When Larry Marshall was born on May 23rd in Roanoke, Virginia to Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Marshall, they had no inkling that the full-blooded American child has the heart of and for the Filipinos. Larry grew up in Floyd, Virginia, 40 miles southwest of Roanoke in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, clueless that he’d end up liking adobo and would be a recording artist in the Philippines in the future.

Music has always been a huge part of Larry’s life. At the age of 5, Larry started playing piano by ear. His parents quickly knew that he must hone his talent and so he started taking piano lessons. At the age of 8, he started playing the guitar. As though he knew he was born to make it big someday, by 6th grade, Larry was already involved in the school band and learned to play the trombone, trumpet, and french horn.

There was no stopping Larry since then. During high school, he performed in many concerts as a member of the high school choir and the Mandrigal Singers. Their basement in their home then resembled a music store more than anything with all the music instruments he had touched since he learned how to walk. Larry showed he can do more when he took part in several off- Broadway musicals including Annie Get Your Gun and My Fair Lady. He also snagged the leading role in The Pirates of Penzance and Carousel, as if he had always belonged on stage. With Larry’s John Travolta-like versatility, Larry is sure to be a big hit as a singer and actor in the Philippines.

Larry’s mouth must have been wide open when God showered mortals with talents. Larry won a seat in the Virginia Regional Chorus and won first chair for the All-State Virginia Chorus. Larry also won a talent-based music scholarship for voice to Roanoke College, in Salem, Virginia, where Larry was a voice major and piano minor.

Larry got his first taste of the Filipino culture when he joined the United States Marine Corps (where he also received his Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science from the Marine Corps Institute) and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. There, he had the exposure to the Filipino community, and suddenly thought the Filipinos are the coolest thing that happened to his life next to his music. His enjoyment of being surrounded by Filipinos inspired him to decide to study Tagalog. He bought several books including dictionaries and grammar books and started studying 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 months until he became proficient at Tagalog and was speaking it as though his tongue was made to speak it. Larry credits his quick learning of the language to being able to talk with his Filipino friends after spending the day studying from books.

During his time in Okinawa, Larry took many trips to the Philippines to visit friends and their families. Everyone was always amazed at how this American had mastered the Tagalog language. Larry mostly stayed in Metro Manila, but also had his glimpses of other places when he visited Angeles City, Mabalacat, Tarlac, Olongapo, Laguna, Cavite, and Baguio.

After his contract with the Marines, Larry moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for a karaoke company as the National Sales and Marketing Manager for their special products division. There, Larry became exposed to Tagalog music and started amazing Filipinos even more, by learning Tagalog songs (the first song he learned to sing was Freddie Aguilar’s Anak). Before long, Larry was well known in the Filipino community of Los Angeles and was booked every weekend for weddings, parties, events and special occasions, and was also the time that he came up with his slogan KKPP, which means Katawang Kano, Pusong Pinoy. One of the other interesting aspects of the company that Larry worked for was that the majority of the company were Filipinos from Bohol, Cebu. Larry credits his Visaya accent from spending several years learning some Cebuano and being around mostly Filipinos from Cebu. To this day, when Larry talks on the phone with Filipinos who do not know him, they always ask, “taga saan ka sa Bisaya?” (where are you from in the Visayan Islands?)

Larry took a transfer with his company to their Chicago location based in Westmont, Illinois. While in Chicago, he also received his Bachelors of Arts degree and Masters degree in Business Administration from Madison University. Upon meeting Filipinos during his stay in Chicago who believed in his talent, he started singing for Filipino concerts and released his debut Tagalog album in May 2002.

After the release of the album by KKPP Productions in the States, he was offered a contract by Viva Records on May 7 when he flew to the Philippines to find his opportunity here. The contract was finalized and signed on November 7, 2002 and the album was released in February 2003. Most recently, Larry has been promoting his album which includes mall tours, TV/radio appearances and concerts.

Larry was also the recipient of the Gintong Pamana (Golden Heritage) Award for Entertainment in August 2002 in cooperation with the Editorial Board of PhilippineTIME-USA News & People Magazine.  This award was given for Larry lending himself as a true friend of the Filipinos through his professional entertainment using only OPM's (Original Pilipino Music) and popular Filipino songs.