Career
Rico was one of the founding members of Filipino rock band Rivermaya, in varying roles as vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, and main songwriter from 1993 to 2007.
Aside from his songwriter credits in his solo album and in Rivermaya, Blanco also arranged and wrote music for various side projects such as the United Nations MDG theme "Tayo Tayo Rin", The Philippine Department of Tourism theme "Biyahe Tayo" (both of which were performed by veteran Filipino musicians, such as Freddie Aguilar, The Apo Hiking Society, Lea Salonga, and Sharon Cuneta). He also co-wrote a theme song for the Southeast Asian Games, "Posible".
Rico Blanco was also a stage and film actor. He starred alongside Noel Cabangon and Joey Ayala in the Music Museum and 1970s Bistro production of Jesus Christ Superstar and also starred alongside Epy Quizon and Christopher de Leon in the independent film Nasaan si Francis?. He is also the voice behind Ryusuke (Ray) Minami in the Philippine edition of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. He also directed several music videos, won an award for his work as musical scorer/arranger for HIT Productions. Blanco also dabbles in oil painting and photography.
Among the albums Blanco produced are Slapshock's Project 11-41, Sugarfree's Sa Wakas, The Dawn's Salamat (Millennium edition single), Teeth's I Was a Teenage Tree and Rivermaya's Free album which won him a NU Rock award for Producer of the year. Blanco also used to host MYX Live. He also composed scores for many commercials & other various corporate functions around the Philippines.
In May 2007, Blanco announced his departure from Rivermaya. His last performance with Rivermaya was on May 4, 2007 at the Metro Bar (wherein two other high profile Filipino bands opened the show, Pupil and Sandwich; two spin-off bands of the legendary pop-rock group Eraserheads). It was coincidental that Rico’s first gig as singer for Rivermaya was also held at the Metro Bar (formerly known as "Kampo"). Furthermore, first ever Rivermaya gig (where Blanco was keyboardist) was in Las Piñas City in 1993 where the band was the opening act for Eraserheads.
In 2007, he launched a clothing line for a clothing brand in the Philippines, Human. He also spent his time with philanthropic work. In late 2007 he came out of retirement to sing for the Sumilao farmers who walked 1,700 km from Bukidnon to reach Department of Agrarian Reform in Metro Manila. Blanco also wrote and produced an electronic dance music song titled "Control" for the album of Nancy Castiglione.
In 2011, Blanco co-wrote the song "Chemistry" with Solenn Heussaff for the latter's self-titled debut album.
Read more about this topic: Rico Blanco
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