The Australian singer reflects on his decades-long bond with Filipino audiences — and what he hopes they’ll feel at his upcoming Manila concert.
More than three decades after “Heaven Knows” first floated across Philippine airwaves, Rick Price remains one of the most beloved foreign artists in the country — not just a singer, but a voice woven into the fabric of Filipino love stories. The Australian balladeer is set to return to Manila for For Lovers: Concert Tour, and ahead of the show, he sat down to talk about the setlist, the deep connection he feels with Filipino fans, and why music, for him, has always been about one thing: love.
A Setlist Built Around Love
Philippine audiences carry an unusually deep connection to Price’s music, so it was only fitting to ask how he was shaping the evening’s program. “The title of the tour is For Lovers: Concert Tour 2026 — the theme is love. That’s the main theme for all of my music, really,” he says. “So I’m choosing songs that I know resonate with the Philippines.”
But the evening will not be a greatest-hits exercise alone. Price has deliberately woven in a selection of his favourite covers — songs he didn’t write, but has long loved singing. “I’ve chosen some of my favourite covers that I really enjoy performing,” he explains. “But I want that theme of love — romantic love, family love — to have that theme, and for us all to sort of connect to that. I think that’s exciting.”
The Soundtrack of Their Lives
For many Filipino couples, Rick Price songs are not merely entertainment — they are emotional landmarks. His ballads scored first dances, long-distance goodbyes, and quiet reconciliations. When asked what it means to know that his voice has become a kind of soundtrack to people’s lives, he pauses before answering with characteristic sincerity.
“I think it’s great. It’s hard to really understand that, and to fully feel it,” he admits. “But I’m very grateful to the Filipino people for their support over so many years, and I feel so very grateful to be part of their experience. I feel very lucky — very privileged — to feel connected to a lot of people.”
What strikes him most, he says, is the invisible intimacy of recorded music. “So many people hear my voice every day — I’m singing to them through Spotify, or however they’re hearing their music — and I feel very privileged.” When he steps onstage in Manila, that quiet, daily communion becomes something tangible and electric.
The Emotional Honesty Behind the Songs
Price’s music has always been noted for its emotional directness, and the reason, he says, is simple: he is just writing about himself. “I’m a deeply emotional person,” he acknowledges. “I go through emotional feelings — always have, since I was a kid.” That temperament meant that when heartbreak arrived, the only natural response was to turn it into a song.
“Heaven Knows” was, he confirms, a true story. “I just wrote exactly about what I felt, because I just could not stop thinking about this person I’d broken up with. Heartbreak — when you have your heart broken, you think about that person all the time because your heart is sore.” The song’s power, he believes, comes precisely from that authenticity. “When the story you’re telling is real, that’s what gives a song a lot of power.”
A Gentle and Generous People
Ask Price what makes Filipino fans special, and his answer is warm and unhesitating. “They’ve stayed with me for so long — since the early ’90s,” he says. “I think there is a gentleness and kindness in them, a sort of goodwill amongst the Filipino people. I find they’re generous and good-hearted, and that seems to permeate through the whole country.”
It is a bond he traces back, always, to one song. “It’s an amazing thing,” he reflects, “that a song can connect you to a country in the way that ‘Heaven Knows’ has for me with the Philippines.”
What keeps him going after all these years? The answer is as straightforward as his songwriting. “I love singing and playing music because it makes me feel good. It’s good for the soul,” he says. “I love connecting with other human beings through my music. What inspired me to keep doing it is connection.” For a man whose voice has serenaded a nation through its most intimate moments, that connection, it seems, runs deeper than even he fully understands.
Rick Price’s For Lovers: Concert Tour 2026 is coming to the Philippines, at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, on April 7. Tickets are now available via Ticketworld.
