This 77-year-old sugar magnate is the face and voice of the holiday season in the Philippines. Just don’t call him 'Mr. Christmas'
But it wasn’t until 1990 that Chan would record the song for which he has ultimately become most famous. He wrote it as a duet, and originally, he says, he had wanted—who at the early stages of her illustrious career was already an award-winning Filipino actress and singer—to perform it with him. When label contracts prevented them from working together, however, another singer was lined up. But then that replacement developed a hoarse voice before getting to the studio.
, featuring Salonga, on their latest holiday album, a collaboration that Chan says brings the hit “full circle” to its origin story.Today, Chan, now 77, takes his massive seasonal popularity in stride. He’s aware of the memes, and when people of all ages ask for selfies with him on the street, he’s happy to oblige. “I don’t have the heart to say no,” he tells TIME. “I don’t want to appear arrogant.
One thing Chan is not so comfortable with is the nickname he’s been given: “Mr. Christmas.” As a devout Catholic—which is not unusual in the Philippines, whereof the population shares the same faith—he says he’d prefer for the holiday spotlight to remain focused on God. “This season may we never forget the love we have for Jesus” is even a refrain of his most popular song. If you must, Chan insists, you can instead refer to him as the “Little Drummer Boy.
Chan credits divine intervention for his musical success—he’s received multiple lifetime achievement industry awards—particularly when it comes to “Christmas in Our Hearts.” He recalls a producer lamenting at the time of recording that it “sounded too much like a Christian song” to become a mainstream chart-topper. But that didn’t concern Chan; he tells TIME he has always believed “the hand of the Holy Spirit was on the song from the very start.
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