One Valentine musical event gathers for the first time in one act three top international singers and their timeless love songs.

They are Grammy artists Stephen Bishop, Dan Hill and Yvonne Elliman, who will mount the Araneta Coliseum stage today, Feb. 11.

The show,entitled “Love Rocks,” will also spotlight WT Greer and the J. Michaels Band as featured performers.

Bishop is making his sixth appearance in Manila fresh from a successful US tour in November, where he was joined by Kuh Ledesma and Dan Hill, followed by another show last December that also featured another Filipina singing talent, Joey Albert.

He is expected to wow fans with his timeless hits, including selections from his debut album, “Careless,” “It Might Be You” (theme from “Tootsie”), “On And On,” “Separate Lives” (love theme from “White Nights”), “Save It For A Rainy Day,” and many more.

Dan Hill, who will make his debut performance in Manila, captured the attention of local fans after being seen on a television news program while singing his hit song, “Sometimes When We Touch,” with world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in a US event before Pacman’s recent successful title bout with Antonio Margarito in Texas.

It was the same song (which he co-wrote with legendary songwriter Barry Mann) that catapulted him to international fame when it turned into the “mother of all covers”

Aside from winning for Hill a Grammy nomination for best male vocal performance, the song enjoyed renditions by singers from every continent in every style and was translated into several languages.

Yvonne Elliman’s only performance in Manila was in the late ’70s, but it was memorable in the sense that it was at a private party arranged by friends of former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos.

She gained international popularity for the song, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him,” which she sang in her originating role as Mary Magdalene in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar!”

After her stint as a guitarist and background vocalist for Eric Clapton for five years, Elliman embarked on a solo career, where her incredible talent and artistic style enabled her to work with some of the biggest names in music, including Stevie Cropper, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Stephen Bishop, Phil Cody and Neil Sedaka, to name a few.

“Love Rocks” is sponsored by ETC, 2nd Avenue, Diva Universal, Jack TV, Basketball TV and Solar Sports.

It is also supported by Holiday Inn Galleria Manila, Manila Bulletin, BusinessWorld, RJ 100.3 FM and Easy Rock 96.3.

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All’s set for 2011 StarBall on Feb. 12

The Philippine StarBall Festival of Champions is all set for tomorrow (Feb. 12) at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La Hotel. The fabulous and glittering event is under the initiative and leadership of Mrs. Michaela “Pinky” Puno.

This time, it will not be a dance competition because the Filipino dancers can’t compete in any other competition except in the DanceSport and its accredited events abroad. It’s really too bad because we have many dance experts in the country who could be a par with international champions.

Speaking of which, many of them are coming from all over the world for the much-awaited event. In fact, they will be feted with a welcome dinner tonight at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

For Pinky Puno, the dance festival will be another fulfilling moment in her life, considering her great passion in dance. She started dancing ballet at age six, and at 16, she was already teaching ballet at Maryknoll (now Mirriam), where luckily the nuns were then open-minded and supportive of her passion.

So passionate is Pinky with dancing that even when in pain, nothing can keep her away from the dancefloor. She had hipbone replacement in Washington several years ago and six months after, she was in competition abroad, defying doctors’ foreboding that she won’t be able to dance anymore.

Pinky and husband Ronnie Puno have seven children, all of them talented (they sing and dance and during their school days in America, Pinky would choreograph their school presentations).

The StarBall Festival of Champions will be hosted by Gary McDonald who was the dance coach of Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in their movie “Shall We Dance.”

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Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings today. Feb. 11, go to Jackielou Blanco, Lourdes Virginia M. Poe (a.k.a. Lovi Poe), Mrs. Milo Bondoc, Gerry S. Matias, Mrs. Lulu Malvar, Lulu Tan Gan, Larry Baring, Marilou Alejandro, Conchita de Fule, Alwyn Uytingco, and my granddaughter, Andrea Mariella A. Belen who turns 9…