Sadness turns to happiness
Entry posted by Stu_thailand ·
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Quite an amazing thing happened this week. First, a bit of history.When I was 16, I joined my first ever Band as the keyboard player. They were all quite a bit older than me, with the band leader being 40 at the time. The first contract I ever did with them was on a 'Warners' Holiday Center in Cornwall, South West England which was a 6 month contract.We were the resident band, playing 6 nights per week, plus each night we would have a guest caberet act.Every Saturday for the 6 months, a Guy called 'Sam Sorono' would perform. We did not have to back him as he was a very well known performer and had his own band. Vince on Keyboards, Neil on Drums, and Trevor on Bass.Sam was from the Philippines and most people know his name over there.Before he became a full time Singer / performer, he was a martial arts expert, and was actually trained personally by 'Bruce Lee', and he starred alongside Mr Lee in a couple of his movies. It wasn't until later in life that he discovered his voice, and his passion for music.He performed Cruise Ships, and hotels all around the world and quickly became a very well known act, and indeed, a very expensive act to book!!I can honestly say that for me, having also performed on many ships and hotels around the world, Sam had THE MOST AMAZING voice I have EVER heard, live. He sounded more like Luther Vandross than Luther Vandross did himself, sang Motown to perfection, and for fun, also did a great impression of Tom Jones!!One specific thing I can remember is that as the final number of each show, he would sing a 15 minute medly from the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. I kid you not, I often saw both Women AND Men reduced to tears of emotion with his performance. Off stage, Sam was a very quite Man, polite, modest, and a true Gentleman. Each Sunday lunchtime, at his own expense, he would host a BBQ for our band, and many of the staff, insisting on cooking everything himself, and not even allowing anyone to help wash up afterwards, and with his background in martial arts, when Sam insisted on something, you did as you were told...he was a big bugger too!!!For some reason, I sat here the other day, and looked Sam up on youtube. I found one single video of him. It turns out he performed on a UK TV show called 'Stars in their eyes' in 1991, two years after I had been working with him. The show is where people who look / sound like well known singers perform as that person, and Sam performed as Tom Jones. Watching it brought back a lot of fond memories:)Then I started to read the user comments below the video and learnt that sadly, last month, December 2008, Sam passed away from cancer at the age of 56. Such a young age, and totally unfair considering he never smoked or drank in his life, plus he was a fitness fanatic. Also, a lot of talent was lost too.As a result of those user comments, and doing a bit of research on google however, something really great came out of that day. I am now in touch with the band members who I worked with 20 years ago, the oldest one now being 60 years old!!Normally I would post the video directly here, but instead, for this one, I will post the link because it's nice to see the tributes and comments below the video from people who knew him.If you watch the video, I would like to say that it does NOT do him justice, as someone else has mentioned there. I am going to try and get one of his CD's which will take time, but when I do will post a couple of songs and then you will hear the true beauty and power of his voice.R.I.P Sam, those 6 months working with you were really teriffic!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULPp2hoZL00Thanks for reading:)
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