The country’s OG, as far as live entertainment goes continues to cast her spell on stage 40 years on, proving to all and sundry that she continues to reign as the Philippines’ undisputed “Concert Queen.”
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
Sure, you could be the biggest star in the galaxy today with a gazillion followers on Instagram. And with such a huge and loyal fan base that watches and dissects your every move, you soon become constant fodder for both mainstream and “new” media to chew on and regurgitate for an insatiable public’s delectation. But in an era dominated by so-called “disposable celebrities,” when last week’s sensation is now this week’s has-been, the perennial question that looms in everyone’s head once you enter showbiz these days is this: Do you have what it takes to last long?
How long can you manage to hold on to that perch until you’re shoved aside by the latest viral sensation? And if by some stroke of luck, you do manage to hold on, what do you do for an encore?
In the ephemeral world of entertainment, which, no thanks to social media, has become even more fleeting and competitive within the last decade, there are no quick and easy answers. What we do have are a few good and dependable talents who, just like wine, become better, more gracious and more impervious with time. Triple threat performers like Pops Fernandez!
The undisputed “Concert Queen”
Dubbed early on both by the media and her fans as the country’s “Concert Queen” for her consistent ability to fill up big and small venues here and later abroad with people to see her perform live, Pops, 40 years on, has managed to do what many of her contemporaries could only dream of — stay relevant and continue to appeal to a broad demographic of fans from Baby Boomers to Gen Zs, Gen Xers to Millennials. Four decades on, her professional and even personal life continues to come up roses.
“I really don’t know,” Pops, after spending an entire afternoon being dolled up and photographed for this story’s accompanying photo shoot, shares with us. “I think the reason I’ve managed to stay this long is I don’t pressure myself. But I’m quite aware of what’s happening and what’s uso (in). I’m aware that there will always be someone new. Those are the realities of the business.”
Add to that, Pops has obviously taken care of herself over the years, both physically and mentally, managing to look relatively svelte and youthful. At 57, she could still sing and dance like a woman half her age, the result, she says, of pure and simple discipline and long hours of meetings and rehearsals with her collaborators until they all get it right.
“People wonder why I don’t lose my breath every time I perform,” she says. “When you sing and dance on stage, you must do it as well, performance level, every time you rehearse. Like in all creative pursuits, you try to make it look as natural and as effortless as possible. Lip-syncing during a live concert is a no-no.”
She doesn’t subscribe to any special diet because nothing worked for her before. Rather than lose weight, the opposite happened whenever she followed the latest fad diet because “I felt like I was starving myself.” Instead, she’s more mindful of portion sizes and tries to avoid anything she knows is fattening months before a show.
“I had a personal trainer before, but this time I would just work out with my gym buddy Ciara Sotto. Kung ako lang, (if it were just up to me) I think I won’t be as motivated,” she shares.
These days, apart from working with a vocal coach, Pops also spends hours practicing her dance routines with members of the G-Force dancers.
Her age, like most celebrities, is public knowledge. When we remind her, in the context of her career, that she has less than three years to go before entering, well, a new demographic, she simply laughs it off.
“I’m proud I’ve reached this age,” she declares. “I sometimes joke about it. Instead of saying my real age, I say I’m 28 not because I’m afraid to tell the truth. It’s because I feel like I’m 28. When I was 28, I was already married with two children. I felt so mature then. Now that I’m free, I feel like I’m 28 again. I could do whatever I want. Travel, be with my friends. And I’m not answerable to anyone, thank God, not even to my mom!”
These days, Pops has also more reasons to feel excited whenever she performs, especially if her shows are in the United States because it would give her a chance to see her two US-based sons Robin and Ram and, of course, the former’s first-born son named Finn.
“Lolli Pops”
Pops, who calls herself “Lolli Pops,” officially became a lola (grandmother) in December last year. Lola or rather Lolli Pops was beside herself, posting about it on her Instagram account, as she held and cuddled her first apo (grandchild) when she visited him in Chicago.
“I really don’t know how to explain it,” she gushes. “Before, my friends would always tell me that the feeling would be very different once you have your own grandchild. Like how different? I was so in love with my two boys when they were babies. Until now, of course. When I first held Finn in my arms, ganun pala ’yun (I realized for myself how it was like).”
Part of it, she surmises with a chuckle, is the fact that she’s now more relaxed whenever she gets to spend time with Finn. Freed from the responsibility of constantly changing diapers and later molding him to be the best person that he could be, Pops, like most grandparents, can now fully enjoy the lola-and-apo time whenever they’re together.
“But maybe because I still can’t believe that my eldest son, Robin, has his own baby,” says Pops, turning serious. “Once a mother always a mother. You still think of your kids as children no matter how grown-up and independent they are. In our minds as parents, baby pa din sila (they’re still babies).”
Her second son Ram is based in the West Coast, where Pops usually stages her shows. Later this October, for instance, she’ll be doing a series of concerts in San Diego and Las Vegas.
“Since both my boys are now living in the States, I’ve officially become an empty nester,” she says. Asked about her love life, Pops insists, “Wala talaga (none at all)!”
“I’m not the type who’d broadcast it to the entire world, but I won’t deny it either. When I was much younger, I thought being alone was sad. So, as one relationship ended, I felt I needed another one. Parati na lang (it was always) next, next, next until I realized it wasn’t going my way. I discovered that being single isn’t too bad after all. Now, I enjoy the freedom of not having to check and be checked on. It’s not a sad world as I thought it was.”
Lucky 13
When she was a newbie, Pops, who began her showbiz career at the tender age of 13, recalls being constantly asked by journalists how long she intended to stay under the limelight.
Unlike most stars, she wasn’t exactly poor and, in fact, had a privileged and rather sheltered upbringing, thanks to her mother, former actress Dulce Lukban, who raised her singlehandedly in the absence of Pops’ now late dad Eddie Fernandez, also an actor in the 1960s. In short, she had other pathways to be able to live a full life.
“I’d tell them siguro (perhaps) after 10 years I’d retire and do something else,” she says. “’Yun pala (turns out), 10 years went by so fast. Then 20 years. I just consider myself blessed because sometimes I’d disappear for a while. And when I feel like doing a concert again, I’d resurface and, thank God, tinatanggap pa din ako ng tao (people still welcome me).”
No matter how much her mother tried to dissuade her from entering showbiz, saying that it’s not for the faint of heart, the young girl still insisted on giving it a try.
“Because of my persistence, my mom eventually said yes, thinking that I was just going through a phase,” she says. “Although I was painfully shy, I saw showbiz as an avenue for self-expression. Later, I realized talagang nasa dugo ko pala (that it’s really in my blood).”
Ironically, it was also Dulce, using her trademark tough love approach, who coaxed her daughter not to give up when her first film with Rowell Santiago, Pag-Ibig Pa, flopped.
“I was crying back then,” Pops reveals. “I wanted to quit. My mom brought me back to my senses. She told me, ang bilis mo naman sumuko (you tend to quit easily). If you quit now, people would remember you for the wrong reasons, she said. I’m glad I listened to her and stayed.”
In between, she has tried her hand at recording, hosting — which she’s quite good at — with then small-screen partner and later husband Martin Nievera, and even acting in films, starring in a string of teen love stories, romcoms and even an adult drama-slash-whodunit provocatively titled Linlang.
On Martin
If she were to pick three of the most important milestones in her career, they’d easily be her weekly hosting stint with Martin on Penthouse Live, which ran for nearly six years, her breakout concert at the Rizal Memorial Stadium attended by an estimated 100,000 people and kickstarting ASAP, the country’s longest-running Sunday noontime variety show, as one of its first set of hosts.
“I was supposed to be just a guest co-host of Martin in Penthouse Live,” she recalls. “People must have noticed the on-cam chemistry between us that I soon found myself becoming a regular host. I credit the show and Tito Fritz Ynfante, our director, for the valuable training.”
Apart from honing her to become a seasoned host, the show paved the way for Pops to broaden her audience. As love blossomed between her and Martin, the show was also instrumental for her to eventually find and marry her first love. True enough, as Dulce warned Pops years earlier, her life by then had become an open book.
Pops and Martin eventually parted ways in the late 1990s, ending what their countless fans considered then a fairytale romance between the once shy girl who blossomed into a fashion icon and her funny husband who’s gifted with one of the best voices in the business.
“In case you didn’t know, Martin and I are no longer together,” she says with a wink as we tease her about him.
Of course, a story on Pops won’t be complete without including Martin in the picture. But that would require an entire article if not a book unto itself. Suffice it to say that as far as Pops is concerned, she’s completely over whatever pain and bad memories that chapter in their lives had brought. Life, she adds, is too short not to forgive, to continue to harbor old grudges.
“We have been through so much,” she concludes. “Lahat na ata ng emotions napagdaanan namin (we’ve probably run through the entire gamut of emotions). The fact that Martin and I are very open now about what was once so painful, even talking and laughing about it while using it in our spiels during our shows together, proves that we’ve both grown and matured. That we’ve both moved on.”
