Prehistoric
Born in Baguio City, the city of Pines, the summer capital of the Philippine Islands, J am ill was educated in an exclusive private Catholic school run by Belgian missionaries. It was in St. Louis University (SLU) Elementary Laboratory School (ELS) and Laboratory Boys' High School (LHS) where he developed his interest in the arts. Baguio City is a town conducive for the arts, where a number of globally acclaimed visual artists call it home. The sound of flat gongs played in rituals, wedding ceremonies, peace pacts and other celebrations resounded in the city and could be heard throughout his childhood. The indigenous Cañao music, rituals and permformances of the Igorots from the Cordilleras influenced and moulded J am ill in his native Baguio.

1993-2002
While studying at the University of the Philippines (U.P.) Conservatory of Music in Diliman, Quezon City, majoring in Percussion, J am ill (aka Jams) trained and toured extensively with the Manila Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO), formerly known as the Philippine Youth Orchestra (PYO). The PYO was the training ground for the Manila Symphony Orchestra, where Jams played for nine years. In his major orchestral debut, he performed as a soloist with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Italian conductor Rugiero Barbieri. He later became a contract percussionist for the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra (SMPO) under the direction of the conductor of the Melbourne Pops Orchestra, Maestro Julian Quirit. J am ill took part in the recording of 'The Sacred Works of Ryan Cayabyab' album with the SMPO.

In addition, he also played/recorded with different contemporary artists and bands such as Lea Salonga, Coritha Sanchez, Heber Bartolome at ang Bagong Lumad, DJ Alvaro and Regine Velasquez to name a few. He was also involved in musical directing for shows of actors launching their singing careers and worked with producers based at the TV network GMA7. He founded his own percussion quintet named BrahmaJams and later co-founded the jazz trio, 'Shrooms', with American guitarist/sitar player and Berklee graduate, Christian Becker, and with cellist/guitarist Dexter Lansang. 'Shrooms' later evolved into the jazz group that was known as 'Angel's Trumpet.' He also played and recorded with 'Synactix', a live electronic group with bass player Mark Laccay, sound engineer of the Eraserheads. At the same time, he was teaching privately, whilst founding and heading the percussion department of Saint Scholastica's College of Music in Manila.

2003-Present
In 2003, just before he was about to embark on an MA in Music at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, he travelled to London, in the United Kingdom. After just a few weeks in London, he was invited to play in some London gigs and in a music festival, sparking his passion to play for an international audience. This was the beginning of his involvement with Brirish bands and the UK music industry, the next chapter of his life.

He leapt into the UK educational system in October of 2003 and was immediately appointed Head of Music in several inner and outer London secondary schools at various times.

In 2005 J am ill stepped up his teaching practice to Post-Compulsory (post-16) education. He taught the BTEC National Diploma in Popular Music and Music Practice, with elements of music technology and A-Level music. For three consecutive years he acted as producer and created professionally recorded albums for graduating classes under his company, Twisted Productions and Records. He was the musical director in most of the major shows and all the Final Major Projects of the performing arts music department then. Apart from teaching the course units, he also taught guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, choreography, music technology, music production, music theory, musicology, the history of popular music etc etc. Furthermore, he gained knowledge in sound engineering in performance and recording conditions from training courses provided by his employer at that time.

In 2006 whilst working as a performer and as an educator, he studied at the prestigious Institute of Education (IoE), University of London, for two years and finished his Post Compulsory Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Performing Arts in July 2008.

J am ill has been a classical percussion tutor, drum kit tutor and a conductor at Morley College's Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) in Westminster, London, since 2003. He composes and arranges music for his percussion ensemble at CYM, which he conducts himself. In 2007 he started teaching at Roehampton University's Music Department in south-west London as a percussion and drum kit tutor.

Some of the first bands that Jams played with in London were called Orgone and Audio River. He also worked with the house band of Fame Academy UK, Orchestrand, playing with Vina Morales and Ogie Alcasid at the famous Hammersmith Apollo and was once in charge of backline for a Gary V concert at the Brixton Academy.

J am ill played at the 2005 Brazilian Tropicalia festival at the Barbican Centre in London, and played with the Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra during his early London years as well.

In 2006 he joined The Irrepressibles and met visionary singer/songwriter Jamie McDermott, and has been playing and recording with the group since. The Irrepressibles' performances and recordings have been documented at venues such as the Roundhouse, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the British Museum, the Union Chapel, Latitude Festival, Fabric, Miloco/Orinoco Studios, the Premises Studios, Air Studios etc etc. The 10 piece outfit is known as 'the big bad baroque shock of London' and has worked with French record producer Dimitri Tikovoi (Placebo, Kate Bush, Goldfrapp), international agent Rita Zappador (Antony and the Johnsons), music managers Ryan Hambasch and Oliver Sasse (Moby and The Knife), Melvin Benn who heads Latitude Festival, sound engineer Ferg Peterkin (Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Chris Martin, Blur, Jeff Beck), Al Mobbs of the Gorillaz and Amibiguous Records, costume designer Nicholas Immaculate, make-up artist and hair stylist Wakana Yoshihira, designers Pete and Nana Aganovich, film-makers Fritz Stolberg and Shelley Love, choreographer Melanie Simpson, Don Mosseau (former manager of Nigel Kennedy), etc etc.

The Irrepressibles are currently touring internationally and are due to release their debut album in early 2010 under V2/Universal Records.

In 2008 Jams met and played with blues/spirituals singer and guitarist Tom Rodwell who later introduced him to LA born singer/songwriter Art Terry. J am ill started playing with funk outfit Art Terry and the Fairys in 2009, with bass player Raphael Mann who plays keyboards and bass for Mr Hudson (Mercury Records), who have recently recorded with Kanye West. Raphael also owns Frizz Records where Art Terry is signed. The Art Terry and the Fairys' album is due to be released in October 2009. Jams has played with Art Terry and the Fairys in venues such as The Royal Opera House and the 12Bar club in Denmark Street, to name a few.

Apart from playing with his bands, J am ill continues to do session work up to this day.