The Philippines’ ‘Pop Star Princess’ Sarah Geronimo is celebrating 15 years in show business with a series of international concerts, including a much-awaited stopover in Dubai. The 30-year-old artist’s rise to stardom has been one of the most keenly followed in the Philippine entertainment scene, starting from her foray into singing competitions and reality shows in the early years of the previous decade.
The singer-actress will be performing in Dubai on September 20 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium as part of the Middle East leg of her This 15 Me tour.
Ahead of her show, here are six things you should know about her and the show:
1. Geronimo will be joined by actor Xian Lim, singer Mark Bautista and the G-Force dancers in Dubai. She last performed in the UAE in 2014 in Abu Dhabi in what served as a finale to a 10-year anniversary concert tour. On her return to Dubai, Geronimo is expected to belt out songs from her latest album, also titled This 15 Me, which features songs like Sandata, Ganito and Baka Sakali.
2. This 15 Me, her 13th studio album, debuted at number one on both iTunes Philippines and Macau Album Charts and also landed on international iTunes charts including the US, Canada and Singapore.
3 After her Dubai show, Geronimo will represent the Philippines in a music festival in Japan that will gather top artists from Southeast Asia and Japan in October at the NHK Hall Tokyo.
4. Born Sarah Asher Tuazon Geronimo on July 25, 1988, in Quezon City, Geronimo actually started her showbiz career at a very early age. She was only three when she took part in a popular children’s show, Pen pen de Sarapen, until 1994. She also performed in other popular shows such as For Kids Only, Hiraya Manawari, Ang TV (from 1995 to 1996), and Next (from 1996 to 1997). She was chosen to sing during the visit of the late Pope John Paul II to the Philippines in 1995. Acknowledging her signing talent, her father enrolled her at the Centre for Pop Music Philippines when she was eight, her first formal music and voice lessons. But Geronimo’s star began to shine at age 14 when she won the Star for a Night singing contest in 2003, which earned her a 10-year recording contract with Viva Records and resulted in her debut album Pop star: A Dream Come True in September that year. The album went seven times platinum and from then on her singing career kept soaring as she won numerous local and international awards along the way.
5. Geronimo, who is now one of the coaches of The Voice of The Philippines and The Voice Kids Philippines, has also made successful collaborations with other leading international artists, including one with Howie Dorough of the famed Backstreet Boys for the song I’ll Be Here For You, which is the lead single on her album Just Me. In 2014, Geronimo was also picked by Disney to do an adaptation of the theme song of its Disney Princess franchise.
6. Apart from being a successful music artist, Geronimo is also a box-officer star, having scored several chart-topping romcom films with on-screen partner John Lloyd Cruz.
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Fun facts about Sarah Geronimo
— Sarah loves shoes and perfumes. “I’m really a shoe person,” she told Gulf News tabloid! in an earlier interview. “I can’t count the number of shoes I have.”
— She says she feels most attractive when she’s in a dress.
— Her best asset? “I think my smile.”
— Filipino showbiz personalities she finds sexy? Piolo Pascual.
— Her favourite place in Dubai: “The shopping malls!”
— She describes herself as shy, sensitive and jolly.
— She bites her lips, which she considers a bad habit.
— She loves to read books.
— What does she do before a concert? “Pray.”
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The details
What: Sarah Geronimo: This I5 Me Live in Dubai
When: September 20
Where: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium
Doors open: 6pm
Tickets: Starting at Dh150 and available online
