DAYS’s Elia Cantu Reveals The Backstory of Her Musical Performance
Elia Cantu (Jada, Days of our Lives) was proud to kick off the celebrity portion of the Daytime Stands Up: A Benefit for Stand Up To Cancer event. “I opened the show up, so it was super exciting,” says Cantu. “There’s a beautiful story in the beginning. Then I played [the trumpet], and then Alan [Locher] and Michael [Fairman] came out to start their hosting.
“I played a medley of the current soap opera themes,” continues Cantu. “I started with The Young and the Restless, that beautiful piano [introduction] that’s very iconic. Then I went into The Bold and the Beautiful, which is super upbeat and bright. Then we went to General Hospital, which is a very climactic sound. And we ended it with the best, Days of our Lives.”
Cantu has been playing the trumpet for over a decade. “I played for 10 years. Then I took a long hiatus and got back into it in 2020,” she explains. “I was inspired to get back into it when everybody was home during that unfortunate lockdown.”
Some fans already knew about Cantu’s musical skills. “If they followed my Instagram then they were aware because I’ve posted videos in the past,” recounts the actress. “I’ve posted videos from home where I did some cover songs. DAYS also posted during Black History Month. They posted a video of my trumpet, some images and videos. It was actually very well done if they want to check that. It’s a nice video that they put together with me. So a lot of fans were aware from that point on. And now, possibly, there are new fans or fans of other soaps, because Stand Up to Cancer had everyone involved from all the different daytime soaps. So that was great.”
And it was an experience Cantu won’t soon forget. “I was so happy to have that platform to share [my trumpeting],” notes Cantu. “And also The Day Players performed and so did Leo [Howard, Tate]. It was so beautiful to see all of the actors show their multi-talents as artists.”
If you missed the event and would like to watch it, you still can via Alan Locher or Michael Fairman’s YouTube channels.
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