Iconic balladeer Jose Mari Chan
MANILA, Philippines — Jose Mari Chan was featured in international publication Time Magazine, which described him the face and voice of holiday season in the Philippines.
Time said that Filipinos are excited annually for September 1 to post memes of Chan as a means of announcing the holiday season.
The publication also compared Chan to Mariah Carey.
“Chan’s carols that have, over the past few decades, become ubiquitous throughout the final four months of every year in malls, restaurants, karaoke bars, and radio broadcasts across the archipelagic Southeast Asian nation of 110 million people,” it said.
Time also discussed Chan being a “first a businessman, and second a singer-songwriter.”
It then said that Chan’s musical career rose to fame in the ’90s after he wrote “Christmas In Our Hearts.”
Advertising
Scroll to continue
Chan told Time why he allowed people to take selfies with him.
“I don’t have the heart to say no,” he told Time. “I don’t want to appear arrogant.”
Despite being “the face and voice of Christmas” in the country, Chan said he’s not primarily interested in profit for his songs.
RELATED: OPM icons team up for ‘YuleStars: A Christmas Concert Series’
