After a successful fund-raising concert with Lea Salonga, Martin Nievera and Richard Merk at Solaire Resort & Casino last December 29, Grammy-winning pop, R&B and jazz singer Patti Austin celebrated New Year’s eve with another benefit show for the survivors of typhoon Yolanda at Fairmont Hotel in Makati.
The show, dubbed “One Heart, One Voice”, was held at the Fairmont’s Raffles Ballroom. It also featured Richard Merk, Emcy Corteza and the Sticky Band.
In a press conference to promote her Fairmont show, the 63-year-old singer born in Harlem, New York expressed how much she enjoys coming back and forth to the Philippines, a country she has been visiting since 1973.
“I’m always happy to come here. Last time I was here was only last September and before that was 10 years ago. Every time I’m here in your country, I see a lot of gradual improvement, a lot of progress,” she declared.
Patti was, however, heartbroken to hear about the devastation that the recent calamities, especially typhoon Yolanda, had left in their wake. Which is why she decided to take a more active role in personally helping rehabilitate the survivors.
In addition to donating part of the proceeds of her Solaire and Fairmont concerts, Patti will personally lead a continuing effort to design and build houses in Tacloban through Habitat For Humanity. During the press conference, Patti said she was particularly concerned with giving more than just empty houses and hopes to get acquainted with some of the typhoon survivors before she returns to the US.
Beginning her career in the 1960s as a session singer for the label of her godfather Quincy Jones, Patti released her debut album in 1976 and continues to record to this day.
Over the years, she scored several hits with songs like “Say You Love Me”, “What’s at the End of a Rainbow”, “Rhythm of the Street”, “All Behind Us Now”, her jazzed-up covers of the Stylistics’ “Stop Look Listen” and the Platters’ “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and, of course, her smash duets with James Ingram, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” and their US number one, “Baby Come To Me”.
Asked if she has ever done these duets with other people, Patti said she only prefers to do it with her original recording partner. When Ingram is not around, Patti would sing his parts just like how he did in the record.
“I try not to do those songs with other people. I tried ‘Baby Come To Me’ a couple of times with someone else, it’s just not the same thing so I don’t even bother. James would always tease me, ‘You do me better than I do me, I don’t know how that’s possible’ so there’s also a comedic effect to it,” she quipped.
Patti said Martin Nievera actually asked her if she wanted to do those duets with him.
“I told him I don’t do them for a specific reason and you’ll know the reason when you watch the show. After he saw me sing ‘Baby Come To Me’, he was just cracking up. Okay, I get it, he said,” she said, smiling.
As for “How Do You Keep The Music Playing”, the singer said it was originally intended for her to sing alone for the movie “Best Friends” starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds.
“After I recorded it alone, it was decided that it should be created as a duet that would be used in the middle part. But that wasn’t the original intention,” she revealed.
Asked how much she remembers about the 1980s when she had her greatest success, Patti said even she was surprised that she didn’t remember much of the period when she was still in her 30s.
“I don’t remember a whole heck of a lot being in my 30s. It’s probably a nondescript period in my life and it’s funny because in retrospect, they’ve been the most highly visible portion of my life. I was too busy to be highly visible to pay attention to what it was,” she joked.
“I remember much more from 40 onwards and 30 down but my 30s are just kind of a blur. There’s something about your 30s that’s kind of a waiting period until you become a complete person. I don’t recall a lot about it. I’m happy to say that it ended soon and I’m back in the real world.”
With regards to spending New Year’s eve outside of her home country, Patti said it was not a totally new experience for her.
“I’ve been doing New Year’s eve shows since I was in my 20s and none of it has ever been where I live. What’s my memorable New Year’s eve show? Nobody remembers their New Year’s eve. It’s New Year’s eve, most people are drunk. It’s not to be remembered. You just blur and block everything out,” she cracked.
There is one particularly one New Year’s eve that she won’t forget, though.
“I wasn’t performing so I decided I was going to act like a tourist and go to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I live in Manhattan so I never really go to Times Square, the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Hall. I mean, I live there. But that one time, I decided to go to Times Square,” she recalled.
“It was an interesting experience, thousands of drunk people screaming at each other. It was very strange standing for hours trying to get a cab after it was all over, though. I can’t forget that experience.”
source: interaksyon.com
