Lani Misalucha will never do a Mariah Carey song

Ever heard Lani Misalucha sing Mariah Carey? You’re right if you answered no. That’s because Asia’s Nightingale doesn’t want to sing any of her songs to begin with. Make Lani sing Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and most especially, her idol Barbra Streisand—but not Mariah.

“Nadinig niyo na ba ko kumanta ng Mariah Carey song? Hindi. Kasi ayoko siyang kantahin,” she told Yahoo Philippines after a corporate show where SMDC treated over a thousand sellers and potential buyers to a date night with the diva.

“Feeling ko parang gusto niya lang siya lang yung kakanta ng song niya,” she said in jest.

Did you just smell diva rivalry? If you look at the vocal range of super-divas here and abroad, the theory can be true. In the diva meter, the Las Vegas-based Filipina singer has 4-octave vocal range, while Mariah can reach 5 (though conflicting reports say she holds a Guinness record for reaching up to 8). Both divas have their signature whistle register, too (please refer to Lani’s “Loving You” version).

Earlier reports say that the two almost had their face-off when Mariah held a concert in Manila back in 2003. They were scheduled to perform “When You Believe,” which paired her with Whitney. The concert pushed through, but the duet didn’t.

Dream final performance

Enough of the diva face-off theory. Asia’s Nightingale sounded like a total fan girl when asked what her ideal finale performance is.

“When I’m performing and I see Barbra Streisand in the audience,” she said, looking giddy. “It’s a dream.”

Judging from how she wowed hundreds during the SMDC night—barely resting from a problematic trip to Manila (she was stuck in the Los Angeles airport for 17 hours to get to the mini-concert)—Lani is such a pleaser, whether she’s performing for an audience of one or 100,000.

The 44-year-old singer says pleasing her audience – especially Filipinos — is always difficult. Filipinos, she explains, are usually a “tough audience.”

“Usually ‘yung mga nag-aattend sa shows ko, sometimes from 10 years old to 100 years old. Paano ko mapi-please ‘yun?”

Lani sings both for herself and the audience.

“I just wanna make sure that I’ve given the joy to my audience each time I perform,” she said. “To actually give them entertainment, make them happy, laugh, cry with really beautiful songs.”

Las Vegas patrons have spoken. The entertainment capital, where the biggest shows are held, chose Lani “Best Singer” in 2008. The 27th Annual Best of Las Vegas staff picked her in a survey where 8,000 people responded (Celine Dion was the readers’ pick).

‘Sexy lola’

Lani responds to many names. But you might as well call her the singing sexy lola. Her daughter Louven gave birth last January to her first grandchild —  a boy named Joey, who is giving the first-time grandma a different glow.

“Wala na kong nagagawa sa bahay kapag nandun siya!” she exclaimed, while showing photos of their bundle of joy on her phone.

The singer doesn’t mind the “sexy lola” tag. She actually commanded the audience to call her as such.

Her age may be advancing, but Lani is far from giving up the limelight.

She still performs in the Philippines and in the U.S., as if Las Vegas and Manila are as close as Makati and Quezon City. After her brief Date Night in Manila and a performance in “The Voice Kids” finale, Lani flew to  Australia, where she is now doing a series of shows.

She returns to the Philippines next month to continue her Date Night Series  (Aug 15 in Batangas, Aug 22 in Cebu, Aug 23 in Davao and Aug 30 in Baguio).