What makes a great pop music composer? Why the number of hits under his belt of course.
While logic dictates that it’s the one whose name is on the marquee that’s the most important commodity in music, there’s no product if you don’t have a good song to begin with. And that’s where the composer comes in. You probably know a couple off the top of your head; Celerio, Canseco, Cayabyab.
Then there’s Louie Ocampo. Who probably has the most number of songs that people have been singing in the last 40 years or so. We say that with utmost respect to those aforementioned composers, but, when it comes to hits, Louie Ocampo is tops!
In time for his 45th anniversary concert titled “Composer Ka Lang” at the Theatre in Solaire this Feb. 4 and 5, we list five of his biggest.
(Note: We’re focusing mainly on music that Ocampo came up with and don’t intend to take credit from the lyricists he has worked with if we fail to mention them here.)
Here goes.
“Anna” is easily the most memorable track off APO Hiking Society’s “Feet On The Ground” album. According to sir Louie, he was smitten at the time when he wrote it, quite obvious on the song’s choruses of “Anna can’t you tell and see what you’re doing to me/Oh Anna, this feeling I just can’t hide/ It’s driving me wild” and so on. The needy lyrics, coupled with its bouncing electric piano work made the song surge making for one catchy 80’s pop gem.
Released in 1983, “Tell Me” is the breakout hit for dulcet-voiced Joey Albert. Trivia: Sir Louie said that his inspiration for “Anna” dumped him and the resulting heartbreak song he came up with was “Tell Me” which asked “where did I go wrong? / What did I do to make you change your mind completely?”
Louie wrote a lot of commercial jingles in the late 80’s-90’s and one of them is the Gino Padilla-sung “Closer You & I.” It did more than just sell a lot of toothpaste, it became a hit and eventually a signature for Gino Padilla. Louie Ocampo obviously came up with the brilliant opening electric piano intro riff.
“You Are My Song” is proof that composers need lyricists to fully flesh out their music. And while sir Louie worked with a ton of them, he admits that Martin Nievera is hands-down, the most comfortable that he’s had. Cool story: Ocampo admitted he already had his friend in mind when he came up with this tune. It was only because sir Martin already had an album coming out at the time that he didn’t get first crack in recording their collaboration. But as it turned out, a certain Regine Velasquez was there for the catch.
“Say That You’ll Love Me” all have the trademarks of Louie Ocampo’s compositional style; the hook piano intro riff, the intricate chordal work that display his love for harmony, and the melodic progression under said harmony that already sings out the song’s hook. That it was Basil Valdez giving drama to it is definitely icing on the cake if you look at it from this perspective.
And “Kahit Isang Saglit” (Martin Nievera), “Hagkan” (Sharon Cuneta), “So Many Questions (Side A), “Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin” (Joey Albert), and “Si Aida Si Lorna O Si Fe” (Marco Sison) to mention some of a lot of songs in Louie Ocampo’s songbook.
All these songs and its stories will be on his greatest hits set list at the upcoming “Composer Ka Lang” concert.