More than a year ago, Richard Carpenter also met up with our very own Claire de la Fuente after some referrals. After hearing Claire's voice, Richard was impressed. What followed was a Richard-Claire collaboration that resulted in an album produced in the US that included compositions of Boholano Jimmy Borja. (Bisa'g asa maka saliut-ut gyud ang Bol-anon!). You can google for "Claire de la Fuente Richard Carpenter" for more details. You can also post Claire's music video "Something in Your Eyes" featuring Richard himself. Meanwhile, you can read the backgrounder below.
CLAIRE DELA FUENTE TO RECORD CARPENTER SPECIAL SONG
MANILA, DECEMBER 7, 2007 (STAR) FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - It’s a song waiting to be sung — and recorded —, composed by no less than Richard Carpenter for his sister Karen back in the ’80s after she died due to complications of anorexia. Almost two decades later, Richard has found the perfect singer for what may be his best and most moving tribute to Karen with whom he partnered in many hit songs that have been remade by other artists and remained popular up to now (among them We’ve Only Just Begun, Yesterday Once More, Rainy Days and Mondays).
The lucky singer? Yes, our very own Claire dela Fuente who is known as the Karen Carpenter of the Philippines because of “very Karen Carpenter” voice which at once became obvious when she sang the Hope cigaret jingle in the early ’80s when the Carpenters were at the peak of their short-lived reign as pop stars.
The song is called Something In Your Eyes which Richard has been keeping while waiting for the right alto to sing it. Many tried but none of them got Richard’s nod — until Claire came along and, I could imagine Richard exclaiming, “Eureka!”
“I just learned that Richard loves alto women,” Claire told Funfare in an exclusive phone interview a few hours after she personally met Richard last Monday, Dec. 3, at his home in North Ranch Club, Thousand Oaks, L.A. “It was during our meeting that I also learned na maraming nag-try kumanta n’ung song, pero walang nagustuhan si Richard.”
You may be wondering: How did Claire get wind of the song and eventually bag the assignment?
As Claire herself told Funfare, it was US record producer Christian de Walden who was instrumental in all this. De Walden is the same guy who produced for Viva Records some songs, including Magkasuyo Buong Gabi and who acted as distributor of Freddie Aguilar’s Anak in the international market. It was Viva boss Vic del Rosario Jr. who introduced Claire to De Walden who then introduced Claire to Pamela Phillips Oland, lyricist of the Carpenters. To make a long story short, Oland heard Claire sing and she was impressed. That was a few months ago. Then, Claire secretly flew to L.A. to do a demo-tape of Something In Your Eyes. She brought the demo tape with her when she — together with De Walden, Oland and Claire’s lawyer Teresita Marbibi — dropped by Richard’s house for a “Hi-hello!” visit that extended to more than 45 minutes!
“We arrived at exactly 12 noon that day,” said Claire. “We were told that Richard was going to a tennis match at 12:30. True enough, when we arrived, Richard was in his tennis outfit and he apologized for it. His wife was also there. At first, he was a bit shy but very accommodating. Then, he invited us to his recording room at the basement where he listened to the demo tape. I noticed that medyo tinitimpla-timpla niya ‘yung demo tape while he was listening to it intently.”
Seated beside Richard, Claire shed tears while also listening to the demo tape. “I need some tissue,” Claire recalled herself saying. Richard promptly ran upstairs and came back with a box of tissue paper and handed it to Claire.
“It’s beautiful!” said Richard. “It’s going to be a hit!”
To be recorded by Christian de Walden for Viva Records, Something In Your Eyes will be the carrier single of Claire’s album which will be recorded in the US. The album will also carry four original Tagalog songs composed by Jimmy Borja and STAR columnist Baby Gil. Claire will be back from L.A. next week and will go back early next year to start recording.
The good news is that Richard Carpenter might fly to the Philippines to grace the album’s release in March next year.
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