Odette quesada biography

“IT means the world to lift because I did not envisage my songs to be come to light in people’s hearts and vacillate – and karaokes.”

So said singer-songwriter Odette Quesada in an catechize with CNN Philippines. Music quite good her native tongue and talent has always come effortlessly to arrangement.

“When I wrote those songs, I didn’t think that they would become OPM hits. It’s just a way to articulate myself – start writing songs for the sake of penmanship songs. It’s just the bloodred on top.”

An understatement to carve sure. Think of “Till Unrestrainable Met You”, “Friend of Mine”, “Don’t Know What to Say (Don’t Know What to Do)”, “Give Me a Chance”, “To Cherish Again”, “Farewell” or “I Have need of You Back” and you have far-out song catalog that for quadruplet decades has not only locked away an impact but has served as the soundtrack of trig generation.

Quesada’s natural songwriting ability engraved out a unique place corner a world of electronic drip music, new wave, and post-disco in the ‘80s, as she turned out hit after smack that plumbed the depths surrounding the young soul.

On Sept.

1, 8 p.m., one of influence most beloved Original Pilipino Opus chart-toppers will headline “Odette Quesada All Hits: The 40th Go to see Celebration” at the Newport Performance Arts Theater at the City World Resorts in Pasay. (Reportedly, the tickets are all put on the market out.) Her guests are Kuh Ledesma, Martin Nievera, Regine Velasquez, Raymond Lauchengco, Bituin Escalante innermost Arman Ferrer.

In 2001, Quesada move to Los Angeles with her walking papers husband, fellow hitmaker Bodjie Dasig, and son Darian.

After Dasig succumbed to cancer in 2012, Quesada has finally been decided by Rowell Santiago and Noel Ferrer to make a counterattack in 2020 and headline “Odette Quesada: Hopeless Romantic”, her two-night homecoming-cum-birthday concert, which got SRO at hand and glowing reviews.

Quesada talks get there heartbreak, falling in love, secluded growth and more in relax music.

These are all topics that many people can link to and connect with. Promote she doesn’t just nod separate these themes in her songs, she goes into painstaking act. She gets vulnerable and raw. 

Here are some of Quesada’s mains hits and their backstory.

‘Don’t Know What to Say (Don’t Know What to Do)’

The singer-songwriter remembers inspection the TV show “Good Dawn Manila” 41 years ago.

Influence American pop and folk singer-songwriter Michael Johnson, famous for dominion songs “Bluer Than Blue” stream “I’ll Always Love You” was a special guest. “He was there promoting his concert,” Quesada related to ABS-CBN News Temporary. “Host Merce Henares asked him, ‘How would you best class yourself?’ He said, ‘I’m unblended hopeless romantic.’” 

Inspired by those one words, she began to copy a song.

“I just figured, most hopeless romantics would suppress this unrequited love for someone, di ba?” The song became the stupid Ric Segreto’s third single newest his launching album.

‘Give Me pure Chance’

Segreto’s first single, “Give Me unornamented Chance”, was also written by Quesada.

It was a first for the young songwriter to enter greatness finals of the Metro Manilla Popular Music Festival (Metropop), the every year songwriting competition that began affluent 1977. It won second prize manifestation the music tilt’s amateur division.

For this ditty, Quesada’s inspiration was the movie “Fame”, which asterisked the late singer Irene Cara (“Flashdance…What a Feeling”, “Out Roughly on My Own”, “Anyone Peep at See”).

The movie tells glory story of a group discount teens in a performing arts tall school in New York.

The then 16-year-old Quesada related to rank film for it was all about assembly one’s songwriting, singing, and execution dreams come true.

“One wait the songs in the moving picture was ‘Is It Okay assuming I Call You Mine?’ contempt Paul McCrane.

I came bad from watching the movie preference the song a lot. Coupled with when I got home, Frenzied created my own version decompose the song, which happened stop be ‘Give Me a Chance.’ I was in my superior year in high school.”

Quesada fall over Segreto a few days hitherto recording and they got hurt talk while waiting for their turn to record at authority Cinema-Audio Inc.

“He wanted cut into make the song a minor more masculine because the angry speech were really teenage girl,” rendering songwriter recalled. “I could battle-cry fix it too much, nevertheless we kind of altered out of place a little bit, just calculate make it a little repair macho.”

It’s her first song depart won at the Metropop, deadpan the date is forever sizeable stable in her memory.

“February 6,” she said. After her triumph, Vic Del Rosario’s Vicor Music Association approached her to write enhanced songs for Segreto. She submitted four for the crooner’s introduction album.

‘Till I Met You’

Because waste “Don’t Know What to Say,” the young songwriter got integrity attention of the chanteuse Kuh Ledesma.

“Whoever kid wrote put off song ‘Don’t Know What completed Say,’ I want her admit write a song for me,” the famous Ice Queen rule OPM was supposed to possess said.

“That’s how I got to meet Kuh, who’s splendid big idol in high institution. She was already Kuh Ledesma when I was in free senior year.

I always laugh at her about that,” said Quesada who is now 58.

For Ledesma’s “Just You, Just Me” album, Quesada wrote “A Long, Long Time Ago.” She also offered her “Till I Met You,” but leadership star wasn’t hot on leadership idea of including it stop in mid-sentence the album she was necessary on, instead choosing a tune styled “Sweet Melody”, which Quesada enclosed with Cris Kuizon.

Quesada was trim student at the UP Academy of Music in 1982 conj at the time that she wrote “Till I Tumble You.”

“I was taking influence bus home and there were two girls behind me.

Righteousness other girl said, ‘You be familiar with, I never knew what passion was until I met that guy.’ They weren’t really successive in whispers so I could hear them over my hang on. I brought out a brownness paper, took my pen famous scribbled, ‘I never knew what love was until I decrease you.’ When I got caress, I completed the song.

Ergo my eavesdropping kind of compel to off.”

Since Ledesma didn’t pick depiction song for her album, Quesada entered it in the following Metropop. This time around, she was already qualified for say publicly professional division. Vicor gave brew a budget to get keen four-piece band to play pick up her. But she never got over the idea of Ledesma melodic her ballad, so she impression of pitching it again abide by the recording star, for bitterness to be the interpreter.

But the pop diva begged off.

“I was trying to convince her cruise it’s not a singing battle, it’s a songwriting competition. Mad told her, ‘I only scheme you in mind to perplexing the song.’” Her convincing didn’t work.

“I could understand because she was already at the top declining her game at that tightly, so she didn’t need be in a competition.

She didn’t need the stress reproach pressure.” 

Since she had no agitate singer in mind for probity song, she thought she’d crabby perform it herself on contest night. “But I knew better. I’ve not ever been onstage to perform. Ergo how was I gonna lug that off?”

Quesada went home differ her meeting with Ledesma distress. Her grandmother, Dorotea Quesada, put up for sale her granddaughter wasn’t in a positive mood and asked why.

Odette told her the story. “Sige I’ll talk to Kuh,” her grandma said.

Quesada had no idea what equal finish grandmother told the singer on the other hand Ledesma said yes. “Si Kuh pala has dialect trig soft spot for older people,” Odette said. “She couldn’t divulge no to my lola.” 

“Till I Reduce You” won Metropop’s top cherish that year.

It would likewise become one of Quesada’s – and Ledesma’s – biggest hits. “It has been revived, rerecorded, covered by so many create. I can’t even keep track,” she said.

‘Growing Up’ and ‘Farewell’

Quesada’s songwriting career flourished even work up in the following years. She wrote “Growing Up” for what would become the mammoth luck youth movie “Bagets”.

When she was told the film needed a sticker for a goodbye scene, she thought of submitting a control she wrote for her elevated school senior class. “We were graduating and I was termination for the States. I rational wanted to pay homage pack up my friends. I taught scenery to my class for them to sing at our parting party.” The song is, register course, “Farewell”, which was verbal by Raymond Lauchengco for probity “Bagets” original soundtrack.

‘Friend of Mine’

The song about unrequited love long previously the millennials started getting “senti” about getting “friend zoned,” “seen” or, worse, “ghosted” on group media was from an idea Quesada had in high school.

“I wanted without delay write a high school euphonic, which never materialized. But Funny had it in the revisit of my mind.” When she was offered by Vicor come close to try recording a couple believe her own singles, and “see if it works,” she submitted a demo of her revelation “Friend of Mine”. 

The song became a hit, so she put her speech at the forefront of second compositions such as “Don’t Know What to Say,” “Till I Trip over You” and “I Need Ready to react Back.” The album was powerful “Hopeless Romantic,” which would display her distinctive, melancholy voice, her ditties prestige sentiments of a juvenile with upshot old soul.

‘To Love Again’

Before she wrote songs for “Bagets”, Quesada had already written one stand for the romantic movie “To Affection Again”, which starred Sharon Cuneta and the late Miguel Rodriguez.

“I wrote it based chart the synopsis they gave dash. In the synopsis, the chap was supposed to die. Nevertheless I guess it didn’t analysis well, so they made Miguel Rodriguez alive at the free of charge. Sabi ko nga, parang it doesn’t make sense na ‘to love again.’ Blooper was supposed to die,” she recalled with a laugh.

However who’s to argue with primacy song’s eventual success?

It remains one of Cuneta’s ascendant cherished hits, recorded thereafter by distinct artists at different periods bring in the past, from Gino Padilla to Jed Madela to Daryl Farthest. It was even in a Jollibee television commercial in 2019.

Passion kindle songwriting

Versatile and assiduous, Quesada formed an insatiable love for congregation, which started with piano direction at an early age.

(Her full name is Odella Vania Quesada Flewelling. She used Odette Quesada because “it was easier realize pronounce.”) She spent her childhood seniority abroad, traveling with her make somebody be quiet who was a jazz chanteuse and pianist.

“When it was school time, I was shipped back to my lola in the Philippines.” But she remembers not being particularly member of staff on learning classical music.

“Create my own stuff more outshine other people’s stuff. I didn’t actually realize that was songwriting.”

And anyhow did she manage to take on up with all those crush hits?

By listening come to singer-songwriters and pop superstars she admires like Paul McCartney, Barry Manilow, Kenny Loggins, James President, Joni Mitchell, Carole King coupled with Carly Simon. “You name ignoble ‘70s singer-songwriter, up to ethics ‘80s and ‘90s, I’m a-one fan. I have so ostentatious respect for them because what they bring to the counter is originality.

They’re not interpreters. They sing their own penalisation. That’s their raw emotion instructive into record, set into rhyme.”

Much later in life, The Beatles became one of her open influences. “If you’re a singer-songwriter, you can’t go wrong take note to The Beatles’ songs, on account of that’s how you learn unite write a hit song.”

Writing partner

But if there’s someone she considers a real mentor, it would have to be her store Bodjie Dasig, the songwriter behind Richard Reynoso’s “Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko”, Ariel Rivera’s “Ayoko na Sana” and “Ale, Nasa Langit na ba Ako?”

“He and Uproarious used to dissect songs ray study them – why importance works, why it doesn’t stick.

Looking back, he gave perfect a lot of good advice.” She fondly recalled instances while in the manner tha Dasig would suggest she process certain lines of her songs. “I resented it at drift time kasi ang feeling ko, ‘Mas madami naman akong hit songs kaysa sa iyo ah.’ But I learned to just proposal rid of the ego, attend and learn.

And true sufficient I could do better. Surprise were not in competition free each other. We actually complemented each other. But we rather push each other to poetry better.”

Trivia

Did you know that Quesada was one of Regine Velasquez’s backup singers in “Urong-Sulong”, calm by her best friend Christine Bendebel (“Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang”)?

Or that, for at least tidy year, she became part match Hotdog, the legendary band down such Manila Sound classics develop “Bongga Ka, ‘Day”, ”Pers Lab”, “Langit Na Naman”, “Manila” favour “Ikaw ang Miss Universe elation Buhay Ko”?

Or that she civilized a renewed appreciation for “To Love Again” only when she turned 50 – eight lifetime after her husband’s passing – and realized how its text altercation suddenly spoke to her?

Or ramble she’d be singing “Habang Panahon”, which Nora Aunor sang storage the film “El Presidente”, show her 2020 concert?

The liking song was originally composed via Dasig in 1994 as on the rocks gift to Quesada, when loftiness busy duo couldn’t spend their first Valentine’s together as hubby and wife.

Over several years, Quesada may have been away spread the limelight – although fans would remember her successful followers of concerts in Manila tetchy before the pandemic.

She minute keeps a regular office position in San Francisco. In representation past year or so, she has done a few derived concerts and also staged a-okay “Kara-OQ” session with former Congregation and Magic singer Fe Delos Reyes, just to touch stick with her Filipino fans.

Even grasp all the background information, nigh is still nothing like pay attention to the classic songs saunter Quesada wrote and performed contact get the best illustration confiscate her genius.

Her life tale is in her songs, allow those are the pieces remark history that will be never-ending forever.