For Raymond Lauchengco, singing is sweeter the second time around.
When he began a career in photography in 2000, Raymond thought that it was time to say goodbye to his singing. After mounting his first solo exhibit at the Makati Shangri-la in December of that year, bookings began pouring in that he had no more time for performing.
Raymond’s foray into photography was a fruitful one. Fashion shoots for leading local magazines and newspapers, portraits of personalities from the entertainment and social circles, album covers of major artists such as Ogie Alcasid, concert and performance photos of Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano filled his calendar.
“The photo shoots kept me so busy that I considered myself officially ‘off-cam’,” he recalls. “It was fulfilling to see that my work was being appreciated, to see that I could explore another creative field and still feel validated as an artist.”
However, after the first two years as a professional photographer, doubts about his career shift began to creep in. “I would find myself wondering if photography was really something I wanted to do. I began to miss singing, and I couldn’t understand why, when I was really having a great time.”
And so Raymond thought it was time to give singing another shot. “It must have been in 2002, when I began to feel an itch to sing, but it took a while to get things going. I realize now that there were things that God wanted me to learn before he would lead me back to my first love.”
It took a good three years for that to happen. “Those were trying times,” Raymond says. “It was a roller-coaster ride—one day an album was in the works, then the next day it was shelved indefinitely.” Raymond admits that there came a time when he gave up on it completely.
“I began directing in 2004, and I was enjoying it. I thought, ‘Ok, Lord, if this is what You want me to do, so be it. You direct my life from now on. Whatever You want to do is okay with me.’” He admits that praying that prayer marked a turning point for him, because until that point, “it was all about me, me, me. I realized that it wasn’t about me at all, it’s about letting God work out His purpose for me in my life.”
In December of that year, Vicor Music Corporation approached him, asking if he would record a few new cuts for a compilation of Raymond’s hits that they were re-releasing in 2005. “Suddenly, I had an album, I was back on radio, back on TV…it was incredible!” Raymond says.
The album led to singing jobs in the corporate scene, TV and radio guestings, and finally, a solo concert, Classic Romance, at the Rockwell Tent on Valentine’s Day 2006. “I savored every minute of that concert that evening, thinking that my being back on the concert stage was a one-shot deal.”
Far from it: that ‘one-shot deal’ gave him two standing ovations that left Raymond dumbfounded, and that same ‘one-shot deal’ led to a repeat at the Music Museum the next month, two solo concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia in July, a three-night, back-to-back concert series with Ayen Laurel in October, and numerous singing gigs all over the country in between. There was no more time for him to be ‘off-cam’.
Now Raymond is preparing for a two-night Valentine concert at the Teatrino, Classic Romance 2: Walking on Sunshine, on February 13 and 14, a sequel to last year’s Valentine concerts, again with his sister Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and good friend, Ayen Munji-Laurel as guests.
“This time, it’s going to be a swinging, big band Valentine concert, but still very romantic,” promises Raymond. “I’ll be singing standards, Broadway, Spanish love songs, some cuts from my new album, and the OPM songs that have brought me to where I am now.”
Those songs are the 80s classics, So It’s You, I Need You Back, and a few others that those in their late thirties or early forties will remember well. “But this is going to be the last time I’ll be singing them, at least for a while. I’m moving on to a sound more appropriate for a 41-year old!”
This ‘new sound’ is the big band sound that Classic Romance 2: Walking on Sunshine will be showcasing, with an 8-piece band with a live blowing section under the musical direction of Vic Oria. Raymond’s new album is also in the works, a collection of iconic 80s songs such as Head Over Heels, Just Got Lucky, You To Me Are Everything, and Together In Electric Dreams interpreted, again, with a swinging, big band sound. “When my wife suggested the concept to me, I loved it so much we decided to produce it ourselves! Our good friend Alwyn Cruz is the album producer. We’re praying there’s a record label out there that loves it as much as we do.”
So does this mean we’ll be hearing a new and improved Raymond Lauchengco?
“Let’s just put it this way, and I’ll be very honest with you,” he says. “In the past, whenever I’d sing, I felt like it was the audience’s privilege to hear me sing. So the Lord took that away from me, broke me, and waited until I was ready for Him to take me out of the dark place I had put myself in. I had to realize that I am here to sing because it is my privilege to be able to sing for people and tell them, ‘Look, I was practically forgotten. But God had plans and still has plans for me. Everything I am doing now is not because of what I’ve done, but because of what God has done.’ If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that when you leave your life in God’s hands, there is always hope for great things.’
Classic Romance 2: Walking on Sunshine is made possible by Coppertone, Hush Puppies, PLDT myDSL, Yellow Door Gallery, Imacron Digital Video, JC Buendia, Propaganda, and YSA Skin Care Center. Tickets are priced at Php 1,500 and are available at TicketWorld (891-9999) and Teatrino (721-0635/721-2762).
