Willy Cruz

(Source: Baby A. Gil Sounds Familiar Phil. Star)

The name Willy Cruz certainly rings a lot of bells. Name a movie with an awardwinning score
and chances are it is composed by Willy. Balweg, Sana’y Wala ng Wakas, Baby Tsina, Pahiram
ng Isang Umaga. Name some of the greatest names in popular music and you can bet they
have recorded a composition written or arranged by Willy or have had albums produced by him
– Nora Aunor, Sharon Cuneta, Pilita Corrales, Hajji Alejandro, Nonoy Zuñiga, Zsa Zsa Padilla.
Name some of the best-known Filipino songs of recent times and most of them are also by
Willy. Sana’y Maghintay ang Walang Hanggan, Bituing Walang Ningning, May Minamahal,
Sana’y Wala ng Wakas, Kahit Na, Kumusta Ka, Doon Lang, Init Sa Magdamag, Never Ever Say
Goodbye and many others.

Willy Cruz is a musical director, composer, arranger and record producer. What many people do
not know though is that he is also a competent pianist. In fact, he started out playing the piano
as a kid. Willy could have been a great pianist. He is the grandnephew of the famous pianist
and composer Francisco Buencamino who provided music for motion pictures, composed
zarzuelas, kundimans, tone poems and classical pieces like the famous Mayon Concerto.

There are many other singers and musicians in his family. Willy’s early lessons were with
Rosario Licad, his aunt and the mother of world-famous pianist Cecile Licad. He later also
studied under Marcelino Carluen.

Given his training, he could have easily become another Cecile. But somewhere between the
piano lessons and his school work at the Ateneo University, Willy discovered pop music and
whatever promise he had as a concert pianist instantly got sidetracked.

He became an arranger first for the Ambivalent Crowd and later for other artists. He went
fulltime into the music business, initially as a writer of commercial jingles, then as a record
producer and company executive, first for Vicor Music Corporation and then for Jem Recording
and then as musical director for motion pictures. While going through these experiences he also
developed into the composer of many hit songs that have become modern classics.

Despite all these successes though, Willy is still first and foremost a pianist. Though he
occasionally performs in shows and concerts, his talent as a pianist has never been fully
exploited. That is, until recently. Willy has recorded a collection of tunes for a new solo
instrumental album. Titled Got to Believe in Magic, it is made up of some of the most romantic
songs we have come to love over these past few years and Willy makes them sound truly
special again. His interpretation shows the innate skill, the depth of expression that recaptures
the magic of being in love through the hands of somebody who is indeed an extraordinary
pianist.
Willy was born to the music, descended from the Buencamino clan. His great grandfather wrote
music for zarzuelas and his great grand uncle was the renowned composer and teacher
Francisco Buencamino. Like his cousin internationally famous pianist Cecile Licad, he was
trained in piano and classical music from an early age. But there was a time when he ventured
forth into something else, like studying at the Asian Institute of Management and considering a
life in the corporate world. This was what he did at Vicor Music Corp. Head honcho Vic del
Rosario Jr., appointed him vice president for Artist and Repertoire of the domestic labels
division in 1974.

Del Rosario though admitted that he really hired Willy for the music. Just as he tapped George
Canseco for songwriting success a few years before, he saw in Willy a future as a composer on
the strength of arrangements the young musician had done for the Ambivalent Crowd. Willy
soon found himself more involved with studio work than running the office, arranging and
producing hits for Vicor artists like Nora Aunor, Celeste Legaspi, Didith Reyes and others. Two
years later, he was running his own recording company Jem Records.
Just like with what happened at Vicor, Willy did not stay long as president of Jem. He was not
created to be a business executive even if the business was music. But it was at that time that
his extraordinary gifts as a songwriter were first recognized. From writing lyrics to foreign
melodies for Jem artist Hajji Alejandro like Charade by the Bee Gees which became Tag-araw
or The Worst That Could Happen by The Fifth Dimension that he retooled as Panakip-butas,
Willy went into a composing binge that resulted in some of the most beautiful and most enduring
Filipino songs of all time.

Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas, Bituing Walang Ningning, Pangarap Na Bituin, Sana’y Maghintay
Ang Walang Hanggan, Himala Ng Pag-ibig, all popularized in the classic films that starred
Sharon Cuneta for Del Rosario’s Viva Films. Doon Lang, Kumusta Ka, Love Without Time,
Magandang Gabi, Fragments of Forever, Never Ever Say Goodbye by Nonoy Zuñiga; May
Minamahal by Hajji; Sa Duyan Ng Pag-ibig by Appasionatta; Kahit Na by Zsa Zsa Padilla; Let
The Pain Remain by Basil Valdez; Init Sa Magdamag by Sharon and Nonoy; Mahawi Man Ang
Ulap by Sharon and Dulce; Araw-Araw Gabi-Gabi by Didith Reyes; Kapag Puso’y Sinugatan by
Raymond Lauchengco and others.