“Jukebox queen” Claire Dela Fuente passed away Tuesday morning due to “cardiac arrest”.
The veteran singer died at a hospital where she was confined after testing positive for COVID-19 last week, her son said in an interview. She was 63.
“She was COVID positive and diagnosed last week. I myself am also COVID positive but showing no symptoms that’s why I couldn’t be beside her. She was supposed to turn 64 this year,” Dela Fuente’s son Gregorio “Gigo” de Guzman said in an emotional interview.
According to De Guzman, he was still able to talk to his mom on Monday and “she was fine”.
“(Her cardiac arrest) was believed to be a result of her stress and anxiety. My mom has anxiety, hypertension and diabetes. And her tendency to worry, stress a lot led her to weaken. In her sleep, her heart gave out,” he added.
News of her sudden passing broke out following a social media post by family friend, composer/producer Jonathan Manalo.
Industry colleagues Imelda Papin and Eva Eugenio also separately confirmed the sad news to The STAR.
Dela Fuente’s niece, actress Yam Concepcion, also expressed her sadness over her aunt’s passing in a Facebook post.
Dela Fuente was dubbed the “Karen Carpenter of the Philippines” during her heyday in the late ’70s, during which her first album in 1977 became the country’s biggest-selling record. She was best-known for the songs Sayang, Minsan-Minsan and Nakaw Na Pag-ibig.
She was also called as one of the “Jukebox Queens” of the 1970s along with Papin, Eugenio and Didith Reyes.
Recently, Dela Fuente appeared in the news after she defended her son on his alleged involvement in flight attendant Christine Dacera’s case.
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