About Universal Records

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Quezon City, Philippines
Universal Records is the NUMBER ONE independent record label in the Philippines. Bringing you quality music for the past 30 years, we are home to artists like: Jose Mari Chan, Gary Valenciano, Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez, Lani Misalucha, Jed Madela, Christian Bautista, Jay R, Billy Crawford, Kris Aquino, Edu Manzano, Marian Rivera, Mark Herras, Nina, Ronnie Liang, Gail Blanco, Sam Concepcion. Our band roster includes: Parokya Ni Edgar, Kamikazee, Sponge Cola, Imago, Silent Sanctuary, Kenyo, Paraluman. We are equally committed to bring you exciting international releases covering various genres like pop, jazz, new age, classical, alternative, indie pop, rock, electronica, dance, r&b, and hip-hop. Name it, we definitely have it!

August 11, 2009

The Philippine Star | Christian Bautista Joins Universal Records

"Christian Bautista: Reinvented"
Conversations with Ricky Lo | August 2, 2009

...That poem, titled I Have Fallen In Love (With The Same Woman Three Times), was written by Benigno Aquino Jr. for Cory Aquino at Fort Bonifacio on Oct. 11, 1973 for their 19th wedding anniversary and set to music by Jose Mari Chan who recorded it in 1989.


Today on the ABS-CBN noontime show A.S.A.P. ‘09, Christian Bautista will sing that song which he’s dedicating to former Pres. Cory Aquino who lost her brave battle to colon cancer at 3:18 yesterday morning at the Makati Med where she was confined for more than a month.

It’s also one of the 20 songs in Christian’s latest album, untitled just yet and to be released early next month, his first for Universal Records, the new home to which he made “the big move” from Warner Music with which he had been under contract since 2004 (his contract has recently expired) and which released his first four albums.

The 19 others are all Jose Mari Chan classics, including Tell Me Your Name, Beautiful Girl, Please Be Careful With My Heart (a duet with Sarah Geronimo), My Girl My Woman My Friend (with Regine Velasquez), Here And Now (with Lani Misalucha), A Heart’s Journey (with Jose Mari Chan), Constant Change, Refrain, Can’t We Start Over Again, I Remember The Girl, Stay My Love, Be Gentle, So I’ll Go, Can We Just Stop And Talk Awhile, Deep In My Heart, Afterglow, Afraid For Love To Fade, A Love To Last A Lifetime and Christmas Past.

Part of that “big move” was the reinvention of Christian.

So why the “reinvention”?
”Well, it’s about time that I changed a bit my ‘good boy’ image. It involves not only my looks, which is more mature, but also my style of singing which is now more intimate, more mellow and more mapuso. To us Filipinos kasi, nagiging magaling agad ang singer kapag mahusay bumirit when he reaches the high notes. What I want to prove now is that even if I don’t scream at you, I want to let you feel the heart of my song.”

Your “big move” from Warner to Universal came suddenly. Any hard feelings between Warner and you?

“You know, I will always be grateful to Warner for building me up and for taking care of me, even if when I started I finished only fourth (to Erik Santos) in the Star In A Million contest. Kahit natalo ako they still believed in me and made me what I am now. But there comes a time in your career when you want to reinvent yourself, so when we were offered by Universal this kind of album, na-challenge ako. It was an offer I could not refuse.”

It’s some kind of your tribute to Jose Mari Chan.

“I have been a big fan of Jose Mari Chan since I was a kid. It’s a big, big honor for me to sing his songs, all of them I know by heart. I can see similarities, kahit konti lang naman, between Jose Mari and me, especially sa style ng pagkanta which is very mellow. Like him, I love love songs. His songs have crossed-over to Asian countries and I hope my new album will do the same. We met the other day for lunch and the first thing I told him was, ‘Sir, I need to hug you.’ For him to allow me to sing his songs is, as I’ve said, a great honor. He told me that what I’m doing is sharing his songs to the new generation and he’s glad daw that I am the one doing it”...

Read the full interview here:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=492288&publicationSubCategoryId=70

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