Other loves now lost but always remembered

Just found out that it is not only Madonna, who is counting down three decades in the music business this year. So is our very own and certainly one of everybody’s favorite people, Zsa Zsa Padilla. It was 30 years ago, when Zsa Zsa, then a young wife and mother, embarked on a singing career. She was first a band vocalist. She did the song Careful Careful, the theme for the entertainment gossip show Nothing But The Truth with Hotdog.

That did not last long and soon the lovely daughter of actor and later boxing referee Carlos Padilla Jr. was making her solo bid with an album by the hottest producer of the time, Willy Cruz. The record effectively did the trick. It proved notable for the hit single Kahit Na and cuts like Sana’y Maghintay Ang Walang Hanggan and the most talked about feet in music circles. The back of the LP cover, all 12” by 12” of it, showed off Zsa Zsa’s beautiful feet.

Was not able to check her feet to find out how they have held up these past years, but Zsa Zsa, who is now a proud 49-year-old is certainly looking her most beautiful these days. I like how she has allowed her hair to return to its natural dark brown color. “I found out that I am allergic to hair dye,” she says. “I was feeling so bad after my surgery and wondering what I had eaten, when the cause was the dye. I only use the organic kind now.”

I also like that she has allowed her figure to plump out a bit. No bones showing now in the well-placed curves. “I have not been able to work out because I have a bad shoulder. It is like frozen. I just do zumba once in a while. Besides, I’m old and I think I should enjoy my food. So, I am fine about the weight gain. What I do not like is that I often feel tired. My daughter can tape a show and still go dancing at night. Ako hindi na.”

I also like the sense of rightness with the world that is her aura nowadays. It is the serenity that softens her finely-sculpted features. “It is now almost a year,” she says referring to the loss of the love of her life, the legendary comedian Dolphy, who passed away last July 11, 2012. This is also the first time she has sat down for an interview. It is to promote her new album Noon Ngayon, Bukas Kailanman, Palagi, but she also came prepared to talk about him, ready to share her memories.

She does not cry as much and is now beginning to realize her freedom. With Dolphy gone and her three daughters all busy with their own lives, Zsa Zsa often comes home to an empty house. No more “Lovey I’m home” for her these days. “I sometimes get this feeling, wow, I am free. I do not have to account to anybody but I know I am not over it. My girls tell me I should move on. People tell me I should let go because it is not good for the soul. It is like I am keeping him around as a ghost. I do not really know if I can.”

She continues, “I still talk to him every day during my morning coffee. He is everywhere in the house. They are fixing my car so I have been using his van. Last night, on the way home I played his song What A Wonderful World and I missed him so much.”

She is clearly not in a hurry to start forgetting. “I asked to do Without You in this album for him.” This is an old hit by Joey Albert that was composed by Louie Ocampo and Zsa Zsa sings it with so much sadness. She has also written a song, All Cried Out. It is about a broken heart but I listen to the lyrics and I think, this can also be about Dolphy. “Then you cry the hurt inside/ let the tears fall down/ you’re on your way/ you’ll heal your heart/ for now you know the time has come/ you can move on…Have you ever felt all cried out. I did my best but now I’m all cried out.”

It is also in her liner notes. “My love for you grows with every song I sing. Heaven knows how much I miss you. You are always in my heart and will be with me no matter where life’s journey takes me. Noon, Ngayon, Bukas, Kailanman…Palagi. Palaging Ikaw.”

Zsa Zsa has chosen 10 songs by Filipino composers for her album. Aside from Without You and All Cried Out, there are also Dito Lang, Sa Piling Mo Di Ka Na Akin, Palagi, Ngayon At Magpakailanman and a duet of Rey Valera’s Maging Sino Ka Man with Martin Nievera. My favorites are the rock ballads How Can You Say, I Do, and All Cried Out. I love it when Zsa Zsa goes into the rock mode. I have always believed she is the only one who has a natural affinity for rock songs from among the pop divas of her generation and these songs prove me right.

But of course, who cares about rockers when you are thinking of a great love story? Zsa Zsa’s Palagi is all about that, of “…bawat araw ay hinahanap ka/ haplos at halik mo’y aIaala…” And other loves now lost but always remembered.