"Photography was then only a hobby," recalled Tony who is the founding president of Ivory Records which is, unlike other recording companies, low-key and low-profile. "I never thought that I’d become a professional photographer. I later took cover photos for the Weekly Nation (whose entertainment editor, the late Danny Villanueva, was his barkada). I even taught Photography at UP for one year and a half."
Colleagues Ronald Constantino and Remy Umerez and I took a quick nostalgia trip over lunch at Moomba Restaurant (Roces Avenue corner Mother Ignacia Streets, Quezon City) last week, as Ivory Records geared up for its 20th anniversary on Aug. 11. Has it been that long? How time flies!
I haven’t seen Tony... for ages?... even if he and Ronald and I move in the same circle (while he and Remy, old friends from way back, have regular contact and communication; it was Remy who arranged that "reunion" lunch). For a while, as Tony casually walked into Moomba, it took a little while for me to reconcile him with the Tony Ocampo I knew way back when. I noticed the lens of his glasses were thicker than they used to be back in the late ’60s.
"Why did I call our company Ivory Records?" Tony repeated my question. "Because when I was a kid, I and my siblings were encouraged by our parents to play the piano. I also studied how to play the violin. Ivory is a nice name, isn’t it? Parang Ebony and Ivory, the Beatles song which was also inspired by the black and white keys of the piano."
Tony looked every inch a living proof of the sweet success of sound.
Before he and partners put up Ivory Records on Aug. 11, 1983 – "Ten days before Ninoy Aquino was assassinated" – Tony first worked as, after taking album-cover pictures (with Helen Gamboa as his favorite subject), promotions manager at Vicor, learning the "tricks of the trade" on the side, until he was promoted to executive vice president and general manager, a position he held for 14 years.
"We (at Ivory) started by licensing products for Victor Musical Industries (of Japan) and standards, mostly instrumentals, bands and march music. I made use of the (business) connections I developed and nurtured while I was with Vicor. At about the time I left Vicor, the ‘Minus One’ trend was already starting. At Ivory, we began putting out ‘Minus One’ in cassette tapes and, soon after, mga ‘Multiplex’ tapes. They were a big hit."
Luckily for Ivory, that is. Before long, Ivory shifted to discovering and building up new talents, with Asin as its very first contract artists whose maiden album was Himig ng Lahi. After that, Ivory came up with "Best of" (Pilita Corrales, Leo Valdez, etc., alongside three-products-in-one tapes (consisting of master, minus one and multiplex). The rest is, as they’d say, "sound" history.
Today, 20 years later, Ivory owns and operates such subsidiary companies as the Greenhill Sound Productions, Inc. (the biggest recording studio complex in the Philippines which boasts of high-tech digital recording equipment) and the Soundscape Music Publishing, Inc. (which manages music compositions), with Vicor as an affiliate company.
Among the artists who started their careers with Ivory are The CompanY, Side A, Manilyn Reynes, Carol Banawa, April Boy Regino and Roselle Nava. Its present roster of artists include Marielle, Love Añover and the band Make Your Momma Proud (MYMP). Now concentrating on producing OPM, audio-video tapes for children, inspirational songs, VCD/DVD karaoke and easy-listening instrumentals, Ivory also distributes the products of Praise Records, Candid Records, Viejo Records and Warner Home Video (toys and children’s department).
Away from work, Tony spends time with his "favorite companion," his MG. He’s the president of the MG Club which started a few years ago with owners of the only 14 MGs in the country but has now expanded to include owners of, among other fancy/luxury cars, such other models as Triumph, Austin Healey and Jaguar.
A 1962 UST Philets graduate, Tony is married to Espinila "Lola Baby" Mendoza with whom he has four children – Marie Gloria (VP for Promotions at Vicor), Jay (who helps his father manage their recording studio), Vincent (a surgeon at Medical City) and Allan, a computer consultant with Morgan Stanley based in New York, who was at his office at the South Tower of the World Trade Center that fateful Sept. 11, 2001, taking the stairs from the 68th floor along with thousands of others inside the ill-fated Twin Towers after the second American Airlines plane smashed into it.
Ask Tony what challenges recording businessmen today are confronted with and he enumerates the same ones as his colleagues would.
"Piracy is the no. 1 problem. Then, there’s the economy," adding as his cellphone rang, "and, yes, cellphones. You see, the target market of recording companies is the young. Sadly, instead of setting aside some amount to buy records, they’d rather buy ‘loads’."
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sour note in Ivory’s success story.
Scout Talents Asia, a new talent agency headed by Manny Valera (whose stable of talents includes Jay Manalo, Alessandra de Rossi, Zoren Legaspi, Jean Garcia, Dingdong Avanzado, Jessa Zaragoza, Bearwin Meily, Ynez Veneracion, Michael "Josh" Santana, Glaiza de Castro, Anna Larrucea and others) is looking for male and female talents/models for commercials, TV and movies.
Applicants should be between 12 and 30 years old, good-looking and with pleasing personality. Talents in singing, dancing, hosting and acting are plus factors.
Auditions will be held from Wednesday to Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m., at #5 Scout Magbanua corner Roces Avenue, Quezon City.
Candidates should bring their biodata with matching close-ip and full-body photos taken recently. For details, call 374-1361, 415-0373, 0917-4532427 or 0916-7484880 (look for Beth or Chino).
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)