Lara Cuevas is Viva Records first artist for 2011

VIVA RECORDS introduces Lara Cuevas as their first new artist in 2011. Born on Sept. 22, 1982 in San Jose, Batangas and the youngest of four sisters who all sing, Lara went to Shanghai when she was 21 to sing with a band. She found out later that her papers were fake and she’s an illegal, causing her to hide under the table each time cops would visit their club. “I later joined another band who helped me become legal,” she says. “I’ve since then joined three other bands. I got to learn all kinds of songs as we cater to an international crowd. I know Spanish, Italian, French, and Polish songs. I even rap in Chinese. I’ve had a Pinoy boyfriend and a Spanish who proposed marriage to me but I wasn’t ready.”

She came to her album launch with her current BF, an Italian executive named Francesco Parenti who’s 39. “Last year, while on vacation here, I made a demo tape of my songs and a friend gave it to Viva. Nagulat ako ng ipatawag ako ni Boss Vic del Rosario and asked me to record an album. Iyak ako ng iyak sa tuwa.”

Her self-titled album was recorded in L.A. in June of 2010, with 8 revivals (“You Make Me Feel Brand New”, “Can’t Fight the Moonlight”, “Genie in a Bottle”, “Unbreak My Heart”, “The Trouble with Hello is Goodbye”, “After All”, “Isang Damdamin”, “Now that I Have You”) and four originals (“Wala Nang Mahihiling Pa”, “Bakit Pinaglaruan”, “Running into Love” and the carrier single, “This Moment”, by Pamela Phillips Oland and Jimmy Borja). Some of the songs were given a new twist ala-Latin or bossa style. Who are her fave local singers? “Lani Misalucha, Jaya, Sarah Geronimo, Jonalyn Viray. Ang gagaling nila.” With her prodigious talent, we won’t be surprised if she’d soon follow in their footsteps.