Eugene Villaluz remembered

Eugene Villaluz

Veteran music artist Eugene Villaluz, who died at age 70 last week after battling prostate cancer, would be remembered best for being one of the founding members of the 1970s show band The New Minstrels, his stylish tenor, and for popularizing the OPM classic, “Gulong ng Palad.”

That he was musically gifted was a given. But for the performers who had the pleasure of working with Villaluz, what made him truly special was his inherent desire to nurture and make them believe in their talent and skills.

Joey Albert, who’s a third-generation “Minstrel,” considers Villaluz a “mentor of important influence.” “The training I had with him helped mold me into the singer I am now. I learned from him that while vocal excellence and harmony are vital, projection is also essential to a performance,” she told the Inquirer.

‘Ardent faith’

Beyond the technical facets of singing, the thing about Villaluz that touched Albert the most was the “ardent faith” he had in her.

“He produced my last album. It had been a long time since my last recording, and it was his encouragement that made me pursue it. I’m not sure I would have done it without him,” she said.

“He always believed in me,” added Albert, who performed with Villaluz in one of his last concerts, “Happy Together,” at the Philippine International Convention Center in February. “Somehow, he always made me feel like he thought the world of me.”

“His last words to me were, ‘Love you, Joey,’” she recalled. “And I love you, too, Eugene.”

Apart from being an active live performer and record/
concert producer, Villaluz was part of theater productions like “Rama Hari,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Rama at Sita.” He also worked as a music business management teacher at Meridian International College (Mint).

After undergoing thyroid surgery to help treat his cancer, Chad Borja shied away from the music scene; he wasn’t confident about returning to singing. But one day he received a phone call—one that would prove pivotal to his career today.

“It was Eugene. He had been looking for me for quite some time, because he wanted me to be a part of reunion shows with the Minstrels,” Borja, who’s a fourth-generation member of the group, told the Inquirer. “He had been asking for my number from just about everyone. I was glad he found me—that’s why I’m here again.”

Villaluz’s legacy, Borja said, was his talent and professionalism. “He was always prompt. He was a good soloist, great in harmonies and a superb tenor,” he said.

Like Albert and Borja, Moy Ortiz, nephew of Villaluz and a member of the enduring pop vocal group The CompanY, saw the late OPM stalwart as “an encourager.”

“He showed me that it was possible to make a living out of the special gift God has lent us,” Ortiz said. “He was an encourager to his students, and to his colleagues in the industry who had fallen on hard times.”