Fans said the late great Beatle John Lennon’s voice lived on in this Filipino singer. The four brothers in REO Brothers went viral for their cover of The Beatles ballad “In My Life.” The boys, all of the Evasco Otic family, nailed the beautiful guitar melodies of the song, but what people really couldn’t get over was how gorgeous the four brothers sounded as a vocal quartet – it was like the Fab Four were back again. A number of commenters marveled at how similar lead singer Raymart sounded to John Lennon.
The Music Man readers may note that the entire performance was captured in a single take. To deliver such a consummate performance, with all four brothers both singing and playing at the same time without any hiccups, is super impressive. In fact, Ronjoseph not only sings and plays electric guitar, but also breaks out a keyboard solo mid-song without breaking a sweat – these young men are the real deal.
When REO Brothers uploaded their cover of “In My Life” to their YouTube channel, it drew 2.5 million views, becoming one of their most popular uploads. The performance made a big impression on Beatles fans, who added comments such as “John Lennon’s voice lives in that boy” and “When the singing started, I thought it was a Beatles record. Great cover.”
REO Brothers have quite the repertoire of Beatles classics. Their most popular video featuring the Fab Four’s songs is their medley of three Beatles love songs, “Till There Was You,” “I Will,” and “If I Fell.” The brothers again impress by combining the songs in a live medley in a single take while delivering gorgeous group vocals throughout. The medley mostly focuses on early Beatles songs, which is a great fit for the four-piece live band recording setup.
REO Brothers is a rock band that formed in Tacloban, Philippines. The group features five brothers, although when covering the Fab Four, they often perform as a four-piece. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that REO Brothers was formed by Ronjoseph Evasco Otic, who plays electric guitar and keyboard in the “In My Life” cover. As a boy, Ronjoseph taught himself to play drums after making himself a homemade drum kit. He went on to learn guitar as well, and then taught his brothers how to play music. The other Evasco Otic brothers are Reno (drums), Raymart (rhythm guitar), Ralph (bass), and Roy Mark (keyboard). Roy, the youngest brother, doesn’t appear in the videos hosted above, but he appears in numerous performances on their channel. While starting out, the brothers played Beatles songs at home, and then at local parties and competitions. The brothers slowly made their way up in the music world, eventually becoming a Star Music recording artist and touring the UK and US. During their 2014 UK tour, they performed at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, which famously regularly hosted Beatles gigs in their early years.