Billy is happy to be back... but Kuya Germs is not

There was something different about Billy Crawford the minute he showed up to meet the press in ABS-CBN for Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) Season 2.

Gone was the grunge, hip-hop look. Instead of a casual T-shirt, Billy wore a white long-sleeved shirt.

“I’m nervous,” he admits.   

Nervous about what? A lot of things, actually.

Controversies swirl around Billy’s signing up with the Star Network to host the ABS-CBN talent search starting opening night on June 14.

Why, for instance, didn’t Billy sign up with GMA 7 instead, knowing that his mentor from his That’s Entertainment days, German Moreno, is a true-blue Kapuso?

Billy’s move is said to have hurt Kuya Germs. People close to Kuya Germs accused Billy of having no “utang na loob.” The starmaker has helped Billy from his That’s Entertainment days and everytime he comes back abroad. In fact, Kuya Germs was reportedly bought tickets for Billy‘s Manila concerts.

Billy himself admits he had to turn down GMA’s offer for a new show.

He explains that YPMP Productions, the company that manages his career in the US, was the one that negotiated for him when the offer completely took him by surprise.

Executives of Netherlands-based Endemol, franchise holder of the Dream Academy series, saw Billy hosting Star Academy in France and came away impressed. The French edition of the reality singing tilt enjoys a wide following and has been airing for several seasons now. Its producers, who first took Billy in as guest, were so happy at what they saw they got him on a regular basis — as host, soon after.

Endemol wasted no time getting in touch with YPMP to pitch its offer: A three-month stint as host of Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2.

“I was recording my album when Endemol got in touch with my management office,” recalls Billy. “They asked me if I can come back to the Philippines.”

The offer made Billy jump up and down with joy.

“It’s always a pleasure to go back to the Philippines,” he says.

Billy says he did not forget Kuya Germs. The singer-dancer-host says he called his mentor up before flying to Manila.

Now that he’s in Manila, Billy vows he will seek Kuya Germs out himself and iron out issues.

Since YPMP is US-based, Billy reveals that “they have no idea that they are actually two different TV stations. It’s hard for them to understand.  So when GMA and ABS-CBN talk to them, they handle them as clients.”

Translation: It’s all business. Count out the personal issues.

But you can’t help but go personal when talking about Kuya Germs. Billy knows this.

“Kuya Germs will always be my father in showbiz,” he admits. “I love him and I want him to be proud of me.  If someone talks negatively about Kuya Germs, he will have to deal with me.”

Like the hometown boy who made it good, Billy looks back at his  That’s Entertainment  days with fondness.  Those struggling years with That’s taught him a lot about performing, Billy explains.

Back when he left the Philippines for the US to study, continuing his showbiz career was far from Billy’s mind. 

“I got bored while studying,” he relates. “So I did something to polish my talent. I studied dance.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Billy imbibed the American work ethic. He never complained about the demanding hours, the constant search for perfection. Billy looked at Michael and Janet Jackson and marveled at their never-ending drive towards excellence. He threw himself to work with gusto.

Now, Billy can put all the sacrifices he went through as the only Asian student in his New York school behind him.

“They didn’t even know where the Philippines is,” he recalls. “I was the last to be picked in sports because the other boys are tall.”

As a recording artist, Billy says management didn’t want to introduce him as a Filipino. They feared being identified with a minority group in the US will spell doom, even for a talented performer’s album.

Billy has proven his detractors wrong. Billy’s second album, Ride, achieved platinum status in France and has sold 600,000 copies to date. When You Think About Me and You Didn’t Expect That, singles culled from the album, boast of a combined sales of 500,000 copies.

Billy went on to play a role in Dominion: The Prequel to the Exorcist directed by Paul Schrader. He also released his latest album, Big City, produced by such big names as J.Que, The Comeboyz, The Dream and Pale Face.

He had a Big City Tour Live in 2005, which was a live release of Billy’s DVD, which was distributed in France. In 2006, Billy had a summer tour with L-5 in France,

Billy’s detractors are bound to eat their words some more when Billy returns to France in September (hence the three-month contract with ABS-CBN) to fulfill more commitments.

Meantime, he hopes fans — those who saw him since he was a little boy and those who are just getting to know him now — will support him, no matter what network they find himself in.

And in choosing ABS-CBN, Billy is also gunning for the exposure the network’s sister station TFC will give him. That exposure is nothing to sneeze at: weekday afternoons for Uberture on PDA, Saturdays as Toni Gonzaga’s co-host for performance night and ASAP ‘08 on Sundays.

Billy has many reasons to feel eternally grateful to those who helped him get to the top.