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THE pain of losing his "fairy tale marriage" to singer Pops Fernandez has brought deeper emotion to Martin Nievera's performances. Nievera turns pain
into a positiveBy John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin"I don't sing any more, I bleed. That's my new voice," said Nievera. "If you listen to my CDs (recorded) before two years ago and you listen to my CDs now, it's two different singers. I let all my emotions out.
"I've been through a lot in the last two years. My marriage and my life and my family are over (and) I'm single again. Most men would be happy but I'm not. It was a very hard transition for me, but musically ... I was so in pain that I needed to vent. I'd write really depressing songs -- the kind you want to slit your wrists to."
Nievera addresses his trauma on his last three studio albums -- "Forever," "Forever Forever" and "Return to Forever." He also drew on his pain when he wrote the narrative for one of the big numbers on his newest album, "Martin Live With the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra."
IN CONCERT
Who: Martin Nievera
Nievera introduces the song, "Before You Say Goodbye," with the story of a man who returns to a home that is no longer his home, sees how things have changed, and wishes that his ex-wife still loved him. Nievera finalized the narrative when he recorded the album on his 38th birthday on Feb. 5.
"Months before that I had been telling that story to every press person in the Philippines -- even across the world. That's all they wanted to hear about, my failed marriage.
"It was like the 100,000,000th time that I'd told the story, so when I recorded (the song), I decided to tell it in the third person -- 'If I were to write a song for a Broadway musical ..." -- but actually what I'm doing is describing my problem. It seemed to work. People were crying. I was crying."
"Before You Say Goodbye" will be one of the numbers Nievera will perform for his fans when he appears in a return engagement at Blaisdell Arena on Saturday.
"I've realized that my life is an open book and it's my fault. They know everything about me (and) if one person asks me about my marriage I'll stop the show and answer their question because I want them to understand the truth. I've spent a career this past year of admitting my faults -- my shortcomings as a husband, as a man, as an artist.
"I've made a career of trying to win back this woman but it's too late."
So where does that leave him?
"Alone. It's going to take a special woman to tolerate my schedule (and) being in the limelight more often than not. That whole (show business) lifestyle."
Besides hitting bottom emotionally, Nievera endured two difficult years during which he was written off by some in the Philippines when younger acts hit the charts. But he has rebounded and is busier than ever.
Mpeg Audio Clips:
Martin Live with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra
Martin Nievera (MCA Universal 0088 112354 2)
(Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra)
Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info
"I've been doing a major concert every other week in the Philippines and I have the TV show there, 'Martin Late@Night.' I'm selling more albums now than I did in the beginning of my career."
Nievera has also become more visible internationally, performing engagements in locales as farflung as Italy, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. mainland.
Although he has lived in the Philippines for more than 20 years, the singer views Saturday's concert as a homecoming. His family moved here when he was three and he grew up watching his father, Roberto "Bert" Nievera, perform with the Society of Seven.
"I grew up with the SOS. Hours, days, nights in the Main Showroom watching them rehearse. I knew one day I'd become a singer," he says, adding he hopes his two sons will consider other professions.
Nievera did follow his father's example and is marking 18 years of stardom in the Philippines with his "Martin Nievera ... XVIII" tour. He has proven himself here with Blaisdell arena concerts, showroom engagements at the Outrigger Main Showroom and a guest appearance with the Honolulu Symphony last year. He still dreams of breaking into the mainstream American pop market.
"The clock is ticking. I want to be the singer that's there for life but to be seen as something other than a 'Filipino singer' is very hard right now ... Nobody (in the U.S.) wants to listen to an Asian.
"Ricky Martin isn't known as a 'Latin-American singer.' He's known as Ricky Martin -- 'pop singer.' To cross over I'll have to find a gimmick or a sound or a look that they can hang with people in America and that's hard when you're an Asian. I want to be that first guy but (the American media doesn't) give us much attention unless we kill someone. Then we make the front page."
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