Smokey Mountain’s original members share priceless lessons from Mr. C

Smokey Mountain was one of the hottest Filipino singing groups in the ‘90s. Their classic hits include Kailan, Can This Be Love, Mama, Paraiso, and Better World.

National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab formed the group while the great Douglas Nierras took the reins as choreographer.

Geneva Cruz, Jeffrey Hidalgo, and Tony Lambino recently appeared on “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,” where they reminisced about the good times they had as original members of Smokey Mountain. James Coronel is currently based in the US.

It has been more than three decades since their debut. Jeffrey was only 12 years old, Geneva and Tony were 13 and James was 14 when they recorded the hit song Kailan.

They continue to pursue their passion in their respective careers. Aside from acting and directing, Jeff has a production house that creates digital content. Gen still sings and acts. She happily shared about her medical spa called the Geneva Wellness Institute in Alabang. Tony is now the president of the Ayala Foundation.

It was revealed during the interview that they courted Geneva when they were younger. Tony said, “Hindi pa kami marunong manligaw noon.” Jeff further explained, “Siya (Tony) iyong pinakauna kasi siya iyong during Smokey Mountain. Siya iyong nanliligaw talaga. Ako, way after na. Grad ball date ko siya. Kaya ko siya in-ask kasi nga nililigawan ko siya.”

The three recalled the heyday of Smokey Mountain. At first, nobody was paying attention to them until Kailan was released and became No. 1. “Hindi na kami makalabas ng mall,” shared Tony. “Hindi namin alam ang nangyayari, Tito Boy. We were too young to make it go to our heads.”

I asked them what they think could have happened if there was social media during that time. “Baka mas mahirap kasi mas maraming pressure siguro. Alam mo naman iyong ibang mga tao hindi sila mabait sa lahat ng artists, so kung bata ka at exposed ka sa social media, baka ma-affect kami internally at 12, 13, and 14 years old,” Gen answered.

Jeff gave a different perspective on this. “Feeling ko, it would have worked to our favor kasi noong time na iyon konti pa lang iyong artists hindi kagaya ngayon. Because of social media, ang dami nang artists. Konti