Bert Nievera
Roberto Jose Dela Cruz Nievera (/njɛˈvɛərə/; October 17, 1936 – March 27, 2018) was a Filipino-American singer and businessman.
He rose to prominence in 1959 after winning the "Search for Johnny Mathis of the Philippines", a singing contest on the television variety show Student Canteen.
[2][3][4] His father, a doctor who worked for the transportation company Benguet Auto Line, was from the province of Ilocos Sur; his mother was from Bulacan.
[3][4][5] As an elementary student at St. Louis School, Nievera wanted to become a priest; he also imagined himself becoming a doctor like his father.
[3][5] He eventually opted to study foreign service at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he became a member of the UP Dramatic Club.
[5] Nievera joined the "Search for Johnny Mathis of the Philippines" on the television variety show Student Canteen in 1959.
"[5] Two of Nievera's contemporaries, Eddie Mesa and Diomedes Maturan, were also dubbed the Filipino counterparts of foreign acts Elvis Presley and Perry Como, respectively.
[5][8]: 9 [9] Nievera belonged in the original lineup of the Society of Seven (SOS), a Hawaii-based musical group of Filipino Americans formed in 1969.
[12] Frannie Kirk, who previously managed the SOS and Nievera, said in 2018: "He was bleeding in the lips by the time he learned how to play it.
[12] Nievera and his family resided on the fifteenth floor of the Outrigger;[6] his wife had separated with her first husband in the Philippines and fled with the twins to Hawaii when they were three years old.
[6] Nievera inspired his son Martin to become a singer himself, who told in 2018 that he "would watch [his father] perform downstairs with the Society of Seven, and every night I would dream and imagine myself as one of the members of that group, singing for audiences both big and small.
[15][16][17] He toured with his group in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major cities in the West Coast of the United States.
[12] SOS manager Frannie Kirk recalled in 2018, "He was doing 'Misty', with eyes shut, and the real Johnny Mathis heard this voice and came to see where it was coming from.
[6] While working at a restaurant with his son Martin, he also taught him "The Greatest Love of All", showing him "how and when to belt and how to end the song in a big way.
[21] According to a colleague, Nievera thought he was already retired from music after 1976, but he found gigs performing with Pilita Corrales, who invited him to her concerts.
[5] In the Philippines, he launched the Bert Nievera Music Lounge in Makati and also made guest appearances on television.
[28] In 1994, Nievera and his wife organized the concert of Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti at the Philippine International Convention Center.
[33] He also contributed to Martin's 1999 album Return to Forever, singing a duet of Jeffrey Osborne's "The Greatest Love Affair".
[34] Nievera concurrently traveled to Australia, the Middle East, US, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia to perform;[27] Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also employed him several times.
[5] Nievera and his wife Hernandez, a businesswoman, owned the Philippine franchises of Hard Rock Cafe[5][35] and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
[37][5] They went on to establish more Country Waffles restaurants around Metro Manila[5][28] and in Baguio,[3] the investors of which were mostly entrepreneurs and celebrity friends.
[37][38] In early 2004, some Country Waffles outlets began closing down as the Nieveras sparked "what's probably the decade's biggest food industry scandal" after fleeing to the US in late 2003, amid purported death threats from Country Waffles employees, angering the investors who did not receive returns.
[40] In 2006, the Department of Justice charged them with fraud for allegedly failing to pay ₱14.5 million to an investor and for issuing unlicensed securities.
[30][46] Celebrities in the Philippines paid tribute to him on social media,[2] while Martin, with the Society of Seven, dedicated to him his Las Vegas concert that April.
"[5] Besides Johnny Mathis, whom he stated "was harder to impersonate than you'd think",[19] his musical influences included Perry Como, Vic Damone, Mario Lanza, and Jo Stafford.
