Happy on solo flight

MANILA, Philippines - The toughest move Juris has done yet in her now decade-long music career is going solo. It’s also turning out to be the most rewarding. Since breaking away from MYMP, she has released albums that went platinum and earned her awards.

Juris spent a good number of years with her former band (from 2001 to late 2009) that resulted to chart-topping originals and covers. And while it ended on a somewhat sour note (“It’s a complicated story. First of all, they took me out, but it’s okay because it was a band decision), it’s obvious that “I’m happier now,” the 35-year-old singer said in a recent presscon.

Juris said that she never imagined herself she’d become a solo artist because having to share the stage with bandmates served as her security blanket. “But I realized nothing much has changed because I still perform with a band on stage now and I have supporters (who backed her decision).”

What also helped in the transition to the solo route is her ASAP Sessionistas regular gig plus Star Records took her under its wing as a resident recording artist. She has since recorded five albums with Star Records, two of which have international releases, first the EP If You & Me (last 2011 in South Korea) and the latest, Dreaming of You (2012) which topped the jazz chart of Singapore’s popular record bar label HMV. Featuring high-fidelity mastering, Dreaming of You was co-produced with the Singaporean recording company S2S.

A Philippine edition of Dreaming of You has been released recently. In the 19-track album, Juris weaves her crystal voice around well-loved ballads, rendering more intimate covers of Janet Jackson’s Again, Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do (I Do It For You), Olivia Newton-John’s I Honestly Love You, Diana Ross’ Do You Know Where You’re Going To, Celine Dion’s I Love You Goodbye, and the carrier single, the late singer Selina’s Dreaming of You.

The Philippine edition also includes the theme songs she did for teleseryes and movies like Got To Believe in Magic, Hanggang Wakas, Sa ‘Yo Lamang, Sa Isip Ko, etc.

Juris has come a long way from being the painfully shy student who didn’t know what she was getting into when she auditioned for a band in a bar, still wearing her uniform. The first band she sung for was Jimmy Bondoc’s; this was during her last year in college, while taking up psychology, and already eyeing on proceeding to med school. She left the band scene for sometime to enter med school, but resumed singing and never looked back.

For the longest time, during the crucial early years, “I was just going with the flow. I was just enjoying. I would earn P500 per two sets. I never noticed if naghirap ako also because I had the support of my parents.” Her father is an engineer, while the mom is a medical doctor.

Initially, her parents were doubtful about her making a career out of singing but after seeing her onstage, “they were the ones pushing me already kasi nakikita nila na parang walang mangyayari pag nag-doctor ako parang mas maraming mangyayari pag mag-singer ako.”

She recalled that when she was starting out, “I was afraid of the stage, I was afraid of interacting with the people, but I remember my mom telling me if you don’t know how to mingle, then you don’t have a heart (laughs)… then maganda naman ang mga nangyari. Na-shock nalang ako, nag-re-recording na kami. When I experienced any doubt, I would just think of my parents. Because I make them happy every time I sing. They’re my No. 1 fans.”

Another No. 1 fan is her husband Gavin Lim. She first met him in one of her gigs in 2004. He was simply accompanying a friend to a bar where Juris’ band was performing. Before she knew it, he would show up at every gig thereafter. He asked her number, even resorted to Friendster to get it, but only after nine months did Juris give in.

This was because Juris was “wary of guys I’d meet in bars because baka ma-gimmick and I’m not like that.”

The two married late 2011. Juris said that they want to have kids already. “My personal goal next year is to hopefully start a family.”

Juris’ Dreaming of You album is now available on record bars nationwide for P350. The tracks can also be downloaded via iTunes, Amazon.com and MyMusicStore.com.ph.