Nikki Gil gets big breaks

NIKKI GIL feels blessed as she makes her presence felt in various media. Her third album, "Somebody To Love" from PolyEast will be launched at ASAP this Sunday. On TV, she's Coco Martin's leading lady in "Tonyong Bayawak" on ABS-CBN. On the big screen, she plays the lead in Unitel's "The Red Shoes" with Marvin Agustin. On stage, she's playing the title role in Atlantis Productions' Broadway musical, "Legally Blonde" for which she is now training in voice and dance.

"I didn't ask for any of this," she says. "Basta binigay ni Lord sa akin so I'm really thankful." Not only is her career doing well but also her love life. She's been on for two years with Billy Crawford who just followed her to Dr. Manny Calayan as endorser. But she feels sad her Valentine concert with Billy didn't push through. "Nagkaproblema raw sa venue and one of the sponsors so it's postponed. Ewan lang kung kailan matutuloy."

She's proud of her new album as its 11 songs are all original. The title song and carrier single, "Somebody to Love", is composed by her own sister Dani. Another one, "You Are My Life", is composed by Billy for her and they do it as a duet. Other songwriters who contributed to the album are David Pomeranz, Marcus Davis, Wency Cornejo, Arni Mendaros and Chito Ilagan. The album shows Nikki's growth as a more mature artist who can do pop, R&B, soul, moody and beat-driven tunes with equal ease. The other great cuts in the album are "I Can Only Imagine" (a Christian song that she dedicates to God), "Magbabalik Ka Pa Ba", "I Will Be Loving You", "Time and Again", "Last Love", and "Kung Wala Ka". Watch out for her free shows: Robinson's Ermita- March 12, Robinson's Metroeast-March 13, Robinson's Imus-March 14, Robinson's Galleria-March 26, Robinson's Lipa-April 9, Robinson's Pampanga-April 10 and Robinson's Sta. Rosa-April 11.