Vincent Ferdinand “Ebe” L. Dancel was born on May 30,1976 in Ilagan, Isabela. He is the fourth of six kids of Vicente C. Dancel and Ma. Milagros L. Dancel. The family lived in places like Aparri, Cagayan, Isabela, Laoag, Quezon, Baguio, before moving to Quezon City in 1991.
Ebe is a graduate of U.P. Rural High School in Los Banos, Laguna. He took up dentistry but quit after two years because he wanted to pursue music (although it can be argued that he just didn’t know what to do next, and music was the first thing he came up with). He shifted to Creative Writing in U.P. Diliman, and started forming college bands until he met his bandmates from Sugarfree in 1999. He eventually graduated with his degree, but he has difficulty remembering when it happened. He also lost his diploma.
After years of toiling in the bar scene, EMI Philippines took notice of the group and signed them up after months of negotiations. The band was finally able to release its first album, “Sa Wakas” in 2003. A year later, Sugarfree released “Dramachine.” The band started touring the whole country non-stop. In 2006, Ebe locked himself up in his room and wrote the semi-autobiographical album “Tala-arawan.” The group managed to get esteemed producer Robin Rivera to guide them through recording.
Ebe also formed Cambio with good friends Raimud Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, Kris Dancel, and Diego Mapa. Although they only play a few shows a month, the band is happy to spend time together and get together in someone’s house to write songs and record them on a computer. He was also part of Wolfmann plus, an electronica band.
In between touring, Ebe and his bandmates managed to release a live album with the Manila Symphony Orchestra. To celebrate its 10th year in the business, Sugarfree released “Mornings and Airports” in 2009. Ebe enjoyed the experience as he got more involved with the production of the songs. The band had such a great time, they went beyond the recording budget and had to pay for the extra hours themselves.
These days, Ebe is busy writing songs for other musicians. He has had the honor of writing for Sinosikat, General Luna, and Nyoy Volante. He also hopes to do something for Hilera and finally write a song for Miss Regine Velasquez (something he promised her more than five years ago. God bless her for being patient). Recently, he was also tapped to make music for Chito Rono’s fantastic musical, Emir.
In the next few years, Ebe dreams of more albums, two kids, and a quiet and peaceful life.
