The Philippine Star, March 21, 2003

The new Pinoy singing star is not really a Pinoy

(by:  Ricardo  F. Lo & Maridol Ranoa-Bismark)

If you close your eyes and listen to the album of the newest Viva Records Recording Artist, Larry Marshall (Katawang Kano, Pusong Pinoy), you would think you were listening to a full-blooded Filipino. But in fact, you’re listening to a 6’2”, blonde hair, blue-eyed, 100% full-blooded American.

The album, Ikaw Ang Dahilan was released in the States by KKPP Productions, Inc. in May 2002, Viva Records however, released his album in the Philippines last month. It is now available in stores all over the Philippines. The album contains 12 original Tagalog songs, written by such award winning composers as Vehnee Saturno and Jimmy Borja. The title track, Ikaw Ang Dahilan, was written for Larry by Jimmy Borja. It is now playing on radio stations nationwide. The music video for this song will be aired on TV soon.

The public will be just as amazed by Larry's speech as they will by his singing. His mastery of the Tagalog language is amazing for someone who didn’t grow up in the Philippines and does not have any Filipino relatives. Larry learned Tagalog simply by self-study. He purchased books and studied until he became fluent in Tagalog. Larry has many friends from the Visayas, so his accent is very Cebuano. He also studied Philippine history, geography, culture and traditions.

Larry’s love for the Philippines and for the Filipino people inspired him to study Tagalog. These are evident in his debut Tagalog album.

Larry has a huge following of the Filipino community in the US. He has opened for such artists as Hajji Alejandro, Jose Mari Chan, Carol Banawa, Jun Polistico, Nonoy Zuniga and Jocelyn Enriquez just to name a few.

Larry is managed by June Torrejon Rufino who manages Edu Manzano, Joel Torre and the boy band Jeremiah among others.