Photo Courtesy Jose Mari Chan/Jojo Guingona
The “ber” months may have made him the enduring face of Philippine Christmas, but at 81, the singer-songwriter’s life continues well beyond the holidays
MANILA — Every September, Jose Mari Chan seems to reappear almost on cue.
As the Philippines enters the “ber” months and Christmas songs return to radio, television and public spaces, Chan’s voice once again becomes part of the national soundtrack. His 1990 classic “Christmas in Our Hearts” has become so closely identified with the season that he has often been playfully described in media and popular culture as the “Father of Philippine Christmas.”
But Christmas tells only part of the Jose Mari Chan story.
At 81, Chan remains a working singer-songwriter and businessman whose professional life has never been confined to the final four months of the year. While his Christmas recordings bring him renewed attention each September, he continues to divide his time between music and the sugar business in Negros that has been part of his family for decades.
His connection to the industry dates to his father, Antonio Chan, who established a sugar trading business in Bacolod in 1960. Chan later became involved in the family enterprise while pursuing music, a path his father initially regarded as less dependable than business.
Chan managed to make room for both.
His entertainment career reaches back to the 1960s, when he appeared as a host and singer on ABS-CBN’s 9 Teeners. Over the decades that followed, he built a catalog that included “Beautiful Girl,” “Please Be Careful With My Heart” and “Can We Just Stop and Talk a While.”
Then came Christmas in Our Hearts.
Released in 1990, the album and its title song took on a life far beyond that of an ordinary seasonal recording. Over time, Chan became inseparable from the Filipino Christmas season, his music returning with remarkable regularity as soon as September arrived.
The association has survived generational change. Filipinos who were not yet born when the album was released have encountered Chan through the annual return of his songs, television appearances, advertising campaigns and social media memes.
Yet his career has continued on a parallel track.
Chan has remained involved in the sugar business in Negros and has said he still travels regularly to Bacolod, particularly during the milling season. Music, meanwhile, remains an active part of his life. Earlier this year, he said he had no plans to retire from performing as long as audiences continued to want to hear his songs.
That longevity has given Chan an unusual place in Philippine popular culture. His recordings belong to several generations, but he has never been reduced entirely to nostalgia.
The annual return of “Christmas in Our Hearts” may be the most visible part of Chan’s public life, but it is only one part of a career that has continued to evolve with the years.
At 81, he remains active in the work that has defined much of his adult life, moving between music and business with the same steadiness that has carried him across generations.
