Themanbehind ‘MysterySinger’

In the late ’40s and ’50s, the ‘Mystery Singer’ popularized on radio and recorded such songs as Ramona, Planting Rice, Rosalinda, Lavandera Ko, Tristezas del Alma, Are You Lonesome Tonight, Tennessee Waltz, Marta and Kiss Me With Your Eyes. He sang with a hood to hide his identity, billed as the ‘Mystery Singer’ — king of sweet singers on air.

He was Cecil Lloyd, born in Mariveles, Bataan, to a veteran of the Spanish-American war, I.H. Lloyd, and Inez Rocha. The ‘Mystery Singer’ finished law at UP in 1937 and passed the bar with a grade of 85.

Before the ‘Mystery Singer’ billing or gimmick, Lloyd sang on KZIB and KZRM as the ‘UP Troubadour.’

He originally wanted to be a teacher, but friends like Skip Guinto, Sergio Acuña, Gonzalo Yotoko and Jimmy Morgan “practically pushed me before the microphone. Jimmy’s a swell guy. He cooked up the radio moniker ‘Mystery Singer’ for me,” Lloyd told Luis Ma. Trinidad in his column On Air (Literary Song-Movie Magazine, March 1951).

In 1948, Lloyd put up the Philippine Recording System, the first Filipino-owned record company, signing up such talents as Sylvia la Torre, Bimbo Danao, Ruben Tagalog, Pancho Magalona, Tony Maiquez and Leopoldo Silos.

During the Japanese Occupation, Lloyd performed in stage shows.

In 1955, he quit recording, joined the National Media Production Center and hosted his own Sunday noontime show on DZRM.

Before his death in 1988, the ‘Mystery Singer’ agreed to lend his name to the Cecil Awards of the Philippine music industry. — RKC