His words are bubbling with meaning and sincerity. He doesn’t want to waste his time. He knows where he should be and why he should be. He is the soulful balladeer who is engineering his way to success and is bound to create a name in the entertainment scene—Dindo Fernandez.
Unlike other singer who is trying to carve a place in the music industry, Dindo is not a product of a talent search. He confessed that his love for singing was already evident since he was a young boy, already humming tunes at the age of eight.
As he grew up, his inherent musicality led him to join the church choir in their community. He became the president of the Youth Council. He vividly recalled that on one Christmas Eve mass, he wanted to make an impressive performance to highlight this important occasion that he found himself arranging the songs “Oh Holy Night” and Gloria in Excelsis Deo” in a pop-orchestra style. He later realized he was already into a vocal and music arrangements. Eventually, he was already assigned to do solo parts in the choir.
Dindo shared that it was indeed a blessing for him to sing the compositions of Fr. Manoling Francisco like “Sa yo Lamang,” “For Greater Love,” and “Panalangin sa Pagiging Bukas Palad.” It was an unforgettable opportunity to have sung pieces from a priest who also composed one of Basil Valdez’s hit songs “Hindi Kita Malilimutan.”
“His songs were really inspirational, melodious like pop songs and the experience prepared my vocals to do sweet, sad and powerful ballad love songs which I am doing today,” Dindo expressed. It could have been this attributes why he sings soulfully, conveying his songs from his heart, telling the story, an edge over other singers who just belt their voices out without giving meaning to their songs. His engagement in the choral activities became his honing experience even without a formal music training.
Pursuing studies at the University of Sto. Tomas in between, Dindo finished Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, took the board and became a licensed engineer. He started building his engineering career as a port manager at the Batangas Port Terminal, hence, his transfer of residence from his original hometown in Angat, Bulacan.
Batangas City gave him the opportunities to widen his engineering expertise and soon, he established his own construction company. Having an entrepreneurial mindset, Dindo does not believe or rely on single income so he explored other avenues and seized every chance coming his way. And apart from his construction business, he also made use of his family’s love for food and culinary skills by putting up a restaurant, he named EF Café located on the highway of a subdivision in Alangilan, Batangas. The place boasts of palatable recipes, but this deserves another story to describe the ambience and services.
With both businesses enjoying its sustainability through the years in its respective markets, Dindo decided to go back to his love for singing by doing guestings and earned good feedbacks.
“Now, I am done with business and I have prepared for my next journey in life. I am ready to explore another field and this time, my passion which is music,” he declares.
A self-confessed late bloomer, this Rudy Fernandez’ son’s lookalike admits that he feels he still needs validation from friends to develop his confidence. His persistence paid off when a lady discovered him in one of his concerts who got hooked to his vocal prowess and immediately nominated him in the Aliw Awards 2022 as Best Concert Performer of the Year and Best New Male Artist of the Year. His feelings were indescribable and even got a surprise of his life because during the awards program, he was randomly asked to pitch in as a segment host which he delivered perfectly like a pro.
The nominations and event were both validations that indeed, Dindo has a place in the industry, truly competitive and holding a lot of promise.
Like other singers who have a story to tell, Dindo is not does not only interpret his favorite songs from his heart but writes his own songs, too! He has released his original compositions—an inspirational melody “Makinig Ka” and a love sonata “Akala Ko,” and a revival of Whitney Houston’s “I Look To You.” They are now on Spotify and iTunes, Apple Music and in the process of having a record label. He says his melodies just pop up while he is driving, relaxed, or when he is feeling good. Then he weaves his lyrics after, all collected from his memories and experiences with the intention to inspire, motivate, teach and to entertain.
He looks up to some music icons like Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, Boyz 2 Men, Maria Carey and hoping to collaborate in a concert someday with Morisette, even to his mom’s idol Nora Aunor and Regine Velasquez.
Currently, he has his own platform for his music, the EF Live which he holds on Saturdays.
By the way, in addition to his construction and food businesses, Dindo is also a potential host and a motivational speaker who always inspires his people that nothing is impossible if you want to achieve something. But for now, his music career is his top priority.
He admits to having a lot of challenges ahead, but propelled by the two nominations from the only award-giving body in live entertainment, his compositions enjoying its place in different music platforms, validations from people in the industry who showed up during his media launch held recently, Dindo Fernandez, the soulful balladeer, is fully equipped to engineer his way to success and prepared to meet every challenge.
