Victor Nobleza Wood (February 1, 1946 – April 23, 2021)[a] was a Filipino singer, actor and politician. His voice earned him various titles, including "Jukebox King" and "Plaka King".[1][4]
Before becoming a singer, Wood starred in some productions of Sampaguita Pictures. He was a member of Iglesia ni Cristo. He previously hosted the show Beautiful Sunday every Sunday on the Iglesia ni Cristo-owned Net25.[5]
Wood died on April 23, 2021, due to COVID-19 complications.[6]
Victor Nobleza Wood was born on February 1, 1946, in Buhi, Camarines Sur, Philippines[2][7] to Sgt. Kocky Wood and Rosario "Tiyang Saring" Nobleza. His mother was well known in Buhi and neighboring towns for selling herbal medications and perfumes. He studied and finished secondary school at Jose Abad Santos High.
Wood's voice earned him various titles, including Jukebox King and Plaka King[citation needed] in the 1970s when his career bloomed.
In 1972, Wood released his third album In Despair. He became a very popular singer of that era and recorded many albums for Vicor Records. In Despair is an album of cover versions of popular English songs from the 1950s and 1960s. Three songs on the album, namely "Jenny Jenny", "Rip It Up" and "Good Golly Miss Molly", were originally hits for Little Richard in the 1950s. The album has a combination of slow and fast songs, and the slow ballads include "In Despair", "Vaya Con Dios", "Have a Good Time", "Hurt" and "Return to Me". The album's ballads are highly favorable to karaoke singing, and a number of them are still heard in karaoke nightspots. Among the album's upbeat songs are versions of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-a-Lula" and Del Shannon's "Runaway".
In 1974, Wood released his eleventh album, Ihilak. Eleven of the album's 12 songs are Philippine folk love songs sung in the Visayan language. The remaining song, "Gugma Ko", uses the melody of Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue" and replaces the original English lyrics with Visayan-language ones.
Wood had two children with his second wife, Ofelia Mercado Ponce, whom he met during his stay in the United States.[9] The couple had a son, Simon, and a daughter, Sydney Victoria.[9]
