Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

On Monday, October 27, at a press conference at Max’s Restaurant at Puente Hills Mall to announce a Christmas concert with longtime friend Brian McKnight, Martin kidded that the title "Concert King" was kind of a stretch, especially at these times when he does not seem to attract the bigger crowds that used to populate his shows earlier in his career.

On the plus side, Martin said that younger people are watching his shows now. "The younger generations are coming to learn about the music of their parents," Martin revealed. "We are the most talented people in the world, but nobody knows it," Martin lamented.

"No one knows that we know how to do it. You have to be at the right time at the right place," Martin said. "Look at Charice and Arnel (Pineda of Journey)."

Martin noted that Filipino performers need to make something historically mind-boggling in order to be discovered, akin to the instantaneous celebrity achieved by Charice and Pineda who were discovered through video clips posted on YouTube.

"It’s happening with Charice. In that show with David Foster (in Las Vegas), no one else got a standing ovation but Charice," Martin observed. "I’ll be searching and searching until I am discovered," Martin promised. "If you see me at the Jay Leno show, that would be it," he said.

Martin assures his faithful that he has not really changed. Speaking in the third person, he describes himself as the same person. "He’s funny; he’s crazy," he said. "I am the same, on and off the stage. I am the same. I never change," he confessed.

Getting back to the business at hand, Martin declared that he is at his best when performing in a large venue, such as the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, California, where his concert, My Christmas List will be held on December 21 at 6 pm. Martin will perform the songs in his similarly-titled CD.

"There is a big difference between performing in a theatre and a casino," Martin divulged. "The bigger the venue the more intimate you have to be. It’s hard to communicate with a big audience," Martin says.

He said that he had performed a lot before big audiences, and it really worked for him as a performer. "I like to really work for my money. I love to work hungry," Martin adds. "It’s easy for me to be complacent, so the least I could do is to perform as if it’s the last one."

Martin’s Morongo Casino gig will feature front acts by gospel singer RJ de la Fuente, a Riverside-based vocalist who was inspired to pursue gospel music by a relative, and Angeli, Gary Valenciano’s wife. The concert will also showcase Stephanie Reese, a singer with a superlative background as an operatic and theater performer, whose concert at the Normandie Casino in October has cemented an emerging reputation as a concert singer with a bright future. Martin will be joined also by popular R&B singer/songwriter and radio show host Brian Mcknight, whose Christmas album, Bethlehem, sold over three million copies, following the success of his first album, Brian McKnight in 1992 and second album Back at One (released in 1999). His final record for the Mercury label, "Anytime," sold over two million copies. g