Rayver, the singer

He’s better known as a dancer, but was born into a clan of singers. His relatives formed the now-iconic 747 Band; two of his cousins also had successful singing careers of their own.

But Rayver Cruz never really had the opportunity to explore his musical background, until now.

Rayver recently partnered with Cornerstone Music to record and release a debut album. Titled What You Want, the album was produced by Cornerstone Music with two of Rayver’s good friends, Gerald Anderson and Sam Milby and is distributed by Star Music. What You Want is also one of the tracks from the album composed by King of R&B Jay-R.

According to Rayver, the encouragement to pursue his singing came from Gerald and Sam, and a few other friends. Whenever they would go abroad for shows for ABS-CBN or The Filipino Channel (TFC), the boys would perform in staged production numbers where they would sing and dance, and Rayver, although better known as a dancer, always ended up surprising the others with his singing talent. That started them thinking that maybe, they could persuade Rayver to consider a singing career, especially since they knew that he came from a family of singers. “Bro, okey ka naman pala kumanta,”Gerald, Sam and Enchong would tell him. “Gawa ka na kaya ng album?”

But Rayver — whose musical idols include Justin Timberlake and Gary Valenciano and who remembers being dragged onstage during 747 shows when he was younger, or performing for guests at family events — never gave in to their teasing until one day, he decided, “Now is the time.” It was a slow process, but he had finally arrived at a point where he felt that yes, it was time to try new things.

After 15 years in showbiz, he realized how important it was for him as an artist to learn something new and to continually make himself relevant to his audience, to give them something new. But Rayver says that pursuing music doesn’t mean he’ll be giving up appearing on TV or doing movies.

This isn’t a career shift; it’s more of an expansion. “No, it’s not that I got bored by acting, that’s why I turned to music,” he says. “I’m not giving it up. I still love what I do. Gusto ko naman ang craft ko. Mahal na mahal ko ang trabaho ko. Enjoy ako sa ginagawa ko. Pero siguro dumating na rin ‘yung point na na-realize ko na after being in this industry for almost 15 years, na ‘yon ang key para tumagal ka sa industry na ito, na you have to reinvent yourself.”

So once Rayver made up his mind, he went to see Erickson Raymundo, Sam’s manager, who also saw his potential and agreed to help him make his musical dreams come true. Now finally, Rayver has his own album and will soon be going on tours to promote it.

The whole experience is very new for Rayver. Yes, he’s been in the business for a while, but this side of him is something he never really got to show to the public. Now that the album is finally here, he’s so excited. It’s a strange feeling to be going around doing interviews to promote, not an acting project, but an album.

“Oo, magsisinungaling ako ‘pag sinabi kong hindi ako excited,” gushes the actor-singer-dancer who formally launched the album last May 20. “Nakaka-excite umikot sa mga  radio stations and shows, na ang pino-promote ko, hindi palabas sa TV or movie, pero album. Exciting kasi new venture siya talaga.”

Rayver always knew he could sing. He just never gave himself a chance because he fell in love with dancing first. And now it’s time to stretch his wings in this new direction.

“Simula nu’ng bata ako, alam ko sa sarili ko na dancer ako,” he says.“Mas na-expose lang at mas naging komportable ako sa pagsasayaw. Mas una ako naging comfortable sa pagsasayaw. Isabak mo ako sa sayawan, kaya ko ‘yan. Now gusto ko makilala ako dito sa music. Gusto ko lagi may natututunan na bago.”