Sharon wants to give back

“I’m thin na,” Sharon Cuneta happily blurts out at the recent launch of her Isn’t It Romantic?, Volume 2 album at Crowne Plaza Hotel.

It was indeed apparent that Sharon has considerably lost a lot of weight. In fact, she was wearing an old, black Rajo Laurel blouse which she had even before she gave birth to her third daughter, Miel. “I wanted to cry earlier when I tried this (blouse) on and it fits me,” Sharon gleefully says.

Her pictorial for her album cover and in-lay shows her wearing only a tank top with matching underwear. “I had to shed off 15 pounds before Jun de Leon agreed to do that pictorial,” Sharon says of her album photos. “It took me three weeks. I want to lose some more pounds if not maintain this weight.”

That she also recently did a grueling, three-city concert tour of Canada also contributed to her weight loss.

“Now I can start shooting my next movie,” Sharon beams. The film, titled London Caregiver, will be her first with award-winning megman Chito Roño and will be shot in the UK. It will pair her for the first time with John Estrada, who plays her husband. Makisig Morales will be their son. Principal photography will commence before the Christmas break.

Sharon, in fact, is set to do three films next year. In the line-up is also a Star Cinema movie with Aga Muhlach, their screen reunion after 2004’s Kung Ako na Lang Sana, which also stands as her last movie. Then there’s her comeback tandem with Richard Gomez for GMA Films. There was supposed to be another movie with Robin Padilla, but the material wasn’t ideal for both of them, according to Sharon.

“Whatever comes first, I am willing to do,” Sharon allows. “Next year is my 30th anniversary in the business and there will be lots of activities lined up for me to do throughout the entire 2008. I want to give back to the industry which has been really kind to me. I’m in that mode. That’s why I produced La Visa Loca two years ago. I’m very proud of that film.”

With her ex-husband Gabby Concepcion making his screen comeback with a movie opposite Jolina Magdangal for GMA Films, to be shot in the US next year, Sharon is readily asked if she is willing to team up anew with Gabby. She acknowledges that the Sharon-Gabby loveteam is one of the greatest in local cinema.

“We broke a lot of hearts when we broke up, my heart was the first one,” she wistfully recalls. “I miss the Sharon-Gabby loveteam. I’m happy for Gabby if he is making a movie again. I have no problem doing a movie with him. But before deciding on something, I have to put my family first and how it will affect my husband (Sen. Kiko Pangilinan) and kids, although Kiko is so secure. We’ve been married for 12 years.

“Gabby and I are both leading quiet lives. We’re more mature now. I have little kids and he has a wife in the States to protect. I’m grateful to his wife because she is such a nice girl. She is very nice to KC. I don’t want to have a mean bone in my body. There’s really nothing to be bitter about anymore at this point.”

KC Concepcion, meanwhile, has been really busy since she returned to the country three months ago after completing her college education at the American University in Paris. “She’s been bombarded with offers left and right since she came back,” Sharon says of her eldest daughter. “I know it’s hard for KC to get out of the shadow of her mother and father. When she did her first billboard for Human, that really captured her personality. But by this time, she has proven she has drawing power of her own.”

KC, who is turning 23 in April, has many plans, according to Sharon, yes, “including getting married,” the mom blurts out. “Her blood is one hundred percent artista,” Sharon says. She entered a medium (theater) which I haven’t tried. I can never do stage because it scares me to death, unless perhaps it’s something like Katy. KC and I are different in a sense that I’m very traditional and she’s very 21st century. She is very hardworking. She got my work ethics. She doesn’t accept products that she doesn’t like or doesn’t patronize.

“The girl now has her own pad which has yet to be completed. But in our home, she already stays in the guest house, so I’m converting her bedroom inside the house into my dressing room,” Sharon offers.

However, Sharon insists she and KC are not a “package deal” when it comes to projects. Her daughter is being managed by Sandra Chavez. “I would love to make a movie with KC or record an album. Whatever she wants me to do with her, even if I have to do cartwheels, I’ll do it. But I understand she has to make her mark and prove people wrong.”

Meanwhile, Sharon cannot be any prouder about the second volume of Isn’t It Romantic? According to Sony-BMG Music sales and marketing director Narciso Chan, the album turned double platinum after only the second day of release, with marked sales of 60,000 copies. That was even before the Philippine Association of Recording Industry (PARI) decided to lower the number of units sold for platinum (25,000) and gold (12,500) record awards. The first volume of Isn’t It Romantic? has been certified sextuple platinum.

“The selections in my album are the songs I’ve loved all my life, my all-time favorites,” Sharon grants. “This album was borne out of a sing-along session with my in-laws in Tagaytay two years ago. There was a guitarist and everyone was singing, so I started listing down songs. At that time, I was still doing Sharon Sings Alcasid. For Isn’t It Romantic?, our problem was what to choose and include in the album from a list of over 50 songs. But I was so happy and thankful that Sony BMG allowed me to explore the songs and record them for a second album.”

Perhaps inspired by Rod Stewart’s The Greatest American Songbook, which became consistent chartbusters for its several volumes, Sharon expresses her desire to do “as many volumes as possible” for Isn’t It Romantic? The third one will have “something different,” she promises.

She credits songwriters Jimmy Bondoc and Top Suzara for doing the “beautiful arrangements” for the covers she recorded. “I’m very particular about the arragements,” Sharon maintains. “Jimmy and Top are like my little brothers. They did a wonderful job for the album.”

In her kilometric liner notes which took her more than 10 hours to finish, Sharon gets to share her favorite quotes from certain books like Tuesdays With Morie and movies, like Hook, starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan and Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell.

“I started typing the notes at 2 in the morning and I e-mailed it at past noon,” Sharon says. “I didn’t realize I was writing for more than 10 hours. This is my most personal album ever. Lahat ng gusto ko, pinagbigyan ng Sony BMG.” The CD is released in a laminated packaging and Sony Wega came out with a specially-packaged DVD of some of her songs.

Sharon believes Isn’t It Romantic? comes at a turning point in her life and career. “There’s always a turning point somewhere in whatever I did in the past,” she allows. “In recording, I’ve been more successful in doing originals than covers. It’s truly amazing to me that people love this new CD.”

Tracks in Isn’t It Romantic? include the carrier single, I Wish That I Was Making Love To You, Love Me Again, The One You Love, Getting To Know Each Other, If I’m Not in Love With You, Oh Lori, Dream of Me, Caught Up in the Rapture, Miles Away, Looking Through the Eyes of Love, Lead Me On, I’d Really Love To See You Tonight, Torn Between Two Lovers, How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, Do You Wanna Dance and Falling.