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Joey de Leon
De Leon on June 11, 2010
Born	José María Ramos de León Jr. (1946-10-14) October 14, 1946 (age 72) Binondo, Manila, Philippines
Occupation	Comedian, actor, television presenter
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Daria Ramirez (first wife) Eileen Macapagal (m. 1982)
Children	5 (including Keempee)

Joey de León (born José María Ramos de León Jr.; October 14, 1946) is a Spanish Filipino comedian, actor, television presenter and songwriter. He hosts the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga!. He is a member of the comedy trio Tito, Vic and Joey that has made several comedy movies and TV shows.

Early life

De Leon was the second child of José Seoane de León (1918–2008), of Filipino-Spanish descent, and Emma Manahan Ramos. His paternal grandfather was the first mayor of Malolos, Bulacan.^[1] At the age of three, his parents divorced. His father then moved to Madrid, Spain and eventually remarried. De Leon is known for his sarcastic style of humor.

Career

Prior to being an entertainer, de Leon earned his architecture degree from the National University in Manila. He was also a disc jockey for 12 radio stations when he was starting out. De Leon started out his showbiz career in the 1960s as a radio disc jockey and announcer. He worked for 12 radio stations, including all seven radio stations owned by ABS-CBN Corporation as well as other broadcasters like KBS. His first big break on TV was IBC 13's gag show OK Lang.

Tito, Vic and Joey

In 1975, de Leon became a co-host of GMA Network's early afternoon variety show Discorama hosted by Bobby Ledesma. He invited his former co-stars at OK Lang, brothers Tito, Vic and Val Sotto, to join him at Discorama. Only Tito and Vic accepted Joey's invitation. The newly formed trio started to do comedy newscast segments interspersed with Top 40 hit-song parodies. The trio was soon invited to become part of the show Student Canteen as they released 12 albums based on their Discorama Tough Hits segment.

Although Tito, Vic and Joey started their trio via Discorama and Student Canteen, it was the sitcom Iskul Bukol that gave them nationwide fame as comedians. Soon after, other TV and movie producers came knocking on the trio's door. In 1979, Tito, Vic and Joey started hosting for the noontime show Eat Bulaga! which was pitted against the more established Student Canteen hosted by their former colleague (and now competitor) Bobby Ledesma. Not long after, Eat Bulaga! toppled Student Canteen from the ratings.

Solo artist

Although de Leon continued to do movies alongside his showbiz teammates Tito and Vic, he started doing solo performances for other TV shows. He top billed Joey and Son in 1982, a sitcom on RPN where he played father to a young boy named "Jeffrey Laperal" played back then by Ian Veneracion. He was also one of the gag performers on TODAS where his co-stars included Jimmy Santos and Val Sotto. Other TV shows included Apple Pie, Patis, Atbp., The Sharon Cuneta Show, and Let's Go Crazy. He was launched by Viva Films as a solo comedian in She-Man: Mistress of the Universe. He also tried his hand at directing movies like Romeo Loves Juliet and Small, Medium, Large.

de Leon's films include Starzan'.

de Leon did several TV shows for GMA Network and ABC. In 1995, he made a movie comeback via the comedy Bangers for Viva Films as well as Pipti-pipti, Ang Tipo kong Lalake and Takot ako sa Darling Ko. He hosts Eat Bulaga which is now the longest-running TV program in the Philippines, and appears in other shows like Mel and Joey, Startalk, Nuts Entertainment and started a new show for ABC, the now-defunct Teka Mona, which replaced Wow Mali, his long-running TV show on the same network. Another show is in the works for Joey this time on GMA's sister station Q Network. He started hosting Takeshi's Castle with Ryan Yllana. He is also the resident judge of the annual reality-based star search StarStruck and writes the entertainment column De Leon's Den once a week in the Philippine broadsheet Manila Bulletin.

In December 2006, Joey returned to recording with a novelty single he wrote entitled "Itaktak Mo" (Shake it off). Unlike most of his previously recorded songs where the melodies were based on past and contemporary hits, Itaktak Mo had a unique melody that can pass off as either a pop dance hit or a ballroom song. Seen by critics as his answer to the other wildly popular hit, Boom Tarat Tarat (written by Lito Camo and sung by Joey's rival host Willie Revillame), Itaktak Mo was softly launched on Eat Bulaga! shortly before the Christmas season. On January 2007, the song was launched in Joey's album, Joey to the World 2 and gained airplay in most FM stations in a short span of time. Itaktak Mo has also become part of Eat Bulaga!'s segment "Taktak Mo o Tatakbo" that replaced "Laban o Bawi", and is also one of the official dances of the 4th batch of the reality talent search StarStruck.

After "Itaktak Mo" became one of the most requested dance tunes of 2007, Joey followed it up with "Kagat Labi Song", which was launched on "Eat Bulaga" on September 22, 2007. The "Kagat Labi" dance craze was already sweeping the whole country by storm before Joey wrote it. On February 24, 2008, Joey released a single entitled "Walang Daya" (No Cheating) with lyrics comparing his love to his rival host Willie Revillame's misfortunes (Wilyonaryo, Ferrari and Ultra stampede). He first sang it at his own program "Mel and Joey". "Walang Daya" will be included in the album version of "Kagat Labi" will be released under EMI Philippines.

On July 31, 2008, de Leon tendered his irrevocable resignation as columnist (De Leon's Den) for Manila Bulletin, he is currently with The Philippine Star, and has a column, "Me, Starzan".

In late 2009, he wrote another top hit Eat Bulaga song entitled "Ba Ba Boom". Then in early 2010, he wrote another single "Aalog-Alog" which is now rising to fame. He also wrote the themesong for Diz Iz It.

In 2011, he played as Pablo Apostol, the rock-star father of George Apostol/DJ Heidee played by Sarah Geronimo in a romantic-comedy film Won't Last A Day Without You.

As a songwriter

De Leon wrote most of the lyrics of VST & Co. songs and some Cinderella songs. He also co-wrote "Ilagay Mo Kid" with Mike Hanopol which was performed by Hagibis.^[2] He also wrote "Ang Labo Mo" for Sharon Cuneta^[3]

Personal life

De Leon has five children. Two with first wife actress Daria Ramirez - Joseph Joachim ("Keempee") and Jacinda Myrtle ("Cheenee"); and three with his second and current wife Eileen Macapagal - Jocas Eightria, Jako Raphaelle and Jio Sebastiean. De Leon also has four grandchildren from eldest daughter Cheenee and one from Keempee.

Controversies

Pepsi Paloma Gang Rape Case

In 1982 the 15-year old actress Pepsi Paloma accused de Leon and fellow comedians Vic Sotto and Richie D'Horsie of gang raping and taking photos of her on June 21 in a room at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City.^[4] On July 31, Paloma's manager Rey dela Cruz lodged a formal complaint with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile. On August 18, Paloma filed charges of rape and acts of lasciviousness against the three television personalities before the Quezon City fiscal's office.^[5] The crime of rape at the time, carried the death penalty in the Philippines, and to prevent his brother and his cohorts from being sent to the electric chair, Tito Sotto quickly went to see Paloma while she was still securing the services of Atty. Rene Cayetano. According to Paloma, Tito Sotto coerced her into signing an "Affidavit of Desistance" to drop the rape charges against his brother and cohorts^[6] -- Tito Sotto had allegedly placed a pistol on the table in front of Paloma when he went to talk to her.^[7]

In exchange for the dismissal of the charges of rape, Vic Sotto, de Leon and D'Horsie issued a public apology towards Paloma stating:

"We hope that you will not allow the error we have committed against you to stand as a stumbling block to that future which we all look forward to. We therefore ask you to find it in your heart to pardon us for the wrong which we have done against you."^[8]

Three years later, Paloma was found dead in an apparent suicide.^[9] Dela Cruz was murdered years later.^[10]

Comment about Depression

On October 5, 2017, de Leon elicited controversy from Filipino netizens and high-profile figures advocating for mental health awareness, following a remark he made about depression during the Eat Bulaga! segment "Juan for All, All for Juan", saying in part that the mental disorder is "just something made up by people. They do it to themselves". He apologized the following day.^[11][12]

Filmography

Television

Albums/singles

• 
  TVJ Tough Hits series (12 albums) (Vicor Music Corp.)


• 1990: Joey de Leon Tough Hits 1990 (OctoArts International, now PolyEast Records)


• 1993: JoeyRassic (MCA Music)


• 1999: Mga Pakyuuuut ni Joey de Leon (OctoArts-EMI Music, now PolyEast Records)


• 2003: "Spageti Song" (duet with Sexbomb Girls from the album Round 2) (Sony BMG)


• 2004: "Halukay Ube" (duet with Sexbomb Girls from the album Bomb Thr3at) (Sony BMG)


• 2004: Joey to the World (Sony BMG Music)


• 2007: Joey to the World 2 (Sony BMG Music) (featuring "Itaktak Mo")


• 2008: "Kagat Labi" (EMI Philippines, now PolyEast Records)

Awards

See also

• Maria Teresa Carlson

External links

• 
  Joey de Leon on Twitter
  


• 
  Joey de Leon on IMDb

References