The Velvet Mood Lounge Band is one of the Philippine music industry’s newest additions. Having a repertoire that includes light jazz, standards, broadways, contemporary pop, latin, and ballads, this group demonstrates their versatility rendering different musical genres that will definitely cater to hotel lobby audiences. Members consist of six individual professionals bounded together by one common factor – their love for music. As they soothe your mood from joy to sadness, love to loneliness, you’re in for an entertaining moment with the Velvet Mood Lounge Band.
They performed at the lobby lounge of Shangri-la's Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines from December 2007 to March 2008 and is now in Grand Hyatt Jakarta in Indonesia since April 2008. The group was also priviledged to grace the 2008 induction ceremonies of the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a confraternity of the elite attended by well-known personalities from Europe, United States of America, Australia and Asia held in Cebu, Philippines.
Rizza Go (mezzo soprano).
This four-consecutive week champion from a television singing competition brings her expertise to the group. She’s done performances with Time and a Half band in different music venues until she decided to bring her talent to the lobby of Edsa Shangri-la Hotel in Manila.
Joanne Francisco (soprano). Joanne grew up being part of a local church choir and it is from there that she was introduced to vocal harmony. It made her very flexible – doing the lead part to being a backup singer with ease. She used to sing in Edsa Shangri-la Hotel and charms her audience with her bossanova style of singing.
Sheila Buban (alto). Sheila's professional career includes winning several prestigious singing competitions in the country. She started very young and worked her way up to become Grand Prix winner of the 1990 International Song Festival held in Osaka, Japan. Her recent international hotel stints include South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia.
Rommel Canoy (tenor). Rommel’s contribution to the group is his flexibility and vocal stylistics. He was a recording artist of BMG Records Philippines during the 1990’s and was nominated in the ‘Best Performance by a Male New Artist’ category of Awit Awards. He had performances in Japan and is now bringing his stuff to Velvet Mood.
Jeff Calum (bassist). This veteran bass player honed his skills performing for different musical groups. Jeff is part of the music section of the Bayanihan Dance Troupe of the Philippines which shows off their talents in different parts of the world. He has also done stints in several Grand Hyatts and Shangri-las in Asia playing at the lobby since 1996.
Gerard Lao (pianist / arranger / musical director).
Gerard simply plays the piano with devotion. He can listen to a song then can play it a few minutes later. His experiences include stints at the lobby of JW Marriot in Hong Kong, Grand Hyatts Beijing, Jakarta, and Seoul under Options Entertainment, and several Manila hotels as lobby pianist. Gerard also does musical arrangements for orchestras, choral groups, and lounge bands.
