My Uncle Spanky, the Rock Star Who Left It All Behind

Adobo Monday, August 31, 2020

Legendary Pinoy disco group VST & Co. gave birth to the popularity of Vic Sotto and Tito Sotto, the “V” and “T” in the band's name. But what happened to its other founding member, Spanky Rigor, the “S” of VST? Take a peek at his life now away from the limelight! GMA Entertainment

Journalist Albert Samaha tells the story of his uncle Spanky, a baggage handler at SFO who left behind a burgeoning career as a rock star in the Philippines to pursue the American Dream. Back in Manila, Spanky was a member of the pioneering 1970s disco band VST & Company — known as "the Bee Gees of the Philippines."

VST & Company, or simply VST, is a Filipino disco group from Manila, Philippines, formed in 1977. Hailed as one of the most successful Filipino bands of the late 1970s, the group is considered by many to be one of the original proponents of OPM (Original Pilipino Music). Succeeding the Manila sound genre early in the decade as pioneered by the bands Hotdog and Cinderella, the group rose to fame with their first hit song, "Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko". The song ignited Philippine disco culture, and sparked “VST Mania”; a craze that swept across the country throughout the late 1970s.^[1] With five best-selling long playing albums which host a catalogue of hits such as "Rock Baby Rock", “Swing It Baby”, “Disco Fever”, "Magsayawan", “Kiss, Kiss”, “Magnifica”, and “Step No, Step Yes”; three critically acclaimed full-length films: Disco Fever (1978), Swing It… Baby (1979), and Rock Baby, Rock (1979), hallmark the band's cultural influence and historical contributions to contemporary Philippine pop music.