It isn’t just Annie Brazil’s ageless beauty at 80 that never fails to stun her audience wherever she goes, but her style of singing that has brought her the title of Asia’s Queen of Jazz. Her son Richard James Bulawin Merk, Richard Merk for short, who inherited her gifts is regarded the Philippines’ Prince of Jazz.
Both will demonstrate their singing prowess together with other jazz icons Jacqui Magno, Jeannie Tiongco, Emcy Corteza, Isabella, Renee Olstead and Rachel Ann Wolfe on Oct. 5, 8 p.m. at the Solaire Casino Hotel ballroom. Billed ‘S WONDERFUL, the concert is a tribute to Annie at 80 who has survived immense challenges in her life, yet remains a most lovable person and amazing jazz singer.
An Ilonggo, Annie was singing by age six, and in her teens was performing for American servicemen at Clark Air Base, as well as at Jimmy’s Night Spot on Dewey Boulevard. Her adventurous spirit brought her to Okinawa in her 20s where she met American Air Force disc jockey James Bernard Merk who became the father of Richard, although their relationship didn’t last. In 1959, Annie married David Wolfe with whom she had seven children that included Rachel Ann. In 1972, they separated and jazz took over her entire existence.
Annie’s years with David, however, was most productive in bringing her in touch with the jazz greats. David brought in Duke Ellington in the ’60s; she met Sarah Vaughan, Dakota Staton, and tags Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah and Dakota as her strongest jazz influences.
After settling down in the US, Annie would sing twice a week for the past 12 years at Cusina Stagionale, a jazz bar in Greenwich Village until it closed down. Now living in New Jersey with daughter Rachel Ann, Annie has never stopped singing, accepting invitations from all over, always traveling by herself but rushing back home to attend to her grand children. This current trip has brought her back to Manila, again traveling solo, and ready for rehearsals although still suffering from a hip replacement brought about by an accidental slip in the bathroom. We meet with her, Richard, and 27-year-old Ralph Francis Wolfe who appeared on her doorstep as a newborn, and is now a popular chef preparing food items in the home.
At our short tete-a-tete, Annie regaled us with girl talk and hilarious stories of experiences. But we are most proud to share with all, her beauty secrets that keep her fit, healthy and fabulous despite hypertension and diabetes. Those of us who live on artificial beauty products should learn a thing or two from Annie. She once called a doctor friend telling him she was offered a Botox treatment that would bring her age down to 10 years younger. The doctor reprimanded her saying, “Don’t you do that. You are perfect. Do you want to look like (naming some showbiz personalities) who look like mannequins on a stand?
To this day, Annie does everything by herself from cutting and dying her own hair, to applying her own manicure and pedicure. Since the hip replacement operation, she has had to ask help with dying and pedicure. She still maintains that washing her face with plain water is best for the skin. She demonstrates her own version of facial massage under the eyes, on the forehead, on the cheeks that make them soft yet firm. The only purchased item she would recommend is Pond’s Cold Cream she puts on her face to this day.
We comment on her makeup which she says she also puts on herself, and looks better than the parlor variety. She, however, is unhappy with having no bottom lashes, and only short upper lashes after a fire accident seared them. But we would never have noticed until she pointed them out to us.
A foreign lady once stopped her on the road saying, “I am certain you are much older than I but you look younger. What is your secret?†Annie told the lady, “Simple. Just have a positive attitude on everything and you will remain young forever!â€
And we could add, don’t ever stop singing songs like You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, Deep Purple, It Might as Well be Spring, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered.
(E-mail your comments to bibsyfotos@yahoo.com.)