets...did you choose them yourself?

“It was also GMA which chose them for us. There were eight of us contestants originally, so multiply that by eight and they needed 64 ka-duets more or less. GMA didn’t have that many singers so later on, when they ran out of talents, humiram na sila sa kabila (ABS-CBN). Thank God, Wyngard was there...he isn’t involved in the network war...so he was able to borrow singers from ABS-CBN, like Mark Bautista and Kuh Ledesma.”

You had brilliant ka-duets, like Kyla, the first and the last.  

“She was very good! Our first duet was a Gwen Stefani song and the last one was Walking on Sunshine. My duet with Jolina (Magdangal) was cute, Girlfriend (by Avril Lavigne). Then I did My Hump (by The Blackeyed Peas) with Billy (Crawford) and Jeproks with Mike Hanopol. My duet with Manilyn Reynes was We’ve Got The Beat and with an Imago member,Taralets. Kami naman ni Arnell (Ignacio), Proud Mary ang duet namin. Michael V and I did a Tom Jones song. I also did Like a Virgin (by Madonna) with Rufa Mae Quinto. It was so funny. Feel na feel namin ‘yung song, as if we were really virgins. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!  Oh my God, we were both sintunado, off-key talaga kami pareho, and I was at the bottom in that episode. On the last episode, I sang two songs, the one with Kyla and the second was True Colors with Joey Generoso (of Side A).”

Do you have any favorite song?

“Now? Yes, Proud Mary! It’s bagay sa akin, di ba? That’s one thing with me, I know my limitations so I know what songs to sing. As I was saying, Celebrity Duets is television, it’s not radio; it’s entertainment and showmanship, it’s not so much how you sing but how you perform. You know.”

Have you ever dreamed of becoming  a singer?

“You know, of all my talents or whatever, singing is at the bottom of the list. I can’t even sing Ama Namin. Talaga. My voice is so ‘frog-gy,’ parang palaka. What happened was that Jessica invited me to join Celebrity Duets and I, in turn, invited Tim. And before we knew it, we were there. Contest na!”

Are you familiar with Isabella Blue, the English fashion icon who committed suicide? I read about her in a recent issue of Vanity Fair and she reminded me so much of you. I mean, her fashion style. Very Tessa Prieto-Valdes ang dating niya.

“Of course, I know her!”

Many people are wondering, has Tessa Prieto-Valdes always dressed “that way?”

“Well, not always. I started dressing ‘that way’ after my (older) brother Louie died in a motorcycle accident at the South Superhighway (in the early ’90s). He was only 31. I was deeply affected by his death. I couldn’t accept it. Dressing ‘that way’ has become my outlet, instead of taking drugs or alcohol. I realized that life is really short and my brother’s death made me appreciate my life more. It’s your life and you have a right to live it and enjoy it any way you want to — as long as you are in the boundaries of good moral standards or something.”

Your (fashion) ideas are your own, right?

“Yes, my own but a lot of them are collaborations with some designers. That’s the time when they can give way to their creativity. What do they do ba? Design gowns for brides and for debutantes. There’s not much creativity there, di ba? Ako, no design, however out-of-this-world, can overwhelm me; I can absorb any design and get into it.”

By the way, how are you as a wife?

“Bad! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Selfish!”

Does Dennis spoil you?

“He does.”

It’s plain to see. He even gave you a car nga after you won.

“Actually, ako ang nanghingi n’un. I deserved it! Imagine what I went through...going to the studio for eight weeks and singing my lungs out, instead of going abroad. Mahirap ‘yon, a!  It was a total change of life. Didn’t I deserve a reward? Ha, ha, ha!”

And how are you as a mother...a spoiler?

“Yeah. I’m a spoiler. I’m a briber. You know, ‘Don’t go to the mall, I’ll give you something.’ O, di ba bribery ‘yon?”

As a society columnist, do you really enjoy covering all the sosyalan?

“You know, in the beginning, I didn’t want to do it. But the Inquirer needed somebody not biased to certain PRs. Besides, I go to all these parties, so it was right along my alley. At first, I used to get hate mails — you know, they were saying, ‘Kasi, mayaman ka...you are impervious to...’ whatever. Of course, I didn’t have to justify to them or to announce to the whole world what charities I am supporting. It’s not something that I should or I want to flaunt.”

But I really like your style. You don’t seem to take things seriously.

“Oh, you do? Thank you!”

Okay, what is Tessa Prieto-Valdes like behind those tons and tons of fashionable clothes?

“What you see on Celebrity Duets is the real Tessa Prieto-Valdes. No pretension whatsoever. Inaamin ko na hindi ako magaling kumanta. That’s why I felt bad when Calayan said, ‘Ang dapat matanggal ay si Tessa dahil wala siyang boses.’ Hello, I know that! I never said that I had ‘a voice.’ I don’t pretend with what I’m saying, with what I’m singing or with whatever I’m wearing. I’m glad that I joined the contest. Before that, most people who knew me were those who read my column. The contest was watched by people from Forbes to Divisoria, by the AB crowd and the CD crowd, and I’m happy for that. Now, I think many people know me. What they see is what they get!”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])