He points to PolyEast president Ramon Chuaying, A&R Director Chito Ilagan and Gen. Mgr. Jesmon Chua. “I owe these guys a lot. My relationship with them go deeper than work. Chito told me: if you sing ‘Be My Lady’, you’ll be a big star. And he was right, so I’ll go where Chito goes. Mr. Chuaying was with me in the darkest days of my life. After the breakup of my marriage to Pops, people sided with her and I didn’t have any work for one year. There were just no offers. It’s the lowest point of my career. Walang-wala ako. And yet Mr. Chuaying gave me a new car. I asked him to let me record an album for my own therapy, songs I all dedicated to Pops hoping she’d take me back. But she threw away the album. Mr. Chuaying released it as ‘Forever’, all remakes, and it became such a big hit that it started the ‘Forever’ series of my albums. He asked me to do another one, ‘Forever Forever’, which is again a hit, so he told me to record another album of revivals, ‘Return to Forever’. That’s why being part of PolyEast is really a big blessing for me. They helped in my return to the music scene.”
He’s now preparing for his “Voices of Love” Valentine concert with Regine Velasquez at MOA on Valentine’s Day. “We have a contest in losing weight before our concert to see who’ll be ‘payat-er’ between the two of us. I’m now on a juicing diet. No solids for one week. Only juice.”
What kind of juice? “Actually, I don’t know what’s in it. E, ako, basta sabihin mo, papayat ako, I’ll drink it. First two days, nakakahilo. It detoxifies kasi. Basta, you watch out, sa concert namin ni Regine, mas payat na ako.”
What’s his plan for his 52nd birthday on February 5. “No plans. What for? I can’t eat anyway. At nasa rehearsal ako noon ng ‘Voices of Love’. I’ll be busy working.”
Martin maybe 52 but he surely looks much younger than his age.
