Manila Bulletin, April 13, 2003

Larry Marshall — Katawang Kano, Pusong Pinoy

(by:  Crispina Martinez-Belen)

He is all American - tall, blonde, blue-eyed and fairskinned — but Larry Marshall calls himself KKPP — Katawang Kano, Pusong Pinoy. Yes, and he even speaks fluent Tagalog.

But who is Larry Marshall? He is Viva Records’ newest artist and they say he is the next phenomenon (after Thalia) to hit the Philippines. Ask him how he is and he will answer you in perfect Tagalog: “Ok naman, medyo mainit, pero ok lang.”

A native of Roanake, Virginia, Larry’s romance with music started early in his life. At age 5, he could play the piano by ear. His parents, noting his musical inclination, enrolled him in piano lessons and at 8, Larry started playing the guitar. When he was in sixth grade, he was already involved in their school band, and has learned to play the trombone, trumpet and French horn as well.

He soon became a member of the Virginia Regional Chorus and also won first chair for the All-State Virginia Chorus. He also won a talent-based music scholarship for voice to Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia where Larry was a voice major and piano minor.

He joined the US Marine Corps and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the Marine Corps Institute. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and it was here where he first got a glimpse of Filipino culture — through the Filipino friends he made there. They prodded him to come to the Philippines to try his luck in show business. While still in Okinawa, he already started learning Tagalog through dictionaries and grammar books he bought through his Filipino friends. He studied Tagalog diligently for three months and when he started visiting the Philippines after that, Filipinos were always amazed at his proficiency in the language. He even developed a Visayan accent, courtesy of his friends from Bohol and Cebu.

After his stint with the US Marine, Larry went to Los Angeles, CA and there he worked for a karaoke company as marketing manager for their special products division. In LA, he became exposed to Tagalog music and started learning Tagalog songs like Freddie Aguilar’s “Anak,” Basil Valdez’s “Ngayon at Kailanman,” and Louie Heredia’s “Nag-iisang Ikaw,” After which, Larry became well-known in the Filipino communities. He would always be invited to sing for weekend occasions and events like weddings and other parties.

It was in LA where Larry came up with his slogan, Katawang Kano, Pusong Pinoy (KKPP) which he also used for his production outfit. After LA, Larry moved to Chicago where was exposed even more in the Filipino communities, singing in Filipino concerts. In Chicago and LA, Larry did front-acts for Filipino performers such as Jose Mari Chan, Jun Polistico, Joey Albert, Jocelyn Enriquez, Carol Banawa, Hajji Alejandro and others. Encouraged by his friends there, he recorded his first Tagalog album under his own KKPP Productions and released it May last year.

Larry came to the Philippines to finalize a recording contract with Viva Records last November. His album was released locally last February. Larry, who’s being managed by June Torrejon, has been promoting his album ever since through mall tours, TV and radio guestings and concerts.