Anne Curtis is singing discovery of the year

MANILA, Philippines - Given the way things are going in her career, I am sure that history will later judge 2011 as the year when Anne Curtis became the country’s hottest recording artist. The lovely young actress parlayed her good looks, effervescent personality and her success in films and television into becoming a big selling singing star. Okay, she will never win anything in a singing contest but that did not stop fans from affectionately calling her the prima biritera and from turning her debut album Annebisyosa into one of the very few Platinum sellers this year 

Annebisyosa, was produced by Alwyn Cruz and Civ Fontanilla and arranged by Benjie Pantig with two cuts Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Too Many Walls by DJ M.O.D. The first single releases were the original Tinamaan Ako and Mouth, the hit tune by Merill Bainbridge that is one of Anne’s favorites. There are also Alone, Total Eclipse Of the Heart a duet with Sarah Geronimo and Bizarre Love Triangle, all of which have proven themselves crowd pleasers wherever Anne performs.

Speaking of live performances, Anne made her concert debut in the All For 1 show at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last November. She sang Mouth and did a duet of Alone with Side A’s frontman, Joey Generoso. Audience response was tremendous that it was decided she was ripe for a concert of her very own. So brace yourselves for Annebisyosa, the World Tour which will be launched also at the Big Dome on Saturday, Jan. 28.

Take note, the title says The World Tour because there are now lots of eager promoters from abroad who have booked Annebisyosa for shows in their areas. Tickets are now available at Ticketnet (tel. no. 911-5555), Viva Concerts and Events (687-7236) and at the Araneta Coliseum Box Office.

A Platinum seller like Anne is now a rarity in the local music business. That does not mean though that the industry is heading for the dumps. It is simply changing. The music is alive and well, most notably on the concert stage. It seems like buyers who are reluctant to part with their money for CDs, would willingly pay thousands of pesos to watch their favorite artists live or to download the songs they like from iTunes and other sources.

One of 2011’s most notable discoveries was Someday Dream. The young man is a one-man-band, who created the song Hey Daydreamer on his computer. Manager Champ Liu Pio, ex-frontman of Hale, went against accepted practices when he launched the single and made it available only online for months. Hey Daydreamer became a big hit and Someday Dream is now a star. In fact, a few lines of the song have become a commercial jingle for a popular ice cream brand.

2011 will also be remembered as the year when Willie Revillame made another hit, Ikaw Na Nga; when Dolphy and Zsa Zsa’s daughter Zia Quizon hit it big on her first try with Simple Girl; when the Hotdog reunited in a sold-out concert and then reunited and reunited again; when Sarah Geronimo’s broken heart resulted in Sino Nga Ba Siya; when The CompanY and Side A celebrated 25 hit-filled years; when Bamboo Mañalac launched his solo career with what may be one of the best albums of the year, the brilliant rocker No Water, No Moon.

It was also a year when we were literally inundated by foreign acts. They came in one after another in all shapes and sounds. Looking back, I do think it is a tribute to the resilience and enduring power of the Filipino artist that he managed to withstand this onslaught. Off-hand, I recall, the Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, the Wild Swans, Libera, Tahiti-80, John Ford Coley, Greyson Chance, Richard Marx, Fra Lippo Lippi, Stephen Bishop, David Archuleta, Trini Lopez, Dan Hill, Air Supply, David Foster and his traveling show with Natalie Cole, Michael Bolton, Charice and others, Lenka, Yvonne Ellinman, David Choi, Gerry and the Pacemakers, China Crisis, Clara C, Color Me Badd, All 4 One, All Time Low, some K-Pop stars and etc. etc.

And I almost forgot, the American Idol Season 10 finalists in a badly conceived show, the kind that goes like, the first number of our program is… that showed them off to be the amateurs that they really are. And Filipinos paid P12,000 for a patron seat to watch them! Come to think of it, does anybody know what happened to Pia Tascano? She had the most number of songs in the show and was expected to make it big with her debut album.