Jaya concert pays tribute to Elizabeth Ramsey, a single mom

Jaya

“I am proud I was raised by a single mother.”

Thus said singer Jaya, one of the many show biz personalities who voiced displeasure over the insulting comment made by Sen. Tito Sotto toward Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo (a solo parent) during the latter’s recent confirmation hearing. In street parlance, Sotto said, women who had children but are single, were referred to as “na-ano lang.”

For Jaya, daughter of the late “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Elizabeth Ramsey, the senator’s remark was “uncalled for and unnecessary.”

“Some single mothers are single mothers because their husbands cheated on them and are womanizers … because their partners passed away. To call them ‘na-ano lang’ is painful,” she told reporters at a recent press conference for her concert tonight, “No Boundaries.”

The 27-year-old recording artist, dubbed as the Philippines’ “Queen of Soul,” related that she witnessed firsthand the immense and difficult responsibility of being a single parent.

“It was not easy for my mother. But thankfully, she had the balls to take care of us despite not having a lot. And by using her talents, she managed to provide for us and other people,” she related. “I salute all the single mothers out there. You are strong and unafraid. We, children, should continue to appreciate, love and honor them.”

In her concert at the Music Museum tonight—two days before Mother’s Day—Jaya will pay tribute to Elizabeth, who died in her sleep two years ago. If her mother were still alive today, there would be no doubt, Jaya said, that she would have insisted that she be a special guest in the show. And there would be no way they would not be singing “Proud Mary.”

“I miss her. I miss our tandem onstage. I miss shushing her for making too much noise backstage and getting her blood pressure up in the process. I miss how she would ask me to introduce her onstage as if she was a boxer or a wrestler about to enter the ring,” Jaya recalled.

Mounted by Aqueous Entertainment, “No Boundaries” (call 470-2222) is Jaya’s first solo concert in three years, and will feature a setlist composed of new songs, as well as her signature hits, like “Dahil Tanging Ikaw,” “Laging Naroon Ka” and “Wala Na Bang Pag-Ibig.”