MUSIC and compassion are two different things. But when these two come together, the result is incredible - music becoming a vehicle for helping other people.
And that's how pop singer Mr. Monte Carl Luttrell, an American who married a Cagayanon, wants to kick off his singing career in the City of Golden Friendship - by launching his first international album in the city and eventually establish a recording studio for those who dream to become a star.
Mr. Luttrell, popularly known by his nickname Ghetto White Ghetto, will launch his album titled "Love for the World" on June 19, 7:00 p.m. at the 2nd floor of SM City.
The album, written and arranged by Mr. Luttrell himself, has 10 cuts. It includes the songs "Beauty I'm Your Beast," "Time Heals the Pain," "Asian Girl," "Angel From Above," "Sara," "Can't Be Just Friends," "Won't Get To Heaven," "Pretty Girl" and "Cagayan".
One of the album's come-ons is the song "Cagayan de Oro" which talks about the culture of the city that Mr. Luttrell started to love.
Mr. Luttrell says the album launching is free as he invites everyone to witness and hear his music - the kind of music that may send everyone into a contemplative mood.
He says there are lots of musically-inclined Cagayanons who aren't just given the chance to shine.
"And I want to give them the chance. I want to offer something to the community. I would be opening a recording studio soon," Mr. Luttrell says, whose Cagayanon wife has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. He has four sons from a previous marriage.
Mr. Luttrell recorded his album at his Ghetto White Recording Studio in California under Luttrell Universal Sounds Inc.
This 59-year-old California-born singer says he is just too happy to share all his compositions to Cagayanons.
But becoming a pop singer is not all glory to Mr. Luttrell, having born and raised in Easter Hill in the east bay area of Northern California where he often rub elbows with gangsters, addicts and robbers.
He admits he was once a gangster, a robber, drug user and dealer, and was involved in motorcycle gang activities after being constantly exposed to "bad elements" in his neighborhood.
"In the neighborhood where I was raised, there were vicious beasts and murderers who were black. They hated me because I am white. I grew up very poor. My father died when I was 12 years old. I supported myself. I have no model, no teacher, no father figure to follow. I was exposed to bad people because we were poor and my mother was not strong enough to control me," he shares.
Mr. Luttrell says he was once a multi-million dollar druglord. He served 17 years in federal prison and attended a 60-day therapeutic drug program.
But that was five years ago.
Now, Mr. Luttrell is seriously trying to ink a name in the music industry with his kind of songs, some of which delve on drug addiction.
"I am in Cagayan de Oro in good faith and I want to help the poor community here," he says.
With Mr. Luttrell conquering the airwaves, the city's music scene would definitely shine anew.