What Filipinos should know about Julia Fordham
Perhaps not too many Filipinos know that singer-songwriter Julia Fordham included Cebu in one of her songs.
And that her best known hit in the country “Love Moves In (Mysterious Ways)” was supposed to have been sung by one of this year’s Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductees Linda Ronstadt.
The British act is in the Philippines to perform a couple of shows and met the local press on February 11 at the Solaire Resort and Casino where she will do her February 14 concert.
Inspirational visit
Effusive in her admiration for Filipinos this being fourth visit to the country, Fordham proudly reminded all of a song she wrote that had a Philippine reference.
“I love Cebu so much and I had a wonderful tour of the city. I actually put it in a song and it’s in my ‘Baby Love’ EP,” she recalled. The album came out in 2007.
The song, called “I Want to Stay with You,” has the following lines: “I’ve been to Moscow I’ve been to Glasgow / I’ve been to Fiji and Cebu / Now all I want to do is be with you.”
While expressing her admiration for Cebu and its heritage sites, she also referred to national hero Jose Rizal, the “doctor who wrote a couple of books and was killed by the Spaniards,” as someone whose story inspires her.
A sign
There’s an interesting anecdote behind her signature song “Love Moves…,” which was first released more than 20 years. Filipina singer Nina successfully reintroduced her version of the song in 2005.
“I got a call one time and the guy on the other line told me that Linda Ronstadt backed out of this project called ‘Love Moves in Mysterious Ways’ and so I’m being tapped to sing it.”
She continued, “I met Peter Asher, the famed producer and member of Peter & Gordon and he was with Joni Mitchell. I love Joni Mitchell and I told myself, ‘If I wanted a sign whether I should take the song or not, this is probably it.’”
She added, “I’m very honored to be connected to the song and to be the singer to take it out to the world.”
The classic was written by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford. She remembers meeting one of the composers at a chance encounter wherein they shared a “big embrace.”
Romantic woman
Fordham is set to perform in the concert Love Moves: Julia Fordham Live in Manila at Solaire Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, 8 p.m. on Valentine’s Day. The following day, February 15, she’ll have a back-to-back concert titled Up Close and Personal with local Queen of Jazz Annie Brazil at the Lobby Lounge of Edsa Shangri-la in Manila.
“I’m fortunate that the Filipino people continue to support my songs and voice,” she happily stated.
She boasted, “I’m romantic like the Filipino people.”
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