Pop Diva Kuh Ledesma opened up to her audience about her daughter Isabella Gonzalez during her recent concert with Christian Bautista at the Solaire Resort and Casino.
Christian and Kuh serenaded concertgoers with hits from Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, and French composer and arranger Michel Legrand.
At one point during the night, before Kuh and Christian did a heartfelt rendition of “The Prayer” and “Somewhere,” Kuh talked about Isabella's battle with depression.
“Alam ninyo po si Isabella went through a lot of challenges, just a little message for all of you because you have children,” Kuh said, addressing the parents in the audience.
“Well, when my husband and I separated she went through a big depression and we did not understand what was going on.
“But we relied on doctors and they gave her a lot of medicines which made her gain weight also. She didn’t feel very well for many years, many. Until recently, she’s been off her medicines. But now she’s eating healthy and it is what’s helping her.
“But most of all, it was also the Biblical counsel that helped a lot.”
The veteran singer continued, “I’m saying this to you now as an opportunity to share with you because there’s a lot of things are going on with children. There’s a lot of children going to depression and the answer is not medicine.
“Maybe temporarily but there are medicine that are natural, organic, plant-based that’s where you go, for all of us. But most of all, the power is in the prayers.”
Before this, Isabella received a thunderous applause from the audience after Kuh asked her to go onstage and sing "Don't Rain on My Parade," which Barbra sang in the movie Funny Girl.
After the performance, Christian uttered, “Grabe! Grabe! Isa pa! Isa pa!”
Kuh had earlier teased the two, telling Christian she wishes he had ended up with Isabella.
Kuh's daughter complained, "Excuse me, Mom, Katrina’s my friend from school, ha. Loyal friend naman.”
Isabella was referring to Christian's fiancée Kat Ramnani, who was in the audience that night.
“Oo naman,” Kuh conceded.
For his part, Christian was obviously very inspired during the concert as he rendered his own versions of Josh Groban's hits.
Admittedly, Christian referred to his fiancée Kat Ramnani as the reason why he sings more meaningfully now.
The concert, which opened with Kuh singing Barbra Streisand’s "The Main Event," was a night filled with romantic songs.
Kuh then sang the award-winning theme song “Evergreen” from Barbra’s movie A Star is Born, followed by another theme song from Barbra’s movie Yentl.
Kuh sang her favorite Legrand song, “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” the theme for the 1969 film The Happy Ending.
For the last song on her first set, she did “Finally Found Someone,” which she recorded ten years ago and revived later on.
Meanwhile, Christian’s first set of songs included “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban, “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” and “Send in the Clowns,” which was a touching rendition that made the audience melancholic.
Kuh then re-entered to do a duet with Christian. They performed “Broken Vow” with “Kahit Isang Saglit” as counterpoint.
After their duet, Christian left the stage and Kuh started on her second set of songs. She sang “Cry Me A River,” followed by the dramatic “Someone That I Used to Love.”
Her next songs were “Windmills of Your Mind” and “Memories,” a very popular composition from the Broadway musical Cats.
Acoording to Kuh, when Barbra sang "Memories," it became one of Barbra's definitive and signature songs.
Kuh also said Barbra inspires her.
After this, she and Christian sang a duet of “How Do You Keep the Music Playing.”
When Kuh exited the stage, Christian sang “The Way We Were.”
Christian, who became known for having a similar singing style as Josh Groban's, sang "You’re Still You" and "To Where You Are."
When Kuh returned onstage, she openly talked about her admiration for Christian.
“Ang galing-galing mo talaga, pang-contest. Ako kasi ayaw ko ng contest. Nakaka-tense,” Kuh admitted.
“Well, it’s good to be able to work again with Christian and it’s wonderful to discover once again, rediscover the songs of Barbra Streisand, Groban, and Legrand.
“And, there are many young people, this generation you know, that we have na hindi nila alam ang mga awiting ‘to.
“But it’s good to be able to you know, sing them again and hopefully it will inspired you to stay romantic, to stay loving and to stay needing each other.”
