On fame, fatherhood & gratitude: Martin Nievera, offstage
"Concert King” Martin Nievera celebrates his new orbit around the sun by revealing his own sun, the source of his light and energy: his sons Robin, Ram, and Santino.
When I asked his wish during his birthday last week, he simply said: “To live long enough to see my children’s wishes come true.”
Robin and Ram are his children by his former wife Pops Fernandez (their marriage has been annulled and he calls her “the mother of my heroes”); and Santino by Katrina Ojeda. Martin is now happily in a relationship with a non-showbiz lady, Anj. Martin has a twin Vicki, who was born six minutes ahead of him.
But the lady who has loved him the longest is his mother, Conchita Razon—still sharp and sprightly in her nineties.
“My birthday wish and prayer is for him to continue doing what he loves to do—to sing and make people happy; and to always be grateful that God blesses him profusely so that he can be a blessing to so many others,” Tita Conchita told me.
“I’m most grateful that both Mom and Dad (the late balladeer Bert Nievera) were so different. Dad was for the career. Mom was against it. Dad would go to my singing contests where I would win and lose. Mom would stay home and do the laundry. But because of Mom’s stand of not being all for it, at least I had a backup plan. Stay in school. The balance made me this person that I am now. I didn’t lose my identity. And my luck was the fact that when I was doing what I was doing in 1982 until the ‘90s, not too many were doing it,” recalls Martin, who is among PeopleAsia magazine’s “People of the Year” awardees this year.
“I still remember where I came from. I’m happy with who I am now. I’m not insecure with the new singers. I try to stay as humble as I can—unlike when I started in showbiz, I was everything but humble. I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread,” Martin told me in a recent interview.
Martin says the humbling moment came “when other singers were born and then the phone was not ringing as much.”
Then one day, silence.
“It didn’t ring at all during the separation with Pops. So even my lifestyle had to be approved of for my career to go on, which I think is so wrong. But in show business, especially back then, your lifestyle had to be approved by the audience. Nowadays, they don’t care.”
The truth set him free, so to speak.
“So I came out, told my story. I’m here because I love my songs, I love my job, I love my family. I failed in a certain area of my life, but don’t you also?” he told his fans. “I’m just like you, but this is my job.”
His fans appreciated his authenticity. “Or if not appreciate, at least they learned from it.”
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His two grown-up sons are veering away from the spotlight trained on their famous parents.
“My boys have been trying so hard, especially Robin and Ram, to not be like me. Literally. Or like their mother. They try and shy away from any identification without admitting it. Robin is a singer, a very gifted songwriter. But he doesn’t want to latch on to Martin, the ‘Concert King.’ He wants to make it on his own name, which is really admirable of him. Ram, on the other hand, doesn’t want to be like his brother. So, he’s chosen animation, all in the arts, all with certain hidden talents that are slowly coming out.”
Santino, 19, is a special child and Martin sat him down for a heart-to-heart talk just late last year because he (Santino) was “having issues.”
“I told him straight that, you know, some moms and dads live together. Some moms and dads don’t.
“I work in the Philippines. Mommy works here. But we love you. Your brothers are the same. ‘Who’s Robin and Ram’s mom?’ And he says, ‘Tita Pops!’ And then I said, ‘Who’s Robin and Ram’s dad?’ ‘You’re Robin and Ram’s dad,’ he said. ‘Who’s Robin and Ram’s brother?’ ‘I’m Robin and Ram’s brother!’ he exclaimed.”
Martin told Santino he and Tita Pops live in different houses, too. “Now, this is something you don’t want to say to any child. Special or not. In the spectrum, or not. But I felt at 19 years old, he needed to be talked to like a man. And he took it very well.”
He and Anj are not talking of marriage just yet—they have a “daughter” of their own, he says, a pug named “Marley.” Anj has two children from a previous relationship, and Martin considers them his own, too.
“So we have a family. Yeah. I’m not saying that it (marriage) won’t happen, but I’m just saying that it’s not happened because we’re in no rush.”
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For now, he is giving his all to his career and his fans. As his mother says, he has made many people happy by simply doing what he loves doing—performing.
“Even to this day, after 43 plus years, it’s this feeling of self-satisfaction that I am still really living proof that dreams do come true. I’m the friendliest at the end of a show. I demand for a meet and greet. I’m just so grateful—for everything, just being up, being able to survive that day. As the years pass, I become more and more sensitive to how hard it is for the people to get to my show, what it took to buy that ticket, their dedication to fill up those seats. It becomes more and more important to me. So, now, the last part of my career, however many more I have on earth or in this industry, it’s my mission now to give back. So in every show that I have, I always want there to be a moment where we can actually have a meet and greet, because that’s the one thing I’m going to remember, when I’m six feet under—the people who brought me to this stage.”
Bravo, Martin.
