Jay R Sillona

Jay R (Gaudencio Aquino Sillona III, born February 1, 1981), who performs under the mononym Jay R, is a Filipino-American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, dancer and commercial model. He regularly hosts, sings and dances on SOP often with fellow singer and "R&B Princess", Kyla. Sillona has been dubbed "Philippines' R&B Prince".

CAREER

1997—2002: Early works and debut

At the age of sixteen, he already belonged to a group called FI (First Impression). The group consisted of five members namely—Mike Gabriel, Alex Bacani, Jay R Sillona, Jimmy Martinez (who came with Jay R to Manila) and Owen Amurao. When Mike, Owen and Alex went their separate ways, Jay R and Jimmy continued the group by adding another talented singer named Kris Cadevida (later known as Kris Lawrence). They would do gigs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Michigan. Jay R also belonged to a band that was lead by his uncle, Robert Sillona, called "The Howlers".

At sixteen, he started performing gigs all around Southern California. He also did back-up vocals for major artists, whose albums were released in the United States, Latin America, Philippines and other territories. Later, he started co-writing songs with these international artists. He collaborated with Steve Singer, Gary Brown, Triangle Productions, Dutch Cousin and Chuck Cymone.

2003—2004: Gameface

In 2003, he signed a contract under Universal Records label. His first album, aptly titled Gameface, consists of twelve tracks, containing two original Tagalog songs—Kaibigan, written by his sister, Jhing Sillona, and Bakit Pa Ba, written by Vehnee Saturno. Most of the other songs on the album are R&B cuts, and are co-written by himself. Ten of the tracks were produced by respected American producers Troy Johnson, Ian Boxhill and Bryson Evans. His first single, Design for Luv, is a R&B, Hip-hop single and had its music video filmed and produced in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. In April 2004, he accomplished his first ever major concert which was entitled Gameface the Concert at the Music Museum, followed by Gameface Reload in September 2004.

OTHER VENTURES

Sillona has admitted himself as a business-minded person, saying that unlike showbizness, he wanted something stable and something that's working already. In 2007, he built a recording studio in his house, called JAY R'S Music, which was later renamed as Homeworkz Studio. With a studio, he had to follow it with a recording label, and so he did. It was named as Homeworkz Records. Under the label, where he self-handedly writes and produces songs, he has recorded two albums—Christmas Away from Home and Jay R Sings OPM Love Classics. In 2008, the song "Kayan Natin Ito", a tribute for the victims of the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy, was recorded in his Homeworkz Studio, together with various OPM artists. Under Homeworkz Records, Sillona has stated that he is managing an altenative band called Wovv, wherein the lead singer is his niece. He also owns an events company called Backhome Productions.

In February 2007, he launched a club at Glorietta, called Rock Candy. However, it blasted as it was part of the 2007 Glorietta Explosion in October 2007. He lost millions of his investments, stating, "I never recovered my capital as it happened at a time when the club was already picking up". After the disaster, Sillona decided to just focus and invest on a Ministop outlet that he bought at Wilson Street in Greenhills Shopping Center, instead of reconstructing his club. He stated in an interview that Katya Santos was the one who recommended him to go into this kind of business. Jay R had ideas of owning a Burger Machine branch, but as he inquired, he knew that the business has no franchise. He expressed interest in having a branch of Mang Inasal, but have not pursued it yet, because it requires Php7 million for the area, and 28 persons for manpower. He also stated that he wants to have his own water station, and not a franchise.[10]

Sillona has done commercials and theme songs for products like Sun Cellular, Tropicana, and Colgate. He is also a commercial model for Bench Body, Unisilver, and Skechers.

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