This is a long one! This clip is courtesy of YouTube! The long-time Chayanne fan Valle Martin uploaded this amazing interview. So as I like to say, sit back, relax and enjoy some Chayanne.
~Peace
Interviewer: Welcome to The Club, Chayanne.
Chayanne: Thank you very much, Alberto.
Interviewer: How are you?
Chayanne: I'm fine, Super great. Working a lot, traveling
with the tour. We just arrived from touring the United States, beautiful. We
were in Canada, and the people...
Interviewer: And when did you arrive in Barcelona?
Chayanne: I arrived this morning, and since then...
Interviewer: And you don't even know where you are yet,
right?
Chayanne: I'm with you! (laughing) I know I'm with you and
I'm in a city that I have always liked, which is Barcelona. We have always
received much love when we have come here on tour, and it's been a little while
since we've done any shows here.
Interviewer: But let's see, Chayanne, you travel all over
the world and are touring all over the world.
Chayanne: Yes.
Interviewer: Does it get to the point that you don't even know
where you are anymore?
Chayanne: It gets to the point...
Interviewer: That you can't even be sure what city it is?
Chayanne: No, no. The city I know. Definitely, the city that
I am arriving in, I know. What may happen to me is “What day is it?” “What is
it?” You know, “What time is it?”
(laughs)
Interviewer: Of course, because is it the time here, or the
time there...?
Chayanne: I said “Good Morning” to the receptionist when I
got here, and she said “Good Afternoon” (laughs) and I said, “Yes, you're
right, Good afternoon” Because also... umm...
Interviewer: For example, when you come to Barcelona to do a
show, and you arrive this morning, and tomorrow night is the concert...
Chayanne: Correct.
Interviewer: Between this morning and tomorrow night, what?
Can you go out in public? You don't do much sightseeing, right?
Chayanne: You know, sometimes you arrive in the morning, do
the sound check, and that night you have the show and you go to the next city
that same night after the show, so that you can get there in the morning and
try to get everything done and do the next show. But when you have a little
time, I'm not one to go out much to buy anything...
Interviewer: So then what? You stay in the hotel room or
what?
Chayanne: Yes, usually, umm..., I stay in the hotel room and
try to rest. Or if not, what I always enjoy is going to dinner or out to eat
with friends... and that's why I say that I enjoy the cuisine of the country
and I go and eat, I don't know, in Spain, centillo,
aperceves, and I try to eat well, you
understand... all that.
Interviewer: Yeah, and if you weren't married , Chayanne,
you could have a love in every port...
Chayanne: (makes hand gesture, laughs) Ummm......
Interviewer: No?
Chayanne: Look, what can I say.... There are so many
beautiful things in life...! (laughing)
Interviewer: But are you naughty or have you been faithful?
Chayanne: I am faithful.
(pauses, laughs)
Interviewer: Now they are all disappointed, have you noticed
the disappointment?
Chayanne: Silence
Interviewer: Silence, a silence. Yes... and always that
smile. When was the last time that you cried, Chayanne?
Chayanne: Well, the last time that I cried was for my mama's
illness, my mom, my mother, which caught us by surprise and was like... as if
you walked into an invisible wall... like one of those things that you don't
expect, and then suddenly – a bucket of cold water. That was the cancer and now
it's been a couple of years... and you also run into some situations where you
know something, but you learn more as you go along and with time, you run into
that...
Interviewer: Is she your number 1 fan?
Chayanne: My mom, yes. Ever since... she said ever since she
gave birth... ever since she delivered me. (laughs) but she's a delight!
Interviewer: It's... at what age did you start? Tell the
people now how Chayanne started.
Chayanne: Look, I started with music at 5 years old, as an
act for the theater at school. My mother
was a teacher and she was my first teacher, which was an incredible
headache, because I had to behave DOUBLE well.
Interviewer: Of course.
Chayanne: To be an example, and also because you are the
teacher's... because you are my kid.
Interviewer: And that's why you turned out so well mannered.
Chayanne: That's how it turns out, but I did the theater at
school... one of those events that they do where you sing or you recite
something... and then after that, I started at 10 years of age when I recorded
my first disc for a group of boys that they formed with boys between 10 and 12
years of age. There were 4 of us in the group, the band of that era, and then I
made my first movie when I was 12.
Interviewer: Would you recommend starting at that age?
Chayanne: You know, what happens is... it's ok, it was a
game. It's not that I recommend starting at that age. Obviously you start early
and then it is part of your life and you grow up in it, and you develop a lot
of things and you have experience and you learn a lot, but...
Interviewer: And you had to leave school...
Chayanne: I had a tutor. The tutor accompanied me to
Guatemala, to Costa Rica, or wherever I went, and I studied in the room, a then
I would go and take the tests at the public school. In Puerto Rico, we would
get back and take the tests and from there the music grew little by little, and
the acting as well, although the acting is more in the shadows, because I
dedicate more time to the music, and that was how...
Interviewer: But
Chayanne you were also an actor in telenovelas.
Chayanne: Yes, I did
a lot of... soap operas you call them? I did a lot of telenovelas.
Interviewer: And what did you say? Do you remember any
phrase in one of the soap operas... the first that comes to your head.
Chayanne: Wow!
Interviewer: Or the line that you most enjoyed saying. That
you think 'how great that I got to say that' now...
Chayanne: (Thinking) You really caught me out on that....
I've has a LOT of lines... Ummm... “Chocolate is dying.” (laughs) Chocolate was the name of a horse.
Oh, what a save...
Interviewer: You had horses and did you have your shirt off
or what?
Chayanne: When I was 12 years old, one of the scenes of the
TV program that we did that was on every Saturday was of me on a horse
bareback, with the horse rearing up on two feet.
Interviewer: And you bareback...
Chayanne: You see? Bareback because at home my uncle has
cattle and horses and all that, and I don't know, it was easy.
Interviewer: You come from Puerto Rico, and I said you don't
even know what day it is, Monday, Tuesday, you don't know anything. This
Thursday? Do you know anything about this Thursday?
Chayanne: This
Thursday... I had a friend backstage who said to me “What are you going to do
this Thursday?” and it scared me, I said this Thursday I'm supposed to not have
anything to do because it's my birthday.
(laughs)
Interviewer: How old?
Chayanne: I'm turning 18 now.
Interviewer: Yeah...
Chayanne: No, I'm turning how old? 31 or 32 years...
Interviewer: 39 years
Chayanne: Yes, I'm turning 39 years and good and happy ones,
I'd say.
Interviewer: Of course. You are heading for... Chayanne, you
base part of your success on the way that you dance and you move, no? That is
something that I suppose the younger you are the better you will dance and look
physically, besides how you sing. Do you believe that that you are fighting
against the passage of time as well, or to you feel that it will be more
difficult each year that passes, all of this music, for you?
Chayanne: No, I don't believe that the music, each year that
passes, is going... umm... more things are being discovered. I always in my
career have combined dancing, singing and acting, and it has been a combination
of all of those things that has brought me to where I am today. But it is
incredible... but I have many romantic songs that are what has success on the
radio, and maybe the uptempo songs... because of the movement on the stage,
because of the dances, the choreography, and the lights and everything, that is
why people enjoy that in the show.
Interviewer: Here you
have more success with a song like Torero
or Salomé more of Chayanne than
with your ballads, is that possible, or no?
Chayanne: Yes, in the past, you could say that. What we were
promoting more than anything, and especially we were touring in the summer, the
uptempo songs were the one that were promoted. And now, the songs like Lo Dejaría Todo that started out with
their first steps here in the romantic part... or right now Si Nos Quedara Poco Tiempo, which is the
one that they have been promoting... it's like 50% of the other style, you
know? But the fast music did have a lot of success here with Torero.
Interviewer: (in Catalan announcing a commercial break) ----
---- Here I have your disc Mi Tiempo, and also that tour will begin
in August in Spain and end in September in Barcelona. They say that these shows
are wonderful. What about the legend that says you lose a kilo and a half
(about 3 lbs) in each show? Is it true? I don't know how many shows you do a
year, but you will end up...
Chayanne: Yeah, it's usually liquid, water because of moving
around so much. It's like a pound and a half more or less, and then I gain them
back, because...
Interviewer: One pound is half a kilo, not a kilo and a half
like I said. You take care of yourself almost like an athlete, no?
Chayanne: Yes. Because of... the choreography and the tour
and the traveling you know, check it
out, right now we arrived from Canada, and we were a good amount of hours
traveling, we went through Paris and then arrived here. You have to try to rest
and eat well and I try to take care of myself.
Interviewer: How do you take care of yourself, for example?
Chayanne: Well, I try to stretch so that my muscles will be
relaxed and well, so that they will have more endurance, because in a show you
can pull a muscle, so in part that is like an athlete...
Interviewer: Has that happened to you?
Chayanne: ...I go to the gym. Yes... oh, not in a show,
luckily.
Interviewer: No, in the show, in the show.
Chayanne: No, because you can feel it especially in the leg
muscles, and so you just tough it out, and what else are you going to do, it's
your body...
Interviewer: What is the worst thing that has happened to you
on stage? The worst during a show?
Chayanne: The worst that happened to me on stage was when
the audience thought that I was doing a David Copperfield act, because I
disappeared.
Interviewer: Really?
Chayanne: The wood collapsed and I went in up to my elbows.
Yes, it was during a dance...
Interviewer: So you disappeared down underneath.
Chayanne: Yes, because the wood caved in and I fell through
up to my elbows, but I got out immediately, and when I got back to the hotel
the wood had scraped my legs all the way up. I had marks from the wood on my
legs, but the show continued. The show must go on! Like they say, the show
continues.
Interviewer: Yes, always. You have a reputation for being a
very hard worker, Chayanne. Besides having talent or not, but you are said to
work a lot.
Chayanne: Thank you. Yes, I work hard. I have all of my
life. I have worked like the ants, you know? Little by little trying to make a
difference and doing things the best that I can at the moment that I am in,
always following my instinct, and common sense... that is what has marked my
career.
Interviewer: Between you and me, how does your wife handle
you being such an idol? Don't laugh, ladies.
Chayanne: Notice that they laugh, because *I've* never said
that... ( laughs)
Interviewer: But it is a lot of time away, a lot of people,
a lot of fans...
Chayanne: Yes. It has to be difficult, but since I started
so young with my career, she met me when I was already established in it, and
that is what has made the difference. But she takes it very well, she is very
happy for my success. And it is hard, because the absence is difficult, too.
But the communication now with so many things, telephone, Blackberry, e-mail,
on screen, and we're still going.
Interviewer: You have 2 children, I think?
Chayanne: They're beautiful.
Interviewer: Are they on their way to becoming little Chayannes,
or not?
Chayanne: My son likes music, but it's not like I am putting
them on that path either, to make them sing or anything like that. I give them
lots of opportunities for sports, all different kinds of sports, which is what
was done for me, and I try to be with them whenever I have time, but I give
them many alternatives. After they decide what they want to do, I will be there
to support them in whatever they decide for their lives.
Interviewer: If you weren't Chayanne, what singer would you like
to be?
Chayanne: I like... I like Bruce Springsteen. I like Sting.
I like Phil Collins.
Interviewer: But that's not the same thing, eh? What you
like, Who would you like to *be*?
Chayanne: Bruce Springsteen. I like his strength... the
truth that comes across when he sings on stage, like Born in The USA. I feel
that it is true, so...
Interviewer: How do you handle as well living with the fact
that since you were young everyone tells you you're handsome, you're handsome,
you're handsome, you're handsome, you're handsome, you're handsome. When they
tell you that so many times, what effect does that have on a person?
Chayanne: You know, I don't... it's not that I don't believe
them, it's that I don't think of it like that. Umm... what I feel that I am is
Latin, you know, that's it...
Interviewer: What does that mean, that you are Latin?
Chayanne: Latin because I feel like perhaps, the way I see
it, what they call handsome, if they say that and I hear it, is that I try to
look at the positive side of things, they see me happy, and I have my good
moments, and times that I get up on the wrong side of the bed, but I don't
think about that. I don't think about that and I feel just as normal as any
other guy.
Interviewer: I don't know how many songs you've recorded?
More than 200 probably, 20 albums.
Chayanne: 20 albums, and some songs that have been done for
different foundations and in other languages as well, but...
Interviewer: A significant percentage of those songs
dedicated to love, talking of love and couples, and I don't know what else.
That's right, isn't it?
Chayanne: Yes
Interviewer: There is a reason for that, isn't there? Why?
Chayanne: There is a reason. Because things in life repeat
themselves.
Interviewer: Is it because that is what sells, or what?
Chayanne: No, it's because I like it. Because I believe in
love. Because I believe in couples. Because there are hard times and sweet
times, and for example, right now the song that I have from Mi Tiempo from the new album that we are
promoting, Que Si Nos Quedara Poco Tiempo
talks about not letting love become a routine, so I like it. I like the lyrics,
they seem simple, but they have so much truth. With communication, a cup of
coffee, an invitation to take a walk, it doesn't have to be anything out of
this world.
Interviewer: But the lyrics of the song continue, will you
not remember them? It won't happen like with the telenovelas, will it?
Chayanne: Yes, yes I remember. I have sung so many shows,
well, and if I forget some word, believe me I will compose a new word right
then! Of course the audience helps me a lot, but I do compose new lyrics in a
show when I forget some words. That does happen.
Interviewer: They just keep going.
Chayanne: Yes, yes, it has to keep going.
Interviewer: Well, if you don't remember a line, the
audience will fill it in, there is no problem with lapses like that. Chayanne,
Thank you very much, really, for having come, but you're not going to get away
so easily, eh?
Chayanne: Oh, no?
Interviewer: You remember the last time that you were here,
and you left on the motorcycle...
Chayanne: What?! I was here, seeing you be so calm, and I
thought everything was going perfectly...
Interviewer: No, well... I'm calm, it's not my fault, it is
Cris's fault.
Chayanne: The producer?
Interviewer: No, it is Cris's fault. I'll send you over to
her now.
Chayanne: Oh yes.
Interviewer: Come on, I want to see what they have prepared for you.
Chayanne: Whoa! I need help!
Cris: Where do you want to start?
Chayanne: With this team! (the audience) I don't know.
Cris: Look, I've made it easy for you, because the needle is
already ready.
Chayanne: The time will be up by the time I thread the
needle.
Cris: No, the needle is already threaded. And it is pink.
Everything matches... the button is pink as well. There goes the timer, you
have 30 seconds to sew that on here.
Chayanne (tries to sew button onto shirt in 30 seconds...
unsuccessfully)
Cris: Which one should be next?
Chayanne: You have made this hard, eh?
Cris: 30 seconds! (to peel an apple with a paring knife)
(Other challenges, including opening a new CD, which he does
with ease and shows Cris how; opening a new bottle of wine... the video cuts
into the clips)
Interviewer: Lets remind everyone of the album. September 8th. How many people travel with you for the tour.
Chayanne: There are 46 that travel with me for the tour, but
then in each country when we arrive there is another team that joins with us to
put on the show. We hope that everything goes well in Spain, because we know
that there are a lot of expectations, and that is why we come.
For those who didn't pick up on it the first time through... this interview is from 2007... but I love to hear from him anytime! ♥
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