Songs of Your Life Presents: The Songs of Joey Albert

It has been a tradition that this blog gives tribute to foreign singers and their songs. Now it’s time to give honor and pay tribute to our local singers in their excellence in singing the Original Pilipino Music. I dedicate this episode to the one and only Joey Albert.

Joey Albert is a Filipino pop and jazz singer, musician, lyricist and songwriter. An alumna of St. Theresa's College Manila (primary education) and Assumption San Lorenzo (high school and college), Albert began her professional singing career in 1982, right after winning the Dream Girl Filipina contest in The Party, a television program hosted by Ariel Ureta over Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation-Channel 2 (now ABS-CBN Channel 2). Soon after, Albert became a member of the The New Minstrels-3rd Generation, a popular Philippine show band during the 1970s and the 1980s.

As a solo performer, Albert signed up initially with OctoArts International (now PolyEast Records) in 1984. Her first single, Gerry Paraiso's Over and Over (recorded January 1984), enjoyed tremendous airplay in local and national radio stations. Immediately after, OctoArts International released Louie Ocampo and Allan Ayque's Tell Me. The song became a major hit. For "Tell Me", Albert received a Gold Record Award from the Philippine Association of the Recording Industry. Subsequently, Albert received the Best Female Vocalist trophy during the 1985 Cecil Awards, the Philippine Music Industry Awards during the 1980s. "Tell Me" also established Albert as a major Filipino musical artist. The song proved to be very popular with other musical artists as well as generations of Filipino music lovers. Over the years, cover versions of the song have been released by Rico J. Puno (1984), Janet Arnaiz (1991), Lea Salonga (1992), Side A (2001), Joselito Pasucal (2001), Zsa Zsa Padilla (2001), Lloyd Umali (2002), and Ariel Rivera and Regine Velasquez (2003). Albert also recorded two versions of the hit song, in 1984, and 2007.

Aside from "Over and Over" and "Tell Me", Albert's self-titled debut album also produced another hit, Robert More's A Million Miles Away. Say You're Mine, on the other hand, predated the acoustic trend in the Philippines. Albert completed five more albums for OctoArts International: Touch of Love (1984), Expressions (1985), Joey (1986), Maligayang Pasko (1987), and Mixed Emotions (1988). These albums produced many hits, including Louie Ocampo-Freddie Santos collaborations like Memories (recorded January 1984), Points of View (duet with Pops Fernandez, recorded January 1984) and Yakapin mo ako (recorded November 1985). Other hits included Jose Mari Chan's I remember the boy (recorded November 1985), Louie Ocampo and Jim Millbower's Without you (recorded November 1986), Louie Ocampo and Joey Albert's Ikaw lang ang mamahalin (recorded November 1986), Ray-Ann Fuentes's Porma ng porma (recorded September 1988), Tony Perez and Allan Ayque's Back in my arms (recorded September 1988), Louie Ocampo, Joey Albert and Janice de Belen's It's over now (recorded November 1985), Louie Ocampo and Joey Albert's You threw it all away (recorded November 1986) and Sunny Ilacad and Joey Albert's Na sabihin mo (recorded November 1985).

Albert moved to Dyna products Inc. in 1990. Her self-titled album for the company included commercial and artistic hits like Luigi de Dios and Rina Caniza's Only a mem'ry and Roses in the rain, Paola Luz's How can I make you see, Joey Albert's Paano Sasabihin, Archie Castillo and Onie Zamora's Sa akong pagbabalik, and Danny Tan and Jose Javier Reyes' Iisa pa lamang. During the 1990 Awit Awards, Albert received twin nominations as Best Female Vocalist of the Year for Only a mem'ry and Iisa pa lamang. She won for Only a mem'ry.

Meanwhile, Iisa pa lamang reached gold and platinum status. It also became the theme song of a movie produced by Regal Films, directed by Jose Javier Reyes in 1992. The movie featured Richard Gomez, Maricel Laxa and Dawn Zulueta as lead actors. Albert's other hits for Dyna included Luigi de Dios and Rina Caniza's Brief Encounter and Jose La Vina's Just for a while.

Joey Albert's meteoric rise as a gifted musical artist was interrupted by serious illnesses. After surviving cervical cancer in 1995, Albert was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003. She underwent a successful surgery in July 2003 and recovered after a series of chemotherapy. By October 2003, she was besieged with offers to sing again. But Albert had to complete rounds of chemotherapy until March 2004.
Since she migrated to Canada[1] in 1994, Albert has been living in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband Vicente Pacis III and daughters Trixie and Margarita. Between her professional commitments as a performer, she also works as a pre-school teacher and has acted as a judge for PNT Singing Idol.


Photo credit: http://docmenchblogs.blogspot.com/
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Albert