Pablo, the leader himself of the unarguable top P-pop band now, SB19, is one of the guests of Dingdong Avanzado in his solo concert “The Original Prince of Pinoy Pop” at The Theater of Solaire on 19 July. 

The show’s producer suggested Pablo to Avanzado to be among the guests, and the Prince of Pop accepted the suggestion immediately. “I am a fan of Pablo,” Avanzado blurted out to the producer.

When the producer reached out to Pablo, the boy band leader told the producer  he’d love to perform with Avanzado because the guy was his (Pablo’s) parents’ favorite singer when Pablo was growing up.  

“Whatever song of Dingdong they listened to, I also got to hear because they played his songs loud and clear so they could sing along with their idol,” the producer (who’s male) quoted Pablo as saying.

Pablo seems unbothered that the concert is titled “Prince of Pop” and that it refers, of course, to Avanzado. The truth is it was Avanzado himself who was initially bothered by the concert’s title, further revealed to the producer in the first intimate media huddle he called for the project. 

Avanzado’s reservations about the title is that people these days may have forgotten that he was once branded “Prince of Pop.”  He also confided that the concert’s title will make some people think he is too old to sing.

But the truth is Avanzado is the youngest looking 56-year-old man, if not also the handsomest (arguable, of course). A fellow showbiz journo, who watched Avanzado’s concerts in the past, confided to us that the singer was “very cute” in his youth “but now he is oh-so- handsome!”

Avanzado has a daughter who is now 21 years old, Jayda, who is also a singer-songwriter like her dad. If father and daughter would play a prank on the un-knowing and pass themselves off as boyfriend-girlfriend, the person would readily believe the joke.

Those who need a proof on how youthful Avanzado is beside his daughter had better watch Prince of Pop concert. Jayda is among the guests. And so is Jayda’s mom, singer Jessa Zaragoza, who is likewise as youthful-looking as her husband.

The family’s youthful looks may not be wholly the work of some doctors and skin treatments and routines. It must mainly be an inside work. They are not a tedious and overbearing family to deal and hang out with.

The couple are contemporaries in the country’s pop arena. We don’t remember having sat down with Zaragoza at the time she was the Phenomenal Diva to Avanzado’s Prince of Pop. We sat down and mingled many times with Avanzado at that time. And even with his family (since one of his aunts, the then Sylvia Veloso, was just a year ahead  of us at Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas). It was only at the bigger media huddle for the concert of the Prince of Pop that we met her for the first time, and very up-close. We were mesmerized by the glow of her light-brown eyes and milk-white skin. She assured us we had met in the 90s and that she remembers me. Oh boy! 

Avanzado’s anxiety about the public possibly having forgotten him is due to the truth that he hasn’t had a major concert in a venue like The Theater at Solaire since the family came back from the US in 2021. They had been going back and forth to the US since the early 2000s, soon after he married Zaragoza and had their only child Jayda in 2003. 

People’s attention to Avanzado’s singing career is distracted by his entering the political arena twice: first as a councilor in QC in 1998, then in 2012 as vice governor of Syquijor, where his father (long separated from Dingdong’s mother) was once a politician, too. 

Politics is in Avanzado’s blood more than music is. He is a grandson of lawyer-politician Fernando Veloso who was a congressman in Samar. Avanzado was named after him. The singer’s full first name is Fernando Cyril. His mother, a lawyer, is a politician in Iloilo known as “Atty.  Carina Flores.” Dingdong seems close to both of his separated parents. (By the way, even his maternal grandmother was a lawyer who was regional court judge for some years.)

Avanzado and Zaragoza did a number of concert tours in the US many of which were announced in their social media, thus, making Pinoys in this country aware that singing was still their profession in America. 

The couple had concerts here and solo ones, too, for each of them. We remember catching Avanzado at the 360 Degrees bar at Newport hotel at World Resorts Manila sometime before the pandemic. We didn’t know he had a gig there as we were there on an invite to watch a group of lesbians who called themselves Lezbois.

A huge crowd turned up to watch Avanzado, including those taking a break from the gaming tables of the hotel’s casino. The swarm of people to the bar (whose stage is at the center, thus allowing a 360° view) meant, no, people have not forgotten the Prince of Pop. 

Avanzado and wife, along with Jayda, went back to the US after his stint as vice governor. They came back to the Philippines  when they realized that their teenage daughter, Jayda, their only child, was quite serious about becoming a music idol like them. 

They signed up Jayda, at 15, with Cornerstone Entertainment in 2017. The company easily got the stunning Jayda into a recording contract with one of the music companies of ABS-CBN. In 2021, Jayda became a Star Magic artist. 

Avanzado will have at least one duet with Pablo, including his single “EDSA.” Pablo’s parents may watch the show to see the idol of their youth perform with their son. 

Randy Santiago is a guest performer, too. They were practically rivals in the 90s, though Santiago started ahead and had the advantage of hosting what was once a close competitor of Eat Bulaga: Lunchdate on GMA 7, which aired until 1993 and was replaced by Salu-Salo Together (SST) which aired until 1995. Santiago was among the main hosts of SST. (By 1996, Eat Bulaga has transferred to GMA7 from ABS-CBN also as a blocktime show.)

In different years, Avanzado and Santiago were both members of Kundirana, La Salle Green Hills high school’s singing group.

In the past few years, they’ve become golf buddies. Avanzado watched Santiago’s Eye-Con concert just last April and Santiago mentioned Avanzado’s presence several times. Playing golf has become Avanzado’s main hobby and he has even organized some tournaments. Daughter Jayda once quipped she thought her dad was giving up his singing career to become a professional golfer in the tournament circuit. 

Prestigious content supplier ABS-CBN is also very much into supplying talents as concert guest performers. For Prince of Pop, it has deployed singing champs Khimo and the duo of JM de la Cerna and Marielle Montellano, along with singer-actor LA Santos. Tickets are available through Ticketworld.

The word “Original” in the concert”s title had to be added to “Prince of Pinoy Pop” because ABS-CBN had given the title “Prince of Pinoy Pop” to their homegrown singer Erik Santos long after Avanzado was branded “Prince of Pop.” Santos’ singing career began only in 2003.