October 8, 2010

Yahoo: Fit to Post | Gary V gets rejected, too!

by Gerry Plaza,
Yahoo! Southeast Asia


When one thinks of Gary Valenciano, he or she would most instantly conjure up superlatives like the consummate OPM performer, the most awarded recording artist, the biggest concert crowd drawer, and the most passionate and admirable musician.

Even if gold and platinum records and other awards and trophies fill up his entire home, there are those times when Gary V, quite inexplicably, does not produce a hit, or even gets rejected.

Gary revealed on Wednesday that his rendition of Joey Albert’s classic ballad “Tell Me” was actually rejected by Star Cinema as theme song of its 2007 movie “A Love Story,” which starred Maricel Soriano, Aga Muhlach and Angelica Panganiban.

“It was a result of miscommunication,” Gary said. “They wanted something close to the original so they instead re-recorded a version of the song by its original singer, Joey Albert.”

His version of the song had featured an entirely new arrangement and rendition, which offered a fresh take on the 1980s hit that emphasized Gary’s wide vocal range and soulful interpretation. During the production, Gary had spent days and sleepless nights working on the song, collaborating with the song’s composer, Louie Ocampo, and Aga.

When the production was complete and the demo was presented to Star Cinema, Gary was shocked with the feedback.

“There were comments when they came back to me,” Gary tells Yahoo! Southeast Asia. “(They said) No, we will speed it up digitally. (I said) No, you are not going to touch anything there. (Then they said) No can you change the intro and make it sound like the original. Until finally they said, we’re going to use na lang (Joey Albert’s version).”

It was a rejection that affected Gary so much, that he “became depressed” for a few days...

“It got to me for a while. But I recovered when other people would hear it and they would say it was great? I don’t think many people know that I actually did ‘Tell Me’ or I tried to do ‘Tell Me’ because it was rejected,” Gary said.

Gary said he put the song aside until he and Universal Records decided to release his 28th album overall, “Replay,” a compilation of his favorite studio releases that did not become hits, much less recognized even by a die-hard Gary V fan. “Tell Me,” which Gary performed for the first time before an audience at the press launch Wednesday, is one of the album tracks.

“It’s a personal thing,” Gary says. “When I’m in the studio and I’m recording, there’s no song that I want to add na pwede na yan. Every song, I pour as much of myself into it as I can. When there are particular songs that don’t make the cut at that particular time, I’m affected by that. These songs are not performances for me. They are expressions. You’re sharing a part of your soul.”

The album features songs from six albums since the 1990s, including “Did It Ever” from the album “Relevance” and “Ohhh” from the CD “Rebirth.”

Read the full write-up here:
http://ph.yfittopostblog.com/2010/10/07/gary-v-gets-rejected-too/

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