Jyro Xhan

Jyro Xhan is the stage/pen name of Filipino American musician Jeff La Villa. He lives in California. He is a singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and keyboard player. He has been in several bands such as Jyradelix, Cush, Juggernautz, but most notably Mortal and Fold Zandura. He was the main songwriter and lead singer for both bands. He first used his pen name in 1988 on a demo tape but spelled it "Gyro" until the release of "Fathom" where it became Jyro. He is married to Carla Joy Phillips. The title track from Mortal's 1995 album "Pura" is dedicated to her.

In 1988 he, Jerome Fontamillas, Ray Tongpo and Wilson Peralta released a 6 song demo called "Wish Fifteen" as Mortal Wish. Four years later they signed with Intense Records and released "Lusis" and changed their name to simply Mortal. They released six albums with Intense Records. Their last album with the label was called "Pura". According to the liner notes of Pura, "Solamente" is inspired by "Tonight I Can Write" by Pablo Neruda and is cited as Jyro's favorite poet. "Serena" by Fold Zandura also references this poem. In the summer of 1995 he and his friend Jerome formed Fold Zandura with drummer Frank Lenz. They released three more albums until 1999. Fold Zandura has not officially broken up according to their website, but they have not released anything since "King Planet".

In 2000 he worked with Crystal Lewis on "Fearless" and co-wrote "Satisfied". In early 2002 he released a side project on Crystal Lewis' record label Metro One Music called Juggernautz without Jerome. In October 2002 Jyro released a new Mortal album on Tooth & Nail Records called "Nu-En-Jin". They did not tour to promote however since Jyro has stated that Mortal could continue to exist albeit only as a studio bandFact|date=May 2007. He is currently working for Metro One Music as a producer, engineer, keyboard and guitar player for various bands.

Jyro is currently "director/dj/guru" in Immersion a musical collective that meets every month for event style art.

External links

* [http://www.foldzandura.com/ Fold Zandura Official Website]
* [http://homepage.mac.com/justified_type/discogs/mortalfz/info.html Justified Type Mortal/Fold Zandura info page]