Ferdinand Pascual Aguilar (born February 5, 1953), better known as Freddie Aguilar, Ka Freddie Aguilar, or simply Ka Freddie, is a Filipino folk musician, singer-songwriter. Regarded as one of the pillars and icons of Original Pilipino Music (OPM). He is best known for his rendition of "Bayan Ko", which became the anthem of the opposition against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos during the 1986 People Power Revolution, and for his song "Anak", the best-selling Philippine music record of all time. He is heavily associated with Pinoy rock. He is well known internationally, claiming fame as one of the best musician-songwriters from the Philippines. Early life Freddie Aguilar's musical beginnings started when he was young. When he was 9-years-old, Aguilar played his first guitar. By the time he was 19-years-old, Freddie Aguilar performed on stage with Joshua Alcantara for the first time. Freddie Aguilar studied Electrical Engineering at De Guzman Institute of Technology but did not finish the degree program. Instead he pursued music, became a street musician, and then a folk club and bar musician. At the age of 18, Aguilar parted ways with his family and quit college. After realizing and regretting his mistakes five years later, he composed the song Anak. Influences Freddie Aguilar's influences include British and American folk-rock stars like Cat Stevens and James Taylor. He is also heavily influenced by his Filipino heritage, nationalist feelings, and tries to constitute a musical exploration of the Filipino ethos. Career Freddie Aguilar first began performing in public in 1973, when he auditioned and was hired to play folk songs at per gig at the Hobbit House in Ermita, Manila. International acclaim Aguilar's "Anak" not only broke the Philippine record charts in 1979, but it also hit the no. 1 spot in Japan and achieved considerable popularity in other countries as Angola, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and parts of Western Europe. The song has become so famous that, by some counts, it has been recorded in as many as a hundred versions in 23 languages throughout the world. Billboard reported that the song was the number two world hit of the 1980s. As of 2006, it was unsurpassed as the highest-selling record of Philippine music history. Political activism Even before Aguilar's rendition of "Bayan Ko," Aguilar created and performed songs targeted at social injustices. His album, Magdalena included songs about a girl forced into prostitution as a result of