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Luke MejaresThe Story of Luke MejaresLuke Mejares is Filipino singer and a certified Boholano known for his unique R&B style and his signature falsetto. He is tagged as Gary Valenciano of Bohol and dubbed as ”King of R&B” in the Philippines. He is the only Boholano who remained shining in spite of his busy schedule. Luke was born on June 25, 1975 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines. His father Leonides S. Mejares is a black US Navy and his mother Elvira S. Mejares is a Spanish teacher. Michael Luke P. Mejares is his complete name. He was Mr. University during his high school and a campus heartthrob. He is married to Inger whom she has a daughter followed by younger son. It was on his high school days when he fronted the act of Joey Albert on his concert in Bohol. He even made it as an understudy for the Smokey Mountain during auditions in Cebu and eventually linked up with a manager who secured him for nightly club performances. Then Luke moved to Manila in 1997 and became a session singer for different bands until he landed in the band South Border as vocalist replacing the vocalist Brix Ferraris. He eventually left the band and pursued career as a solo artist. On 2004, he released his debut album as soloist entitled Stop Luke and Listen under the label of BMG Records Pilipinas. The album brought forth hit songs as “Paano Na” and “214”. He garnered the title as Male R&B Artist of the Year of Hip Hop Award on 2005. Singles such as Paano Na and 214 experienced commercial and critical victory. The Special Edition of his debut album retained two hits, “Paano Na” and “Livin’ Without You”. He covered here the Deon Estus “Spell” and The Whiskers’ “Rock Steady”. He added two new tracks, “214” of Rico Blanco and “Who’s Holding Donna Now” of El Debarge. He tried to locate his biological father but his father chose to ignore him. Instead of getting mad, he took things positively and built his own family. He held several US tours and even hosted RPN-9 show, Sabado Boys. On 2007, Pangako album is along-awaited successor of Stop Luke and Listen under Sony BMG Music. It is an 11-track album with its carrier single “You Had Me at Hello”, inspired from the movie of Jerry Maguire. His vocals were evident in “Yakap Yakap” and “You're All I've Got”. He also included his remake of “Pangako” which was originally recorded by Side A Band. He ventured out to song writing and composed “You Should Know”. The experimentation brought a mid-tempo track perfectly mixes R&B with few Latin influences. The album’s making took two years not just because Luke find it difficult to look for a music to be included in the album but he did not expect, the label renewed his contract. The label gave Luke the chance to record his own album. Pangako was his second album but it was his debut album as album producer. Here, he displayed his singing improvement with less falsetto, though this signature style of him cannot be removed specially in his remake of Pangako. The launching of the album in HNU gym Tagbilaran City was part of his concert tour in Visayas and Mindanao entitled Stop Luke and Listen Rewind. He also as one of the judges replacing Francis M temporarily in Philippine Idol. Albums
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