MANILA, Philippines?Pop music fans who came of age in the 1980s should remember Basia?the Polish singer-songwriter whose invigorating voice gave life to the jazz-flavored hits ?Promises,? ?Time and Tide,? ?New Day For You,? ?Miles Away,? ?Cruising For Bruising,? among others.

She was first noticed as vocalist of the UK band Matt Bianco, whose 1984 debut album, ?Whose Side Are You On,? yielded the single ?Half a Minute.?

Basia has a big fan base worldwide and was active until the late ?90s, when she withdrew from the scene, reportedly due to the deaths of people close to her, including her mother.

But this year she released a new album, ?It?s That Girl Again,? the fruit of persistent efforts from her Matt Bianco cohorts Mark Reilly and Danny White.

She?s only 55 and surely her Pinoy fans would love to watch her concert Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Basia granted the Inquirer an e-mail interview while doing shows in Japan.

Tell us about growing up in Poland and how you got into music.

I have very happy memories from my childhood. Our house was always full of music. We had a grand piano at home and I took piano lessons when I was 6 years old. I always had to sing with my sister at family parties and also at school assemblies. I always collected records; my very first album was ?The Greatest Hits of Aretha Franklin,? which sparked my love for soul music.

I was 15 when a rock band from my little town wanted to enter a national music competition and the members asked me to perform two songs with them. We did well and that?s how I started my professional career.

What made you switch to jazz?

I love every kind of music. I certainly do not consider myself a jazz singer, but what I do at the moment has some elements of jazz, which challenges me to learn more and improve my singing.

How did your band mates Danny White and Mark Reilly convince you to go back to singing again?

At the beginning I was not very keen to get back to recording, but Danny and Mark presented me with some very good ideas for new songs, which inspired me to work on them and slowly my enthusiasm for singing returned. And after 20 years we recorded a second Matt Bianco album, but this time my role was equal to that of the other two members.

How did the songs on your new album come about? Were they all written in the same period?

Four songs from the new album existed as backing tracks for quite a few years, but the rest are new. Also, the lyrics were written within the last two years. They were inspired by everything that happened in that quiet period of my life, but they also tell real stories of real people I know personally.

What does being back mean to you?

It means that I can look at life in a positive way; that I can sing and write songs because it makes me happy, not for any other reason.

What do you know about the Philippines and give us an idea what your show on Wednesday night will be like.

Besides the obvious information about the Philippines, which one can find in an encyclopedia, I know first-hand how very musical the people in your country are. That is why I hope that those who will come to the show will appreciate the more acoustic sound of the selection of songs from our four albums released so far. The vocals can be heard clearer and songs are more distinctly played than those presented in the traditional ?noisy? way. Come and enjoy!