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Martin Nievera doesn’t want to produce concerts

After 30 years in the biz, Martin Nievera no plans of slowing down. (Dante Diosina Jr/NPPA IMAGES)

Martin Nievera’s hunger for music and performing shows in his concerts.

“Even if I’m sick, I’m performing. Because I love what I do, I love singing, I love performing. If you’re still fulfilling dreams in this business then you should still be in this business,” Martin said at the press conference of his upcoming Polyeast album, “Big Mouth, Big Band.”

But the country’s Concert King would rather focus on singing and hosting TV shows than producing a concert, which he admits is not his forte.


On Pops Fernandez

“It takes away the artistry, the drive and excitement from the artist. I don’t know how Pops (Fernandez, his ex-wife) can do it. Si Pops, business-minded, magaling mag-kwenta. Ako hindi. I would rather take care of the artistry, the singing, the excitement, the moment; as opposed to the production cost, etcetera. So, ayaw kong mag-produce.”

Although Martin denied Pops is retiring from singing, he thinks she now wants to give way to the younger generation.

“Pops knows it’s our turn to make way, to give way or produce a way to make these new talents shine. That’s what we should be doing at this point in our careers. I feel that way also, although I want to be able to be that artist. I’m still hungry, still passionate about what I’m doing.”

He adds, “I think she was able to keep her crown as the Concert Queen and that’s it. (She feels) ‘I don’t need to go out there and keep proving myself.’ Now. whenever she performs, it’s at her leisure, not because of pressure.”


The new Pops

Pops recently produced the concert of Toni Gonzaga, whom Martin said is the ‘today version of Pops.’

“I told that to Toni many years ago, ‘You remind me of my ex-wife.’ They are both pretty, sexy and funny.”

Martin added that Pops and Toni can sing, act and host at the same time.

“Sa style, sa endorsement, magaling kumanta, magaling mag-host, magaling mag-Tagalog, magaling mag-English. Yung intellectual host hindi lang dahil maganda siya. “


Dreams of joining a band

He observed that although Pops may not be as wacky as Toni, “she was wacky then during the ‘80s.”

Martin turned down an offer to guest in Toni’s concert because he had go to the US.

His new album contains his favorite hits from popular ‘80s and ‘90s bands. Martin was also able to 'front' for a band in his new album, which has Marvin Querido as musical director.

“I really wanted to be in band when I was 16, 17 years old. And I never got into a band. When I came here in the Philippines, I became a soloist. It’s the loneliest job in the world. Wala akong kausap, wala akong kalaro sa stage, wala. So I said, ‘For this new album with Polyeast, let’s do something we’ve never done before where Martin is in a band. Marvin Querido and his favorite musicians formed a band.’”


Raw sound of yesterday

The album, which will be released in November, includes Martin’s version of "What A Fool Believes" (Doobie Brothers), "Every Now And Then" (Earth Wind and Fire), "Sing A Song" (Earth Wind and Fire),"Biggest Part Of Me" (Ambrosia), "Hooked On A Feeling" (Blue Suede), "Will You Still Love Me" (Chicago), "I Can't Tell You Why" (Eagles); "You Can Have Me Anytime" (Boz Scaggs)," "Love Of My Life" (Queen), "Stars" (Simply Red), "I Won't Hold You Back" (Toto) and Dust In The Wind" (Kansas).

He added, “We did it with a live band performing, then I put in my voice later on. We mixed it all together to make it sound like a live performance as opposed to the usual very well-mixed, studied and engineered CDs today. We wanted to bring that raw sound of yesterday“


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