Gary & the Soundtrack of his life

As a nod to Gary Valenciano’s 30th anniversary in showbiz which he’s celebrating with a concert titled ARISE Gary V 3.0 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on April 11 and 12 (for tickets, call Ticketnet at 911-5555), Funfare asked Gary to make a list of the “30 Most Memorable Songs” in his life. Here they are:

1. Sana Maulit Muli

Because of the way this song has gone from one decade to the next and still creating an impact that is just as powerful, not more powerful than it first came out. There’s a history to this song which can be checked on YouTube on the first episode of the Gary V TV channel…there’s a background to this song and you’ll find out what’s it all about. It was not just me who wrote this song, Angeli wrote all the lyrics. From the ’80s when it first came out…I did Ibulong Mo Sa Diyos with Ate Vi and it was the theme song, and then in the ’90s when I did a version with Kyla and Regine Velasquez, Jaya and Sharon Cuneta also did their own rendition of it. Lea Salonga also recorded her own version of the song for the theme song of her movie with Aga Muhlach. And then in the 2000s and onward when I was finally given the assignment to re-arrange it and produce it for the teleserye with the same title.

2. Take Me Out Of The Dark

This song is special to me simply because this is my very first inspirational composition. This is the first and only song with all the music already recorded and with me ready to do the vocals…the only problem was there were no lyrics to put…none! But the studio was waiting for me and I was waiting for some sort of inspiration to strike me like lightning and it did. I prayed and asked God to bless me with lyrics. If Sana Maulit Muli became a hit on the airwaves, Take Me Out Of The Dark hit the hearts and souls and spirits of people in ways that have continued to create a positive effect through the years. This song is very instrumental in preventing many suicides as well.

3. With You

This is a new song which I started writing some years back. This was completed after it was inspired later on by Paolo’s and Samantha’s wedding. To top it all, I recorded this with Kiana for my new album. This song ended up to be the title track of the new album.

4. Babalik Ka Rin

This song hits home every time I sing it. This song allows me to move, dance and express myself not just in lyrical form because it’s in Tagalog, but also in the moves because I can just simulate my own ethnic moves. It creates such an impact in the listeners’ and concert viewers’ hearts and it brings “home” to the heart of the Pinoy wherever he or she may be. Also, this song was inspired by a workshop I attended at McCann-Erickson with Edru Abraham in 1994. We presented it to Duty Free Philippines and Jeric Soriano directed the video for that.

5. The Warrior Is A Child

This song means so much to me. I did not write this song. This was written by Twila Paris. I was introduced to this song back in the ’80s when I randomly picked up a cassette in a bookstore that sold inspirational music. I think it’s something that I need to do again…to go in bookstores and record shops and just randomly choose what I feel the kind of artist and music that will appeal to me in the way The Warrior Is A Child did to me. I can see myself singing this song because I can relate to it and I’m happy that many others can relate to my rendition of it. The late Rico Yan loved this song and told me that if he passed away that was the song he wanted for me to sing. He did leave us some months later and it became the anthem of his wake.

6. Walang Hanggan

I produced the theme song of this teleserye and mixed it at home. It was a bit tough because I didn’t know at first how to treat the song because its original chord progression was very ’70s so I felt that it did not fit me. I had to think of means and ways to change it and still keep the true essence of the song and I think it worked. This is one of my personal favorites when it comes to the way I worked on a song. I did it during my entire Christmas break in 2011.

7. How Did You Know

I like singing this song in occasions where people are in love whether it’s a wedding, or a debut, or a special party. It’s nice and it’s so pure…the way it was written. It’s not easy to come across songs like this from the particular era when it was released. There are great love songs that came out in the ’80s but this one for me was the purest of them all.

8. Shout For Joy

I don’t mind singing this again and again…whether it’s the new version or the older version. This was written at a time when there was really not much joy going around. My producer, the late Larry Scott, came to me and told me that he was not seeing the laughter and smiles of Filipinos. This was in ’89…there was a coup de etat attempt at Cory Aquino’s administration, in 1990 came the earthquake, and in 1991 was the Pinatubo eruption. I wrote Shout For Joy in 1991 and I wanted to do a fast song about the Lord because we can certainly have fun with Jesus and today, I’m still blown away with the fact that both young and old can sing the song with me. I think all the people who introduced my music to the younger generation. I am also touched that a Swedish children’s group recorded this song.

9. When I Hear You Call

I was inspired by Gerald Anderson and Kim Chiu when they were at the PBB house when I wrote When I Hear You Call. I was moved when I met the six finalists because I realized the wonderful things in store for them. This song is meant to speak to the young in a way that tells them that no matter how torn-up their families may be, they will always have a Father who promised that He will never leave and forsake them. Luigiboy Tabuena did a wonderful video of this song and he featured my late father.

10. Home

This song never really became a big hit. This was written by Rex Versoza and this is a powerful song that talks about the prodigal son. There’s a line in the song that really gets to me: “Before I take my second step, he sees me coming back, and he comes running to me.”

11. Just Once

The lyrics of this song is as simple and as plain as it can be. It speaks in a way that it caters to my time… “I did my best but I guess my best wasn’t good enough…here we are back where we were before.” This is one of the songs that I used to perform constantly in public. This remains to be one of my personal favorites. I actually lied to a former girlfriend in high school and told her I wrote the song!

12. Love Is Real

This is by Al Jarreau and this is the first upbeat song I performed on TV where I did a lot of scatting. Al Jarreau did an ad-lib in this song which I copied to the T. I would rewind and rewind the cassette when I was studying the song until it broke. And you know what, I was able to do it.

13. Could We

This a duet that I recorded with Zsa Zsa Padilla. This has a Tagalog adaptation written by Jungee Marcelo called Muli which I did with Regine Velasquez. I favor both songs but I favor Could We a little more because it was the very first duet that I wrote. Zsa Zsa was with me in the studio while I was writing it and we recorded this song right after I finished writing it. I can sing this song in English and in Tagalog. One of the ideas for ARISE was to have Zsa Zsa and Regine in the concert so we can a do a duet of Could We and Muli mashed-up…and I hope this idea could happen one day.

14. Look In Her Eyes

This has a super ’80s feel. I like the way all the elements came together in this song. When I perform this song and I see people dancing and responding to it, I realize that I might have done something good with it. I don’t mind singing this again and again.

15. Nella Fantasia

This is performed by Celtic Women. I listen to this when I want to meditate before a concert. I love this song.

16. Fool ‘Till The End

This is my first ballad composition included in my first album and I rearranged it for my Greatest Hits collection in 1997. I wrote this with Angeli in mind. Listen to the lyrics.

17. Even For A While

This is not vocally-stressful to sing. I never get to sing this live much often and I wish this can be used as a movie theme song someday.

18. Break Me

This is the last song that the late Bella Tan got to hear before she passed away. I was in her house and I made her hear the song and a few minutes after, she died. While the song was playing, she whispered thank you to Angeli and hugged us both. I asked her if she liked it and she said yes. I first met her through the song Pasko Na Sinta Ko. I met her through music and I said goodbye to her through music. Break Me is a song which Bella encouraged me to finish.

19. Di Na Natuto

How can I neglect this song? I like the love song flavor of this song which is very Pinoy. Danny Javier of the APO Hiking Society wrote this and this made me permanently stay in the industry. Before this, all my songs were in English. This is the song that catapulted my career to a whole new and different level. I will forever be grateful to the late and great Menchu Apostol who totally changed the arrangement of the song.

20. Each Passing Night

I recorded this with a young Regine Velasquez who was just starting to make a splash into the industry. I will never forget how I sat listening to her sing and how we exchanged ideas on how she would perform her part. It was a great collaboration. It was a small role that gave a huge impact to a song that became a big hit.

21. One Day In Your Life

This is one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs. I like it because I like it. I was young and I would watch TV to hopefully catch a glimpse of Michael Jackson singing this song. I love the way this was arranged, I love the way this sounds, and I love the chord progression.

22. Man In The Mirror

For me, this is a groundbreaking song by Michael Jackson, especially when the chorus comes in. The drum sound in this song is a sound that I always fell in love with. The lyrics of this song are beautiful but to make a song completely a hit and to make it completely memorable and make it completely a class on its own is to when you are able to use the right sounds for it and produce it well. Michael Jackson’s producer really did something amazing with this song.

23. In Another Lifetime

This was used as theme song of Eternity starring Iza Calzado and Dingdong Dantes. This is a beautiful, simple song. Listen to it.

24. What Matters Most

This means a lot to me, because I recorded it for the album Just For You. I did the piano accompaniment for this and for my version of this Kenny Rankin original, I knew where I wanted to take it. The melody and lyrics are great.

25. Could You Be Messiah

I wrote the music to this song and the lyrics were written by Freddie Santos. This was part of a musicale called First Name. This song has done its rounds from being just piano and voice to having a string arrangement when I recorded it in the US. I performed this everywhere and it’s the kind of song that’s so personal to me because it has its way of speaking in ways that the impact is so effective that I don’t have to talk, I just have to sing it and let the song speak for itself. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association used it for its  international outreaches and we shot a video in California in 1994 for the song.

26. Search And Know

This was from the Shout For Joy album. I may not perform this all the time, but I like listening to it. I would also love for another artist to record this and give it a different interpretation. I can just listen to this song again and again. This is one of Kiana’s favorite compositions of mine.

27. Blessings

This was performed by Laura Story. Some people would ask, what song is this…I would just say listen to it and this song will bless you for sure.

28. The Answer

I wrote this in the ’90s after the failed coup de etat attempt. This was inspired by the story of the tank that was blown up by a soldier who found out that his brother who was a soldier too was inside the tank when it exploded. Little did I know that this song would be relevant again after everything that our country went through last year from the war in Zamboanga to the earthquake in Bohol to Typhoon Yolanda. The answer will always be the same in whatever season in life we are facing: “We try and look above the storm to see what lies ahead, but looking through the eyes of man we’ll see that there’s nothing there. All those empty eyes…how much more can we bear? Do we know there’s an answer…we know that he’s just there. Look inside your heart and know the truth…when there’s Christ…there’s your hope, there’s your answer that you and I can share…”

29. Face To Face

I rarely get to sing this song but when I do, I get such good response from my audience. People are always surprised to know that I wrote this and this was part of my Interactive album. I wrote this while I was on tour in Canada. A touching story was when Gordon Robertson of CBN USA had dinner at my house and I shared the new unrecorded version with him. He told me many months later that he was about to give up on ministry during that time after a trip to India and the song changed his life.

30. Di Bale Na Lang

This is a song where I can sing anywhere. This is a fun, feel-good song that many guys can relate to. This is a cute song that was not meant to be done in a cute way. This song is a classic of sorts…I wrote this with the help of Rowell Santiago and Angeli and the rest is history. The elements of this song just fell into place from its fun intro to the lyrics. I even remember a Puerto Rican singer named Patty Cabrera when I was in Denver in 1998. She told me that she saw a concert of mine in Manila in 1987 and that she loves Di Bale Na Lang. She knew the lyrics by heart. I was so honored. I will never forget that moment.

(*31 & 32 — Kailangan Kita and Ikaw Lamang

I cannot possibly put these songs aside because these are songs that have spoken to my life and have been used to speak to other people’s lives and have been used as soundtracks of their lives…not just in movies and teleseryes. I thank Ogie Alcasid who wrote these beautiful songs. To those wondering about other songs, please forgive me…this list could change weekly…one or two songs may be taken out and two new songs may be added…but for now, I wanna keep all of these songs as part of the soundtrack of my life.)

With musical direction by Mon Faustino, ARISE is co-directed by Gary with Paolo Valenciano. Special guests include Sarah Geronimo, Rico Blanco, Sam Concepcion, Iya Villania, Paolo Valenciano, Gabriel Valenciano, Kiana Valenciano, G-Force, The Manoeuvres, LSDC, and many more. Proceeds will be donated to the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda and to Shining Light Foundation and Operation Blessing.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)