Raymond Gorospe brings his life story to the stage in debut concert

MANILA — After years of singing at weddings, corporate events and private gatherings while building a career in hosting and acting, Raymond Gorospe is finally putting his own story onstage with his debut concert, “My Story, My Music,” on October 2.

The concert at Celebrity Club in Capitol Hills Drive, Quezon City, will trace the different chapters of Gorospe’s life and career, from his early days singing in a church choir to his years in nursing, competitive rowing, acting and hosting. He will also debut his original song, “Bawat Umaga,” during the show.

“I felt that this year is the right time to stage my concert,” said Gorospe. “I want to give importance to my friends whom I met along the way and who have worked with me. I want to give them a spot in the concert.”

He earlier staged a Valentine’s show at Tikme Dine Restaurant that specializes on Batangas cuisine. He also guested in the concert of his niece, Isha Ponti.

Gorospe’s concert was first conceptualized two years ago during the 18th birthday celebration of Ponti.

Gorospe began singing at a young age as a member of his church choir. In grade school, he also sang the national anthem at Centro Escolar University, where he continued his studies through college, taking up Nursing.

“My family earlier planned to migrate in the US and put up a nursing home,” Gorospe told ABS-CBN News. “I took the board and passed it. I really wanted to follow my father and my mom and finish Nursing. My eldest brother and my sister took up Nursing. My youngest brother took up Occupational Therapy.

“My parents thought that will be alright to put up a nursing home in the US. But when I got to college, I also got into sports. I did the dragonboat rowing for eight years, competed local and international. Somebody saw me in the mall and offered me a commercial break. I also acted on TV and the movies.”

After Ponti staged her solo concert two years ago under her family’s production company, Ponti Entertainment Productions, the family decided that Gorospe’s concert would be its next project. He has since been preparing for his solo debut.

“Ang daming songs that I want to include in the set list, pero mahaba na ang concert,” he said.

The set list will include gospel songs, as well as “The Promise,” which Gorospe performed at his wedding.

One his guests is theater actress Ima Castro, whom he met when he sang during the wedding of Tonton Gutierrez and Glydel Mercado nearly two decades ago in 2007.

“Then when I went to London, sa daming pwedeng sakyan na tube, Ima and I saw each other again,” Gorospe shared. “Since then, we connected regularly. She became the godparent of my daughter.”

Another guest is film, television and theater actress-singer Beverly Salviejo, who will join Gorospe in paying tribute to three friends and former colleagues who have passed away. They will be joined by some of Gorospe’s singer-friends from the 1990s.

The honorees are Romanian actress-singer and soprano Janina Lorelei, with whom Gorospe previously worked at various events; tenor George Sison-Tagle, founder of The Angelos; and Steve Young, owner of Manila’s Best.

Gorospe will also perform a Disney medley with Madona Decena, the first Filipina to compete on “Britain’s Got Talent” and a finalist on the show; and Esay Belanio, who received a Golden Buzzer from Donny Pangilinan on Season 7 of “Pilipinas Got Talent.” Decena also serves as Gorospe’s vocal coach.

Also joining Gorospe onstage is Ponti, representing the younger generation of their family of performers.

“It’s nice to see two generations jive,” Gorospe said. “Working with young people, they pick up details very fast. They’re technically-savvy which I’m not. They have a different approach even to doing music videos. You can achieve the result that you want.”

Ponti added, “It’s really nice to see other people share different designs and what are the main points to communicate when I make graphic designs. That’s an eye-opener for me even for advertising. Tito Raymond is not very techy which I understand.

“You can tell him what to do when you send the files, organize the stuff and the materials that I need to do. You can tell him how to download. Sometimes, loaded na ang GC namin about instructions.”

In the future, Gorospe wants to work with Martin Nievera, Ariel Rivera, Ogie Alcasid, Nonoy Zuñiga and Gary Valenciano.

Gorospe also chose to include some of the low points in his life in the concert. “Before the pandemic, I made a bad business decision which almost took everything from me,” he shared. “That gave me double even triple stress. There’s this one song, ‘The Warrior Is a Child.’ After all the bad things, you always look forward to a brand-new day.”

Among his high points were winning the Aliw Award back-to-back as Best Male Host. He is aiming for a grand slam this year.

Singing is undoubtedly something that is close to Gorospe’s heart and that drives him to continue what he does. “Ang saya ng feeing. The passion in the things I love to do, it’s in my blood. Hinahanap ko siya kung wala. Importante din sa akin is my family, especially now that my kids are growing. Ang mahal ng tuition,” he said.

“I need to think about doing things that I love to do. Masarap to entertain people in the audience and it’s nice to know that they appreciate what you’re doing. Of course, we also want to hear constructive criticism so we can do a better version of ourselves.”