Billy Crawford hopes to win back France

HE WILL miss girlfriend Nikki Gil, right, most of all, says Billy Crawford.

“No matter what happens to me abroad, I will always have a place to come home to here,” said Billy Crawford, who recently signed a two-year contract with ABS-CBN. The singer-TV host flew to France last week to record and promote an album.

“It’s a blessing,” he said of the deal he inked with the Kapamilya network. “My bosses didn’t stop me from pursuing my dream—they actually supported me.”

Two months

Billy will remain as a host of the talent programs “It’s Showtime!” and “Pilipinas Got Talent,” and a regular performer on the variety show “ASAP ’12.”

The Fil-Am singer will be away for two months. Billy lived in France for almost six years before working for ABS-CBN. He is expected to do concerts in Paris and on the island of La Réunion, off the coast of southeast Africa.

Nervous, excited

“I’m nervous but excited at the same time,” he said. “I hope my fans in France know that I’m coming.”

He will miss work and his daily routine in the Philippines, he said. “I will miss the food, especially rice. One good thing about this is, I will lose weight faster. I want to get the old Billy back, because he was much healthier.”

He will miss his girlfriend Nikki Gil, of course, Billy confessed: “It will be difficult not to see her for such a long time.” The two met and fell in love in 2008 while working on season 2 of the talent search program “Pinoy Dream Academy.”

Billy said he first planned to leave in January but postponed the trip due to previous show-biz commitments.

Like Charice

He added that he hopes to make a name for himself and for the country in Europe, just as Charice did in the United States. “Pray for me,” he said. “When I come back, I will definitely have something new to offer.”

Billy was 15 when he recorded his self-titled first album in 1999. In 2001, he finished another album, “Ride,” which was released in France. Its carrier single, “Trackin’,” put Billy at the top of the French charts. The song also went No. 1 in The Netherlands and No. 2 in Belgium. His two other albums, “Big City” (2004) and “It’s Time (2004), were both released in France and Asia.