Did you know that David Pomeranz crashed a few prom nights in the Philippines?
“I walked in and started to sing "King and Queen of Hearts," the globally renowned singer-songwriter recalls during a video interview with Esquire Philippines. “They were stunned and gave a look like, ‘What’s happening here?’
“I sang the song,” he adds. “I remember wishing them well. There was a smattering of clapping. I don’t remember if it was in Zamboanga, but I don’t doubt if it was. I was staying in a hotel, and they were holding a prom in a hotel ballroom. I don’t doubt that I did that. I like doing things like that.”
PHOTO: David Pomeranz
It’s another story to file under Pomeranz’s rich history with the Philippines—a place he has performed, enjoyed success and continues to be beloved in for over 40 years.
The artist, who has received over 35 platinum and gold record awards throughout his career, says he is “honored” to know Filipinos. “I’m so lucky to have so many friends of such a high quality... extraordinary beings, spiritual beings, smart, lovely, funny,” he says. “They’re very unique. I tell my Western friends about you (Filipinos). Anyone who would ever encounter a Filipino in the world has the same response: ‘Oh yeah! Those guys are great!’ I never heard anyone say anything differently. So, who you are speaks for itself. You present yourselves as yourselves. You are not making believe anything. You are sweet when you are. You are angry when you are. You are professional when you need to be.
The voice behind such modern classics as “King and Queen of Hearts,” and “Got to Believe in Magic,” is currently working on a new stage musical about the Philippines. Although the project hasn’t been officially announced yet, Pomeranz reveals that he’s writing it together with Liza Magtoto, who is behind the recent musicals Rak of Aegis and Game of Trolls.
“She’s a wonderful, wonderful writer,” Pomeranz says. “I’m writing the music and lyrics. It’s an original score. We’ve been working very hard on it for some time. We’re closing on it.”
David Pomeranz
CONTINUE READING BELOW
watch now
The upcoming musical will be Pomeranz’s seventh venture in theater and is slated to be released next year. “We’re well into the rewriting stage. It’s coming out beautifully. I’m very, very excited about this show. And we hope to premiere in Manila very soon.
The stage musical is just one of the reasons he visits the country “under the radar.” What happens when he’s in town for concerts is a different story. Just last December, his “Coming Home with David Pomeranz 40th Anniversary Concert Tour” made 11 stops around the country. In addition to his two megahits, Pomeranz serenaded audiences with songs like “Born for You” (a 10-time platinum hit in the Philippines), “Trail of Broken Dreams,” as well as his rendition of OPM songs like “Tell Me,” and “Pasko na Sinta Ko.”
He's been such a frequent visitor to the Philippines that many have started to wonder why he just doesn’t move here permanently.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
“I have thought about it,” he says. “I like living in the United States. I’m from New York and I live in Florida right now. But I feel culturally more of a Westener because of the culture that I’m used to. But I could easily live in the Philippines. I could. It would be a pleasure.”
Just Like in Bed
Pomeranz began his professional career at 19 when he signed a recording contract with MCA and Decca released his first two albums: New Blues and Time to Fly. He has since gone on to write songs for himself and a multitude of other artists, like Barry Manilow (including “Tryin’ to Get That Feeling Again,” and “The Old Songs), Bette Midler, Freddie Mercury, Missy Elliott, The Carpenters, Donna Summer, Cliff Richard and many more.
While many people know him for “King and Queen of Hearts,” and “Got to Believe in Magic,” both of which were featured in the film Zapped!, some would be surprised to learn that he didn’t actually write those songs, although he wishes he did. Both hits were composed by Charles Fox and Stephen Guyer.
David Pomeranz
Still, because most people know him for these songs, he often gets requests and performs them in his shows. He says, though, that he never gets tired of singing any song.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
“I have a policy,” he says. “I learned this from the great performers: Sing it like you never sang it before. It does not matter if I had sung it a thousand times or three times. Sometimes I have to eliminate a song because the show’s too long. Or sometimes it does not go with the flow of the show. I can’t have too many ballads. I’m known for writing ballads but in a two-hour show that’s death. I have to mix it up and leave some ballads out. But that’s for the good of the evening so it has pace and flow.
“It’s like having good sex or bad sex,” he adds. “Good sex is when you feel what’s going on. And in case of performing, it’s the audience. They tell you everything. When they start to move around or God forbid, they even look at their watches—I’m blowing it! And I change it up. You would in sex. It’s very much like that on stage. You feel the vibe.”
He names Ed Sheeran and John Legend as songwriters who have the “right idea, the perfect performance.” Specifically, he says Legend’s song All of Me has “great melody” with an “execution of an idea that is smart and contemporary.”
PHOTO: David Pomeranz
The singer-songwriter also has a few things to say about current pop superstar Taylor Swfit, whose records he says he likes “sometimes.”
“I admire what she’s doing with her productions,” he says. “I like the way she articulates her lyrics. She actually articulates well; most contemporary artists don’t. They kind of make a sound and you don’t know what they are saying. Taylor is very particular with enunciating her words, as is Ed Sheeran. His records are designed around his voice.”
He says his current favorite though, is part-Filipino pop phenomenon Olivia Rodrigo. “Her songs, her performance, and her production are very adventurous, very different. She takes chances. She’s wild. She’s nuts in the very best way. That I love. They’re having fun. I love her and her records.”
Pomeranz says he also listens to artists like Imagine Dragons (“they just kick ass”) and One Republic (they have “cool records with great drum sounds”).
On the flipside, the artist says he doesn’t like it when songs or performances are “the same.”
“Like when Billie Eilish came out and she did a ‘Billie Eilish’ which was very, very herself,” he says. “And then other women did it, too—the little whispering baby thing. Lots of records are like that. When I was growing up in the ‘60s, we had The Supremes. They sang a string of big hits, but I could tell when the record company said to the producer, ‘Get me another one of those (songs). Make me one that sounds like that as a second hit!’ And somehow, cleverly, they would do something like that. I could see that happening now. It’s almost like a corporate mentality. ‘This is going to sell.’ You could just hear the executive with a cigar in his mouth. That’s the only thing that bothers me. Everything else is just fine.”
Cliff Richard Made Him Cry
Eventually talk turns to his songwriting process, which Pomeranz says varies. The music may come first, like what happened when he wrote “Trying to Get That Feeling Again” that was originally intended for The Carpenters.
David Pomeranz
“I was working very hard on it but it didn’t have a title,” he remembers. “What I had was ‘I’ve been up, down, blah, blah, orange juice and pumpkin pie.’ I know a lot of writers like that. I know (Paul) McCartney is funny. He talks about it all the time. When he wrote Yesterday, (he would sing it as) ‘scrambled eggs.’ That’s how it is for me until I get a kind of clear idea of what sounds good on that music phrase; What lyrics would float on those notes.”
Sometimes the lyrics come first, like in the case of “Soldiers of the Heart,” which is a song he wrote after seeing people grieve together in Central Park in New York City over the death of John Lennon. “It’s about us, a group of people with a like mind of peace and love and a better world, which John exemplified. I thought then that I wanted to write a song about us, not just about him. And it was lyrics first and I put music on it.”
Pomeranz says he also has eureka moments when both the words and melody come to him at the same time, such as in the case of “On This Day,” which he co-wrote with Jimmy Peterik. “You grab what comes and mess with it until it becomes something else,” he says.
When it comes to other artists performing his composition, Pomeranz admits his reactions have been mixed. “Sometimes I’m thrilled, sometimes I’m disappointed,” he says. “I think, ‘I wish he had sung that line differently.’ Or, ‘He or she is not feeling what I’m saying.’ But I’m generally pretty happy with what I hear and giving (a song) away.
David Pomeranz
“But then I realize that I’m in the company of Richard Rodgers (a Pulitzer Prize winner and the first composer to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony or EGOT), Irving Berlin (Great American Songbook). Early on it bothered me—the idea of just being a songwriter. Although my heroes were songwriters, from 1940s to the 1960s. We call it ‘The Great American Songbook.’” He talks about writers he looks up to like Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote The Sound of Music, and George Gershwin.
“These men and women were experts, geniuses in the subject of songwriting; not that there aren’t any today, but they were geniuses. So, when I considered myself a songwriter—I’d rather had this as a hit for me—that had crossed my mind. But I’ve kind of reconciled with having two careers as a singer-songwriter and a songwriter. And it’s fine, it’s okay with me.”
He recalls one memorable rendition that even brought him to tears: Cliff Richard’s performance of “I Still Believe in You.” The song was shelved for nine years, according to the songwriter, after a scene from the movie “Footloose” that featured it got cut. Pomeranz says Barbra Streisand almost sang it, until his publisher in England gave it to Richard.
“He made me cry, and I just sobbed for some time,” he shares. “I know all the nuances, and I know how to sing it. I love the song. There was something he did. It was in the arrangement of the record, too. They made the song a little longer and they put in a string arrangement of the melody in the middle of the song. And I just lost it. This is why I write songs. I can hear those strings playing that melody and I was so happy.”
Pomeranz, who turned 73 this year, still has a lot of songs in his head that he plans to record, some of which he plans to release very soon. And while the musical with Magtoto is in the works, he does wish some musicals he has written would be reproduced and see new life.
David Pomeranz
He is scheduled to fly back to Manila around October or November this year and he has shows scheduled in Australia and New Zealand with local artist Joey Albert, who he calls ‘Marie” (she calls him ‘Donny,’ a reference to iconic Osmond siblings).
“I’m always looking for something new to do,” he says. “Always. I never like to be the guy who relies on his old stuff; like a museum piece, trot him out, put him on the stage and sings ‘Born for You.’ I’m not that guy. I’m fortunate to have that effect on people, but I’m always looking for the next thing.”
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on Esquiremag.ph. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. Find out more here.
