We recently connected with Franco Enverga and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Franco, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Music has always been present in my life in a variety of aspects. I was always keen towards singing and wanting to learn how to play instruments. Although I was never really trained in my vocals during my childhood, I would be extremely observant in R&B singers for their vocal agility. Singing became more normal for me once I started doing karaoke at home or at parties. The karaoke program that I had grown up with gave a score at the end of the song from 1-99, so I would shoot for the stars every time I sang (and growing up Filipino, nearly everyone who touched that mic would also). One of the singers that I began to study intensely was Wanye Morris from Boyz II Men. Nearly every night before bed, I would attempt to sing up to his ranges and observe how he was able to execute his runs so smoothly. Some other singers who I admired were Lauryn Hill because of her incredible tone and expressiveness, and Israel Kamakawiwo’ole for his effective vocal placement.

At the age of 7, my parents enrolled me in piano lessons. It took me a couple teachers to help enforce my appreciation for piano. After I began learning more pop music and other genres, I tried to couple it more with singing and eventually began to cover music. I would normally cover music by ear but from time to time I like to rely on sheet music. Covering music has always been my strong point but now moving into songwriting has allowed me to explore the true intentions of music. For me personally, it has allowed me to connect with some other amazing musicians with whom I’ve been able to collaborate and share ideas (s/o to my bandmates Rachel Rogers and Camille Zhang).

I’m still improving in my craft in several ways in mainly self study. I was taking lessons in jazz theory, guitar techniques, and vocals, but had to bring them to a halt because I was transitioning jobs. Now I’ve been mainly using textbooks and online resources to help deepen my understanding. In addition to theory, I’m also learning the fundamentals of music production.

Franco, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been a dentist for almost 4 years. Since I was around 5 years old, I’ve had this outlook that I was going to be a dentist and take over my dad’s dental practice that he had established over the past 30 years. I knew that I wanted to help people in a way where I could transform their lives. Once I decided that dentistry was what I wanted to do, I solely began towards developing this career. 8 years of school later and I’m in the career of my dreams. I love doing it all, from simple cleanings to complex surgeries and smile transformations. It’s always so rewarding to see patients regain their confidence and joy because they’re able to eat or smile again.

But in the background of all of this, I would delve into a passion that helped shape me — music. I was heavily influenced in jazz, R&B, reggae, and soul. I grew up singing to Babyface, Brian McKnight, Usher, Luther Vandross, and more. In addition to observing these singers, I then began incorporating their styles into my own. I was first put into piano lessons for several years and after finding the right teacher, I started to love music more. I picked up the guitar at around age 12 and then started covering more and more songs, mainly in R&B, soul, and pop music; overall, it just became pure fun for me. One of the first songs that I’ve ever covered was John Legend’s “Ordinary People,” and I definitely wasn’t shy about performing that one throughout the years. To this day, it has a special place in my heart.

I became more public with music in high school when I had originally put out a cover on Facebook to impress a girl I had met at the time. From time to time I would put out videos to show what I had learned by messing around on either my guitar or my piano. I started to develop my performance capabilities in college where I would perform with a group (s/o to Chine’s Disciples) for a plethora of events such as formal dinners, cultural events, and pageants. I also attempted many solo performances whenever I had the chance. Whenever I’m not performing on stage, I would casually post covers on my Instagram page.

It took several years before I started performing in open mics in LA performing covers. I then became inspired to write my own music after performing for an open mic through West Coast Songwriters; writing my own music was something that I’ve always wanted to do at some point but never really pursued because I wasn’t sure where to start. I ended up falling in love with the songwriting process and it has really pushed my creativity even further. So far, I’ve been able to write over 6 songs in the past year over topics of love, moving forward, and self-discovery. I have so many ideas that I’m currently working on and I’m excited to bring them to the light one day.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think it’s always fun to see the reactions from different audiences. For example when I’m singing at an open mic, I love to see the audience connect with my art in the same way that I do. Some other instances would also be if I’m leading the music in my church and the whole congregation singing along with me, or if there are other people singing along while I’m playing covers somewhere. When someone approaches me and tells me about their connections to my songs, I can’t help but feel accomplished and satisfied.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think my drive solely comes from my passion in creating and the desire to share whatever I create. I hope to create songs to which everyone can relate. I believe that music brings people together in so many ways, and I want to be able to do that with my art. In a similar way to dentistry and its transformative aspects, I want to be able to use music so that people will feel good about themselves in some way or another.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Francoenve

Image Credits

My family
Mary Shoff
John Banuelos
Nicholas Corona