"From then on, my life changed completely." He received training from playwright Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, who was the club's director: "Freddie [Ma. Guerrero] found out that I could sing. So he tried to mold me. During intermission in the plays, Freddie would ask me to sing". Nievera said that he realized he could pursue singing as a profession when he was sixteen, while also having ambitions of perhaps becoming a newscaster or a deejay. 19581965: Career beginnings He began singing professionally in 1958. He was a daily performer at the Airmen's Club of Camp John Hay in Baguio. In Manila, he continued to participate in amateur singing contests. Nievera joined the "Search for Johnny Mathis of the Philippines" on the television variety show Student Canteen in 1959. He went on to win the competition performing the song "It's Not for Me to Say". Nievera "nurtured" aspirations when he started singing, one of which was "to go to America." While performing at the Clover Theater in Manila for one week (which was one of his winnings from Student Canteen), he was accepted as a flight steward at Philippine Airlines (PAL): "I thought at that time that PAL was more stable than a showbiz career." He worked there so he could go to the United States, but later quit in 1960 because he was "confined to the domestic flights" and was never able to fly internationally. He resumed his singing career by performing in clubs, including Ember's Club in Cubao where he was earning ₱15 a night. Nievera said that he initially struggled in the entertainment industry, which he observed was dominated by "sexy singers like Pilita Corrales and Carmen Soriano": "To be noticed... we started imitating American singers." Two of Nievera's contemporaries, Eddie Mesa and Diomedes Maturan, were also dubbed the Filipino counterparts of foreign acts Elvis Presley and Perry Como, respectively. According to Nievera, " [you must have a title then because it was very popular]". Nievera met his first wife, Conchita Razon, who gave birth to twins Martin and Victoria in 1962. He was later offered to sing in the US. 19661976: Society of Seven Nievera belonged in the original lineup of the Society of Seven (SOS), a Hawaii-based musical group of Filipino Americans formed in 1969. He joined in 1966, when it was still the Fabulous Echoes. Nievera had to learn to play a trombonium as it was