A native of Calape, Bohol Province, Villame was the youngest of ten children of a fisherman father and fishmonger mother.
During the ten years of driving jeeps, he would compete in amateur nights held at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo only to lose, reportedly due to his strong Visayan accent.
Comedian Chiquito recognized his potential and brought Villame back to Manila to be signed to Vicor Records, which re-issued most of the Kinampay catalogue.
[4] Villame was the first to brand his music as "novelty" to distinguish himself from his contemporaries, who tried hard to sound like Perry Como or Frank Sinatra.
[5] Villame blended Filipino folk melodies, popular tunes and nursery rhymes for his music and then added witty, comedic lyrics that mixed Tagalog, Cebuano and English in a unique grammar he had devised.
Originally released under the title "Vietcong Palagdas" with the Embees and the MB Rondalla Band,[7] the song was written from made-up Chinese-sounding words, which Villame allegedly came up with by writing down the names of Chinese stores while waiting for a mechanic to fix his broken-down jeepney in Manila's Chinatown; it borrowed from the tune of Dee Dee Sharp's "Baby Cakes", a 1962 hit.
He also established a love team with "Barok Labs Dabiana" and celebrated his fisherman father with "Piyesta ng Mga Isda".