Together in a night of music, Bro. Eli Soriano and The World Famous Platters brought back the glory of ‘50’s rock-and-roll in a concert entitled “Remember When,” held at the ADD Convention Center last March 31 this year. Both preacher and the artists had one common goal: to sing and give back to the poor.
The World Famous Platters were very glad to have been a part of the benefit concert. “You’ve got to give something back,” said Eddie Stovall Sr., the group’s main vocalist. “You’ve got to give something like the things that we do. Give something back to the people.”
The proceeds of the concert will help sustain the social services and charitable works that Bro. Eli is maintaining through the ADD Foundation International, the charity arm of the Members Church of God International (MCGI). Such services include medical support, scholarships, feeding programs, free transport, to name a few.
The group sang their popular hits “Only You,” “Twilight Time,” “Remember When,” “The Great Pretender” in their repertoire. Then they did a duet with Bro. Eli Soriano in “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” a classic favorite among Platters fans.
During their duet, Bro. Eli sung straight from South America while The Platters were at the convention center in Apalit, Pampanga. Given the at least 13 hours time gap between the two performers, the use of the Internet facilities was instrumental in rendering the performance to appear seamless.
When asked what they felt about the concert’s set-up and their duet with Bro. Eli, the Platters admitted they were amazed at the technology which made possible their singing with him.
“It is the first time we’ve done anything like that but it was really a lot of fun,” Jarred Tilley stressed. “It was nice.”
“I could tell that he [Bro. Eli] hadn’t just learned the song, you could tell that he liked, he loved the song and he sung it before,” added Tilley about the way Bro. Eli sings. “And we can tell that he is very comfortable that knowing that the audience loved it too. That is always a treat for us to be part of singing that song.”
Asked if they will be coming back, the Platters replied an absolute yes. Yolanda Fletcher, the only female in the group praised the crowd. “Great audience! Fantastic! That is where our energy and spirit comes from. To see their faces, [and] everybody’s having a good time, so how can we not have a good time also?”
“I just want to pay back the hospitality of the Philippines and I love this crowd we had,” Mose Stovall said, adding “It was a young crowd. We had a lot of crowds here, and the older crowd, and the two crowds are spectacular so we really appreciate that.”
The World Famous Platters is the third international group to have graced a charity concert organized by the MCGI since the Cascades and the Air Supply which performed April and November last year.
(Written by: Cecile Vizcaya)
