Now 74, Peabo Bryson continues to serenade audiences with the same fervor that has defined his career.
The Grammy Award–winning artist is currently on his Golden Touch Tour, celebrating an extraordinary five decades in the music industry.
The tour, which kicked off in January 2026 in Easton, USA, will take Bryson across the globe throughout the year as he performs his timeless hits and reconnects with fans.
Read: Top Suzara reveals Jinky Vidal not allowed to sing Freestyle songs
Among the tour’s international stops is the Philippines, on March 8, where he will take the stage at The Theatre at Solaire in Parañaque City.
Including the Philippines—a nation renowned for its deep affection for love songs and ballads—comes as no surprise.
Over the years, Peabo has enjoyed success on the country’s airwaves with timeless hits such as “Can You Stop the Rain,” “Tonight I Celebrate My Love,” and “If You’re Ever in My Arms Again,” among many others.
“Well, I've been coming to the Philippines for a long time, I've been coming to Asia for a long time,” Peabo told local media in a video interview from Jakarta, Indonesia.
He continued, “I think the reason is, what draws me here is that it's a culture that listens, that still can listen to someone who has something to say.
“I like the sense of loyalty that seems to be inherent in your culture.”
Read: Ten Years, One Night: DAY6 lights up Manila at The Decade concert
PEABO BRYSON: MASTER OF DUETS
Peabo's impressive body of work as a recording artist stands as proof of his gift for creating songs that resonate deeply with listeners.
Whether writing his own material or interpreting others' compositions, Peabo attributes much of his success to the talented collaborators he has been fortunate to work with throughout his career.
Speaking of collaborations, Peabo's résumé is distinguished by a string of memorable duets with legendary female artists who are celebrated stars in their own right.
“About 50 of them [duets]. I think I'm expecting a call from Guinness any moment,” Peabo jokingly told PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal).
Just some of the hit duets Peabo recorded include "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack, "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion, and "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle.
Singing duets is an art in itself, and many factors are in play — perfect synchronization, blending and balancing of voices, tone chemistry — to make it work beautifully.
“I learned that from Roberta Flack. She taught me how to play to my duet partner's strengths and weaknesses equally,” shared Peabo.
But there is no set formula when it comes to recording duets.
For Peabo, it has always been about capturing the right feel and emotion, responding to what the song calls for while thoughtfully adapting to complement the style of his singing partner.
“You can't be around somebody like Roberta, or Celine Dion, or Regina Bell, or anybody like that, and not fall a little bit in love with what they bring to a moment like that. You can't predict what it is,” he elaborated.
“Because it's only gonna be what it is. When you take a song like ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Whole New World,’ they don't come with instructions. People don't realize that.”
He continued, “There's nobody's gonna suggest that you approach it any way, in any shape or form.
“It's whatever you bring to it, whatever you give it, is all it's going to have. Your interpretation is all there is.”
In hindsight, Peabo admits he regrets not having had the opportunity to collaborate with Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.
It would have been, he reflects, a truly fabulous and unforgettable experience.
There were also moments when he nearly recorded duets with Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand, and Sade.
To this day, he sometimes wonders what those collaborations might have been like had the plans come to fruition.
“I still want to do all those,” he said, referring to his hope of one day sharing the microphone with both legendary and contemporary female artists, and adding even more memorable collaborations to his already impressive duets catalog.
Read: SexBomb rAWnd 4: stunts and surprises in an unforgettable reunion
A CELEBRATION OF LIFE
While the Golden Touch Tour is clearly a celebration of Peabo’s remarkable career and music, it also serves as his heartfelt way of expressing gratitude for a second chance at life.
In 2019, Peabo suffered a heart attack, and if not for his wife’s quick action in performing CPR, he might not have survived the ordeal.
"When I awoke five days later, I realized that whole ordeal that took about 34 minutes, and that's a long time not to be breathing.
"If she had not breathed for me, I would not have had any cognizant skills left,” he told Doug Doyle of the radio station WBGO in October of last year.
Peabo has always been grounded in his faith, but that near-death experience made him delve deeper into his spirituality and reflect on it more introspectively.
“I've been around for a long time, and I've been blessed to be able to still do what I do on a very special level, and that's all divine intervention,” Peabo told the Filipino press.
“It doesn't have anything to do with me as much as it has to do with the blessings that are bestowed on me. I know when my ability stops.”
Still performing at his age and hearing audiences sing along to the songs he recorded continues to give Peabo an incredible high, and he remains deeply grateful to be here to savor these moments at this stage of his life.
“There's nothing quite like it, is it? There's nothing like it when you're singing a song and the world sings along with you. There's nothing like it,” he smiled.
“You can't script it yourself, you can't make it happen. You have to be divinely endowed with it and divinely blessed with it. It's that simple.”
Tickets for Peabo Bryson’s Philippine concert are available through TicketWorld.
Read: Air Supply returns to the Philippines to celebrate 50 years