She turned into a belter because the audience sat up and noticed when a singer sent the four corners of a music hall reverberating with her powerful voice.
True enough, people noticed. And the singer from Cebu with the extra-wavy long tresses was soon everywhere. She has performed with veterans, Pops Fernandez and Zsa Zsa Padilla. Anna has worked with the equally-talented Bituin Escalante.
But something was missing. Anna knew she was not being true to herself. That while she was blessed, she should be happier. And this, she can be by doing what she loves best.
"It came to the point where I got so busy pleasing others I didn’t know myself anymore," Anna laments.
So she decided to do something about it. Step one was to heed her mentor Jai Sabas’ advice to develop that falsetto voice of hers. Only a few people know that Anna is adept in this department.
Step two was to go back to her roots: the classics, and with it, ballads. Public opinion on winning concert formulas be damned.
Anna has been there, done that in the concert scene. She has worked with the best, learned from them, and studied the musical terrain long enough to know what she’s doing.
And she feels the public is ready to take her for what she is: a mature artist who can go ahead, sing the songs she has been itching to do all along.
This is exactly what Anna will do in her show, VOICES... The Perfect Acoustics Concert Series on Sept. 13 to 14 at the Philamlife Theater.
Happily, her director, Manolet Garcia believes in her enough to give Anna free rein, letting her choose her repertoire.
So never mind if she just recovered from a bout of flu that triggered her asthma and made her lose her voice for a while. It’s on with the show, which Anna describes as "very personal."
She goes acoustic in Burn and Someone Like You; sings Josh Groban’s To Where You Are with Toti Fuentes on the grand piano, Lani Misalucha’s Hasta La Eternidad and Andrea Bocelli’s The Prayer, a cappella with the Hiraya Men’s Chorus.
"It’s going back to my roots," Anna gushes.
After the series, she will rest again, as per doctor’s strict orders. Anna would have been very happy by then.
After all, she has finally taken that one big step of doing what she has always wanted to do as an artist. And that, to her, is what matters most.