Rodel Naval

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RODEL NAVAL

Rodel Naval (February 16, 1953 - June 11, 1995) was a well-known singer, songwriter and actor from the Philippines. He's best remembered for such songs as "Lumayo Ka Man" and "Muli".

Rodel was the last one in the family of seven kids to arrive in Toronto. He came to Canada as landed immigrant sometime in 1980. After a year in Toronto, Rodel decided to pursue his dream somewhere else - America, the promised “land of promise”, seemed to be the most logical choice. He packed his bag to try his luck in Los Angeles, California. He had three live major concert performances at the Ebell Theare, the Scottish Rite Temple and at the Ambassador Hotel. It was during one of this major concerts that a talent scout discovered him and made an offer for him to perform at Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. After Rodel had performed several times at Imperial Hotel in Las Vegas, his talent scout offered him to sign a contract as regular feature of the club. Few days before his new stint began, the stage of the club collapsed and several days later, the talent scout died of heart attack. Depressed, he went back to Los Angeles — again to regular jobs. He worked as car salesman and later as travel agent.

After a long absence from the Philippine entertainment for about 10 years, Rodel made a comeback in 1990 with stunning success. Rodel’s first hit song, “Lumayo Ka Man” was born, a tagalog song which he wrote himself. (“Lumayo Ka Man” as translated in English means “Even If You Go Away”. He wrote the lyrics of this song for only 15 minutes because of the loneliness he was feeling due to the recent death of his mother.) Within two months, the song turned triple platinum. Then in late 1992, he produced an album titled “Once Again” with songs both in English and Tagalog, which most of them he composed himself. The latest album gave forth three great hits. In the midst of his success, Rodel remained an enigma in the local music industry. Wary of the gossip and intrigue that pervaded showbusiness, Rodel guarded his privacy zealously, to the point of becoming almost reclusive. He was conspicuously missing in places where celebrities like him would normally be seen. Whenever he did go out, it was only to perform or to promote his songs.

At a time Rodel had already make it to the top of Philippine entertainment, he began to feel sick. He had undergone a series of check ups and even hospitalized but could not diagnose what was wrong with him. Also during this time, one of her sisters made a few long distance calls to Rodel from Canada. She tried to persuade him to come because there was someone who was very much interested to manage his singing career in North America. She also tried to persuade him to join the production of Miss Saigon in Toronto. Due to his popularity in the Philippines at that time, he was hesitant to come. Nevertheless, because of his illness which was still undiagnosed and he had already lost a lot of pounds, he decided to come for medical check up and might as well audition for the musical production, Miss Saigon.

After a few days in Toronto, though he was very sick and weak, Rodel still went for an audition, accompanied by one of his brothers. Rodel could hardly move and was very weak when they were on their way to the audition place. Surprisingly, he passed the first stage of the audition where contestants performed under the scrutiny of about 12 judges. They were asked to comeback for the second audition in which the producer himself would decide who would get the major roles.

Prior to second audition, Rodel found out the result of his medical test ... that he was an HIV positive. After two weeks, he told his Dad and siblings of the result. Though they were saddened by the news, their reaction was that of love, acceptance and support.

Later, he phoned the casting director, Stephanie Gorin, to tell her that he was no longer interested to attend the second audition because he had brain tumour (afraid of the stigma, he lied about his real illness). Stephanie had replied that Rodel was still at the top of her list and that he was still welcome to join the Miss Saigon even without the second audition.

Because of medication, he regained the pounds he had lost and he looked healthy again. He decided to join the Miss Saigon. He was given the role of the Assistant Commissar and Understudy for the Commissar (Thuy). He joined the cast for one year.

The disease was slowly eating him and his situation became more confounded by a complication with a disease called cryptococcal meningitis. Amidst all these, he still managed to do two concerts on April 1994 - one in Toronto and the other one in Los Angeles. The adoring crowd was plainly oblivious to the reality of the occasion.

About a month before he died, he lost his eyesight (due to disease called cytomegalovirus or CMV) which was so heartbreaking. The loss of his eyesight made his health deteriorate fast. He died of AIDS-related disease called Pneurmocystic Carini Pneumonia or PCP.

On June 11, 1995, Rodel died of AIDS at age 42, barely three months after his Dad died.

He left behind not only beautiful memories for his family and his fans but also several songs which Rodel did not have time to popularize because of his illness.