Ritchie Paul Gutierrez: Last but definitely not the least

He may be the latest Gutierrez to enter showbiz, but Ritchie Paul, Eddie and Annabelle’s youngest offspring, doesn’t want to ride on his family’s drawing power.

"I‘d like to have my own identity," says he.

That’s why he’d rather stay away (at least for now) from acting and march to a different drummer. And that different drummer is music.

The 18-year-old looker can compose songs at the drop of a hat.

Looking at my ballpen as it races through my notebook, Ritchie Paul said, "I can write a song about that ballpen!"

He has lost count of how many songs he keeps in the basement of the house he shares with his parents. And he’s biding his time before he releases those hidden proofs of his talent on CD.

But Ritchie Paul is far from shy about the talent he inherited from his dad, known as The Elvis Presley of the Philippines.

Ritchie Paul is proud of his compilation CD called IcedOut All-Stars, under what else – IcedOut, the company he formed with brothers Richard, Raymond, Rocky and Elvis.

The CD’s music video is now aired on MYX and a follow-up video is in the works.

The CD is a compilation of various artists’ songs, including that of Janno Gibbs and Mike Swift.

But a compilation album of various artists being what it is, Ritchie Paul will not rest until he comes up with a solo album. He’s now scouting for a major music label that will release his debut effort as solo artist.

That album will show an artist so crazy over music he can tell one music genre from another: from reggae, rap, pop, hip-hop, whatever.

Until it fell into a swimming pool, Ritchie Paul kept his iPod in his pocket, the better to fish it out everytime the itch to hear music hits him.

And since it often does, he has decided to take up a course on music production at the College of St. Benilde. The loveless Ritchie Paul told himself a girlfriend can wait. But not his music.

That’s why he’s excited to guest in Two of a Kind, produced by Royale Era Entertainment and topbilling Pops Fernandez and Ogie Alcasid at the Dusit Hotel on July 29 at 9 p.m. (with dinner at 7:30 p.m.). Ritchie Paul will perform songs from his compilation album at SM Baguio on Aug. 16.

The show is a series of mall mini-concerts under IcedOut, which recently mounted a car show at the Macapagal Highway. The company will also mount concerts and other productions for the youth market. It may even produce an indie film.

The name IcedOut is the Gutierrez’s brothers tribute to their feisty mom.

"IcedOut means full of jewelry, bling blings. It connotes prosperity. And that’s exactly how we see our mom," Ritchie Paul speaks for his older brothers.

Annabelle, seated a few inches away, can’t help but feel like she’s floating on Cloud Nine.