Richard Poon Talks About His Wife Maricar Reyes' Most Endearing Quality

RICHARD POON has a new album from Universal Records, “The Crooner Sings Bacharach”, where he does covers of 12 great songs by music icon Burt Bacharach: "What The World Needs Now," “Always Something There to Remind Me”, “The Look of Love”, “I Say a Little Prayer," “Alfie”, “Walk on By”, “Don’t Make Me Over”, “You’ll Never Get to Heaven”, “Arthur’s Theme”, “A House is Not a Home”, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, and the song he dedicates to his wife Maricar Reyes, “Close To You". Weren’t most of these songs sung originally by Dionne Warwick?

“Yes, so we now come up with new arrangements to give it a more contemporary flavor. It’s a mixture of jazz and pop,” he says. “I think kung purely jazz wala na makikinig sa 'kin kasi very small ang market ng jazz. But if I go pure pop naman ang dami ring kalaban, so we made it a mixture of jazz and pop, para very palatable to the ear.”

How come he chose Bacharach songs? “It’s my bosses who chose them. Sumunod lang ako. Kasi my first album with them, ‘Legends’, where I did covers of great singers like Madonna, nag-gold agad. Bacharach is a legend in songwriting and I researched on him, ang gaganda talaga ng mga kanta niya. We got his most popular songs for my album and so far, ang ganda ng feedback. Kasi kilala lahat ng tao at wala kang itatapon. Young people tell me ito ang Christmas gift nila sa parents nila who are familiar with these songs.”

He and Maricar celebrated their first wedding anniversary last June. So how’s married life so far? “It’s okay. But we’re both busy. She comes home at 4 AM from taping ‘Sana Bukas Pa ang Kahapon’. Laging puyat so ang payat-payat niya ngayon. But the show is ending soon so we’ll have more time together.”

When do they intend to have kids? “By next year. First two years, I want it to be wife-centered muna, not child-centered. Kaya hindi na muna siya tatanggap ng new teleserye kasi it takes a lot of her time.”

Does he watch “Sana Bukas”? “No, I don’t like her playing villain roles kasi it’s not her, it’s her opposite.”

What’s Maricar’s most endearing quality as a wife? “She’s not just supportive, but she corrects me in a way that’s very positive. It’s good we have different careers. She’s into acting and I’m into singing.”

Richard’s “The Crooner Sings Bacharach” will be launched in “ASAP” this Sunday. It’s now available in record bars for P350 and online in iTunes and Spinnr.