David Pomeranz excited to perform before fans after long absence due to pandemic

LOS ANGELES – Legendary pop singer of all times David Pomeranz is back in the limelight and set to wow his fans and all music aficionados here in the City of Angels this Saturday, January 29.

Pomeranz, in an exclusive interview with Asian Journal, says he is extremely ecstatic to perform once again on stage after a long respite due to the pandemic.

He will be performing at the Church of Scientology Auditorium of the Valley in North Hollywood at 7 p.m. Local artists will also be featured like Joel Sibag (music director), Garth Garcia (Fil-Am Prince of Pop), Juls King (Fil-Am Rock Star) and Lyndon Apostol (multi-talented artist/member of Fil Trio).

The show is produced by Allegro Musicale & Entertainment, Marte Productions and Dianetics.

Part of the proceeds from the concert will go to Victory Life Foundation.

“I haven’t played in Los Angeles for many years. This is my sort of a coming out party and so we will have some fun,” Pomeranz says enthusiastically as he promises to give out the best ever concert.

“You know it’s interesting because every time, at least I try to always make everything as if it’s brand new. That’s my job, to make it brand new, even if I sing a song that I have sung a million times before, I try to deliver it as if I haven’t sung it before. It’s like I get emotional myself for whatever it is so that’s one thing that always makes a difference,” he says, when asked what will make this show different from his previous ones.

Ever wonder with his dozens of songs, which one is Pomeranz’s favorite? He was quick to say that while he loves all his songs, “If You Walked Away” and “On this Day” are the closest to his heart.

Pomeranz wrote the song “If You Walked Away” in 1975 and performed a duet with Filipino actress, singer and TV host Sharon Cuneta. Released in 2001 on the Philippine affiliate of international label Universal Music, “On This Day” reminds Pomeranz of his esteemed love for his wife and an unforgettable collaboration with his long-time friend and colleague James Peterik.

While he likes to do different types of music, Pomeranz says he’s really keen and interested in a song’s structure and melody.

“I’m a fan of classic songwriting not because it’s nostalgic but because classic and it’s classic for a reason. It’s classic because it’s well done. The lyric falls on the note correctly and with the rhymes, rhyme where it should and in real rhymes, there are not close rhymes, they are real rhymes like bell and cell it’s a real rhyme. But bell and held is not a rhyme (now being used in) a lot of pop music, it’s close

(rhymes) so i try to go with real rhymes. I guess (what I) go for is the melody and emotional lyric,” he says, elaborating on his music writing style.

Aside from a lot of proliferation of non-conventional songwriting techniques, he notices a lot of things being done differently now which he wishes should be given a lot of thought by music industry players and enthusiasts like the royalties being given to artists.

With the advent of new technology, he says earnings of some new singers, performers and artists had dramatically dwindled down in the “streaming” world.

Despite these setbacks, Pomeranz urges upcoming and aspiring musicians to continue to strive to reach their goals. “Sing a lot, sing everywhere, sing for your parents, sing for your school, sing for the scouts, sing for a new neighbor. I used to stand up on a picnic table in my neighbors’ picnic table, in their yard… everywhere and clubs and at weddings. One thing I recommend most of all just don’t worry making the YouTube video right away, don’t worry about how you’re looking at the mic in your hand, just sing and get great,” he says, noting that to become a great musician “persistence is the key.”

True to the spirit of persistence, Pomeranz is indeed looking forward to writing more new songs and is in fact, in the midst of putting together a new album which will be released anytime soon.

Though declining to give details, he says he is excited for a new musical he is currently collaborating with a Filipina scriptwriter in Manila.

At a tender age of 5 and being able to watch “West Side Story” with his parents at that time, New York City-born Pomeranz got inspired to writing theatrical songs.

In 1983, Pomeranz tried his theatrical debut when he was asked by Producer, Dave Clark to contribute songs for the hit London Musical, “Time” which starred Cliff Richard and Sir Laurence Olivier and ran for two years at the Dominion Theatre on the West End.

A celebrity album of the songs from “Time” was released on EMI Records featuring Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Cliff Richard, Julian Lennon, Leo Sayer and others. His next theater project was for a Musical based on the life of Charlie Chaplin entitled, “Little Tramp.” “Little Tramp’s”

U.K. premiere in 1992 was the inspiration for a celebrity studio recording of the featured songs on Warner Records which starred Richard Harris, Mel Brooks, Petula Clark, Tim Curry, Treat Williams, Peter Duncan, Lea Salonga and Pomeranz himself. He has recently been performing his criticallyacclaimed one-man version

by: Donnabelle Gatdula-Arevalo

of “Little Tramp” (in which he portrays more than 40 characters in Chaplin’s life) throughout theaters and performing arts centers across the United States and Australia).

His stage musical adaptation of the Dickens classic, “A Tale of Two Cities” premiered at the Alexandria Theater in Birmingham, and at the Queens Theater in Windsor produced by Bill Kenwright and starring Paul Nicholas.

In 2012, “A Tale of Two Cities” was presented at The Charing Cross Theatre in London’s West End.

In 2005, he composed the music to Kathie Lee Gifford’s book and lyrics for a new musical based on the Newberry Award winning book, “The Family Under The Bridge.” Their show, entitled “Under The Bridge,” opened Off-Broadway at the Zipper Theater starring award-winning actor Ed Dixon.

Later, in 2012, Pomeranz and Kathie Lee co-created the Tonynominated, “Scandalous” which opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theater starring Carolee Carmelo and George Hearn. The cast album of “Scandalous” is available on Sony/Shout! Records.

His most recent musical, “The Kiss,” (developed in association with Oscar-winning animator Will Vinton) had its world premiere in July of 2022 at The Lakewood Theater in Portland, Oregon.

Pomeranz says he is particularly fond of performing with Filipino audiences who, he believes, are so passionate and shares his great appreciation for music.

In fact, two of Pomeranz’ greatest hit songs were released in the Philippines. His unprecedented success in the Philippines has also earned him two keys to the City of Manila and he is the only international artist to receive a star on their “Eastwood Walk of Fame.”

Pomeranz solo albums include the classics, “It’s In Every One of Us” (Arista), “The Truth of Us” (Atlantic; co-produced with legendary Paul Simon producer Roy Halee), “Time to Fly” (Decca; featuring jazz greats Chick Corea and Billy Cobham), “New Blues” (Decca) and “Born For You – His Best and More” (MCA/Universal) which reached over 10 times platinum status in the Philippines alone, making it the largest selling international pop album in the history of the country. His hits include “Got to Believe in Magic,” “Born For You,” “On This day,” “King And Queen of Hearts,” “The Old Songs,” “If You Walked Away” (duet with Sharon Cuneta), “Until I Fall In Love Again” and Tryin’ To Get The Feeling Again.”

Other solo efforts include “On This Day” (MCA/Universal), “The Eyes of Christmas” (MCA/ Universal) and “David Pomeranz – Greatest Hits” (PolyEast/ Universal).

His latest album, “You’re the Inspiration” (Upward Spiral Records), a collection of some of David’s favorite cover songs, was just released in 2023. He has performed sold out concerts in such distinguished international venues as The Kennedy Center, The Hollywood Bowl, The London Hippodrome, Nassau Coliseum (Long Island, New York), the Universal Amphitheater, The National Catheral (Washington, D.C.), New York’s City Center, Symphony Hall (Philadelphia), The Seattle Kingdome, Tokyo’s Budokan Hall (where he was awarded the prize for “Outstanding Song” at the Yamaha World Song Festival), The Moscow Sports Arena, Olympic Stadium (Munich), Chatham Square (Hong Kong), Harrah’s (Las Vegas), Araneta Coliseum (Manila, Philippines), and hundreds more.

Aside from his accomplishments in the pop music field, David has written music and lyrics for numerous major motion pictures including Twentieth Century Fox’s “Big” starring Tom Hanks, “King Kong” (penning the lyrics to John Barry’s haunting theme), Warner Bros.’ “Fire Down Below,” “Man, Woman, and Child” (starring Martin Sheen) and the award-winning Sundance Documentary “As Seen Through These Eyes” narrated by Maya Angelou.

His most recent feature film project is “The Way”, a sungthrough musical directed by Kathie Lee Gifford for which Kathie Lee and David have written four new songs performed by Gospel superstar Danny Gokey. “The Way” was just awarded two “Best Soundtrack” awards including The International Christian Visual Media Award” of 2023.

In collaboration with composer, Alan Willams, he wrote lyrics for the song-score of the animated feature, “The Princess and The Pea” (Starz Network) and “The Velveteen Rabbit” starring Ellen Burstyn and Tom Skerritt. In 2019, David and Alan were honored with an Award for “Best Song-Short Subject” by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for their work on the animated short, “Mykonos Blue.” An Emmy Award nominee for his song work on television, his songs have been featured on “Will and Grace” (NBC), “The Leftovers” (HBO), “The Summer Olympic Games” (NBC), “Boston Legal” (CBS) and “American Idol” (Fox). He wrote the theme song for the classic PBS Peabody Awardwinning Children’s series, “Zoobilee Zoo” and Showtime’s “Elvis Presley’s Graceland,” for which he composed the score. As a vocalist, Pomeranz was the voice heard each week singing the theme to the classic hit ABC series, “Perfect Strangers.”