Ernesto

**Ernesto Feo Ladrón** (born June 3, 1954), commonly known mononymously as **Ernesto**, is a Spanish guitarist and perfumer. He is best known as a member of American rock band All Business and as the founder of fragrance line Liberation by Ernesto. After gaining attention as the head perfumer for Channel, Ernesto launched Liberation in 1989. By the early 1990s it had risen to global prominence following a series of cosigns and collaborations with numerous major fashion houses. Its success helped Ernesto join All Business in 1993 as the last member of their classic 18-man line up. Though his early involvement with the group was minimal due to his commitment to Liberation, he became a more prominent figure in later years after stepping down as the company's CEO. He would be marred by accusations of racketeering, human trafficking and nonconsensual polygyny at the time of the band's mid-2010s comeback, however he remained a member on all of their post-hiatus albums. Regularly flirting with both high society and the common man, Ernesto's life outside of All Business has made him one of the most often talked about members of the group. Despite his lack of musical expertise, his solo track for the band "You Best Know (Ernesto)" became a minor hit and a concert staple.

## Life and Career

### Early life, career with Chanel and founding Liberation by Ernesto (1954-1992)

Ernesto was born in Barcelona during the latter part of the Francoist regime, during which the country experienced rapid industrialization and economic development. The family's petrochemical plant subsequently grew at an exponential rate, helping the Ladrón family become one of the richest in the area. Though the chemical products didn't produce much of a smell, his father would douse himself in many layers of perfume after coming home from work to "mask his scent" (which was mainly done to hide the various smells he picked up from the different women he cheated on his wife with). This, along with the wonderful smelling cooking of their maid Mardenta, sparked young Ernesto's fascination with fragrance. He was simultaneously infatuated with American rock music, which his father attempted to beat out of him for not aligning with their new high class lifestyle. He tried to condition his son to become his successor as CEO, which the angsty teen wanted no part of. He planned on running away from home at 15 to fully pursue his musical aspirations, however he decided against this after the sudden death of his mother. This guilted him into staying in Spain to comfort his family and take over as the head of the company from his mourning father (who grieved by sleeping with other women).

The 15 year old Ernesto quickly drove the Petrochemical company to bankruptcy given his lack of formal training as a CEO. Ashamed, he abandoned his family's name and abandoned his family by running away from them. He planned on going to Britain to pursue a career in rock music, however he only got to the adjacent country of France before deciding to give up. While there, he penetrated several social circles connected with various Parisian fashion houses, most notably Channel. A robust social climber, Ernesto became acquainted with Coco Channel herself in the final years of her life. He has alluded to having slept with the elder woman when he was 16, however he has never spoken in absolutes about this. He did not succeed her as the company's director following her death at the age of 87, much to his chagrin, however the 17 year old remained with the company. He made the shift from janitor to fragrance assistant and, by the 1980s, he became the company's head perfumer. He led Parfums Chanel's relaunch of the Chanel No. 5 brand, making it more limited and expensive. After this, he triumphantly quit the company in 1983, with plans to use the attention as promotion for his own fragrance brand which he wanted to immediately launch.

Liberation by Ernesto launched in 1989. The delayed start was caused by trouble in securing financing, as very few houses wanted to work with him after the sour note he abandoned Chanel on. In the six years before its start, Ernesto finally mastered the guitar in the hopes of joining a rock band. These plans were put on hold, though, when he met his first wife Anais. He missed the birth of their first son Ernesto Jr. to attend a meeting with key figures from Dior, a fact which he used as leverage to get funding from them to bottle some of his colognes. The success of their initial limited run of the Contrôle de votre femme line led to further collaborations, which only further re-cemented Ernesto's name in high fashion. He swiftly abandoned his family to devote his full attention to his growing brand, which more and more houses were taking interest in. By 1993, Ernesto was collaborating with a majority of the major fashion lines in Paris. Becoming known as the "Conquistador of France" and the "Free Agent of Fragrance", Ernesto chose to keep these collaborations going instead of establishing Liberation as a stand alone entity. This was done due to the financial security that came from working with established brands. On the same day that he mended his relationship with Chanel, he attended the first French concert by All Business while on their Industry Titans Tour. The band played particularly weakly that evening, as many of the members did not want to be there playing for a crowd of French listeners. Regardless, Ernesto was impressed. Seeing the size of the group and the poor skill set of some members, the nearly 40 year old man hoped he could persuade the band to add him.

### Joining All Business, leaving Liberation and hiatus period (1993-2010)

Upon meeting Ernesto, the group's starstruck lead singer Vernon O'Shaughnessy almost instantly added him as a member. He hoped the perfumers fame would bring even more attention to the band preceding the release of their follow up to the best-selling *Back 2 Basics* (1992). Hoping to not scare away the legal savvy mogul, O'Shaughnessy drafted a unique, one album contract for Ernesto that, unlike other members', was not strictly limiting or financially controlling. Ernesto was happy to finally pursue his musical aspirations, especially as he had grown bored by the fashion world he believed he had "conquered". However, a series of legally binding contracts with various houses meant that he had to remain the head of Liberation for years to come. Thus, Ernesto did not have enough time to devote himself to the band after the release of their third album *Mogul Status: Executive Perks* (1993). He left before the release of *Uniting the World* later that year due to these commitments, as well as his own anti-charity stance that the album went against. O'Shaughnessy mistook this as Ernesto not liking him or the band, and thus felt that he had failed as a leader. Though intimidated by the veteran millionaire, O'Shaughnessy frequently reached out to the Spaniard in the hope of getting him to rejoin them. Ernesto, who in fact liked the band and its members, tried to get out of his contracts to fluctuating avail. He was able to occasionally participate at a concert or a studio session, however these occurrences were scant at best. Despite having some miscellaneous sessions credits over the years, the lack of a contract meant that he was not considered a full-time All Business member.

Ernesto rejoined the band as a full time member for their 18 disc 8th release *18 Kings* (1997), which featured solo discs from all of the band's members except Lady Simone Augusto. This included Ernesto, who contributed a brief 7 track solo project titled *Liberation.* The songs, including "Pesto", "Presto" and the controversial "Ernesto Says" were ghostwritten by other members of the group, as Ernesto did not know how to write songs but still wanted credit as if he did. He again left the band after this to continue focusing on leaving his contracts, with the minor success of the single "You Best Know (Ernesto)" further increasing his desire to abandon the fashion world. After completing his last legally binding tenure with Chanel, Ernesto officially stepped down as the head of the Liberation line and rejoined All Business. The members, who had recently reunited after embarking on over a dozen concurrent solo tours*,* welcomed Ernesto back as a full time touring member for the first time in five years on their then ongoing Back on the Road Tour. His inclusion on their tenth album *God Bless America* (1998) made it the second and final time in the band's history that all 18 members were together at once. The band would start to fall apart after this, however, with half of its members being deployed into the military by the year's end and their following two albums being commercial failures. The group attempted to build their stature and treacherous image back up with the spiteful *We've Got Something to Say* (2000), as well as the violent Stage 2 Tour, however conflicts between members were simply too high. Realizing he was on a sinking ship, Ernesto tried to regain control of Liberation to no avail. He remained with All Business until their final pre hiatus album, as he significantly enjoyed playing with his like minded bandmates to roaring audiences. By 2002, however, the band was no more.

Ernesto was closely tied to a number of his bandmate's personal endeavors during All Business's 14 year break from recording. He performed during the band's somewhat disastrous 2009 Brazilian reunion show, as well as spearheading a number of opulent reissues of the band's "golden era" albums (which encompassed their entire discography up to that point). He regularly recorded with Bo Jones and the Dirty Down Under Boys as a Dirty Down Under Boy, and executive produced a number of Larry Silk's solo projects including *Wet Nelson* (2005). Outside of music, he starred as Marquis De Lafayette in the revolutionary war epic *Unify* (2005) alongside the rest of All Business's surviving members. He was slated to star as Charles Darwin in the civil war era follow up *Divide,* however the spiritual sequel never got filmed. He was also on board as a producer for Michael Slammer's romantic comedy *The Horse Man* about a hospice nurse that falls for one of her well endowed patients, however this also went unmade. Ernesto, believing the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike was to blame, began a short lived union busting tirade that led to his blacklisting from Hollywood. He subsequently moved to Italy, where he helped fund a number of Lady Simone Augusto's operatic endeavors throughout Europe. Despite all of these ventures, Ernesto described this period of his life as "a great bore". Still unable to write songs, the mogul could not embark on a solo career like some of his bandmates. He wanted nothing to do with the Paris fashion scene anymore, and found most of his personal endeavors to be ungratifying compared with his heyday.

### Polygyny scandal, All Business comeback and legal troubles (2011-present)

While at the Naples premiere of Augusto's 2011 opera *And Roll*, Ernesto met model Chiara Lombardi. Infatuated with the young woman, Ernesto would swiftly marry her within three months. This coincided with the rekindling of his relationship with former wife Anais, a fact which Ernesto hid from her. She agreed to Ernesto's proposal of remarriage, as she did not know of Lombardi's existence. To keep the two from learning about each other, Ernesto instructed the women to not leave Italy or France, respectively, unless accompanied by the former mogul. Matters only became more complicated when Ernesto, while in Jamaica with Anais on their second Honeymoon, met Chandice Reid. The two married in a private ceremony shortly afterwards before Ernesto went back to Paris with the still unassuming Anais. Over the following year, Ernesto would split his time between Italy, Paris and Jamaica, spending about two days per week in each country. He lied to his three wives about why he had to leave so frequently, citing business regarding the Liberation and All Business estates. Though he was pleased at being able to keep up this ruse, he started to grow paranoid about the legality of his predicament. Photos of him with the women he courted began to circulate in the press, and thus he stopped going out in public with them. He became more controlling of their personal lives as well, instructing them to not leave their houses without supervision and restricting their internet access so as not to see stories about him. Though Chandice and Anais complied, Chiara began to grow suspicious. After sneaking on board his private jet on a flight to Jamaica, she uncovered the truth about Ernesto's marital situations. She leaked the story to the press, and soon authorities stepped in to take all three women out of their situations. By 2013, all three women had filed for divorce from Ernesto.

Given his dwindling revenue from the dormant Liberation brand, the immense alimony fees he had to pay and his negative image in the press, Ernesto began to push for an All Business reunion to help him financially and publicly. He convened with other members that wanted to do the same due to their own misfortunes, including Rolly Rockefeller and Moe Silk. Vernon O'Shaughnessy and lead guitarist Ted Bundy decided they could successfully reform the band after the success of the Bastille song Pompeii, which they had co-writings credit on. The death of Bo Jones in 2014 expedited the group's comeback, with several members who were hesitant about rejoining feeling obligated to do so in honor of Jones. All Business thus began to record their long awaited 15th album *Back to Business* (2015), which featured every surviving member besides the rehabilitated Lonnie Joe Parker. The news of the Ernesto-heavy comeback overshadowed his marital scandal, however the album's release was overshadowed by the Trial of Michael Slammer that occurred the same year. The album did not sell well regardless of the controversy, and the 15 piece band subsequently did not turn a profit from its release. Nearly half of the members left the band again, which in turned halted talks of a reunion tour. Despite the minor payment he had seen from the comeback, Ernesto stayed with All Business to keep his mind off of his personal woes. His devotion to the band paid off when "Can't Stop the Feeling", a single from their follow up album *Back 3 Basics* (2016), became one of the biggest songs of the band's career. Several members rejoined All Business within days of the song's success, with the group subsequently embarking on the highly successful Can't Stop the Feeling World Tour. Ernesto, who had become very close with the band's lawyer H. G. Wilikers, became the third highest paid member of the band, behind Bundy and O'Shaughnessy. This allowed him to fully pay off his alimony and begin dabbling in other endeavors.

Looking to expand his margin of profit and become as wealthy as he was during Liberation's heyday, Ernesto became involved with the New York mafia. He met several high ranking mob members during the wedding reception of one of the boss's daughters, where a handful of All Business members were asked to perform. Along with O'Shaughnessy, Slammer, organist Reverend Archibald and Bundy (who played bass at the show due to bassist Johnny Law's refusal to support such men), Ernesto became awestruck by the gangster's decadent lifestyles. While other members of the band were busy promoting *Buy Low, Sell High* (2017) and its ensuing televised trial against the then-public band's shareholders, Ernesto started to allegedly dabble in human trafficking. Though he has denied these allegations and claimed that he was simply partaking in racketeering and intimidation, lyrics on songs like "Non Financial Payments" and "Go Nads" have made subliminal reference to him "owning" and "shipping out" women. Similarly, the band as a whole made no effort to mask their mob affiliation with their 18th album *Barely Legal: The Gangsters* (2018). Their concerts became hotbeds for criminal activity, with more and more mobsters starting to frequent their exceedingly high number of New York shows. This drew the suspicion of the FBI, who began building up a case against the band with the help of newfound federal informant Johnny Law. Murmurings of this spread to the New York mob, who thus believed the entire band was snitching against them. They attempted to whack Archibald on stage to send a message to the group, however the assassin missed and killed organist Manchester Seuss instead. Terrified, a majority of the band, including Ernesto and Johnny Law, fled the country to Istanbul, Turkey in the Summer of 2020. This went against COVID guidelines at the time, thus making All Business guilty of yet another crime.

In contrast with how he was used to living, Ernesto attempted to keep a low profile during his time in Turkey. His bandmates weren't interested in the same, however, with several making headlines for their incendiary political antics and flagrant partying in the country. Law left the band around the same time that the band recruited seven new Turkish members they found for their 19th album *Rockstantinople: Dawn of an Empire* (2020), which Ernesto was heavily involved with. He played guitar on a majority of the songs, and was largely responsible for the album's convoluted narrative alongside Lady Simone Augusto. He performed on the ensuing All Business Empire Eastern European and Asian Tour, which carefully avoided countries where members were facing legal troubles. Ernesto did not go back to America during this time despite being subpoenaed for his alleged human trafficking, which further hurt the band's legal image. They were able to maintain residence in Istanbul up until the deadly 2022 Istanbul Riots, which were incited by a political speech given by O'Shaughnessy. As a last resort, the band decided to stage the All Business Cruise Experience on the high seas, which allowed them to narrowly dodge various international governments while still turning a profit. This did not last long, though, with the vessel being seized by the U.S. government off the coast of Panama in 2024. Many of the members were arrested and charged with various crimes, with Ernesto being found guilty of racketeering. He faced the longest prison sentence out of the members at five years, of which he served three. He recorded two songs for the band's penultimate album *Red Scare* (2025) while incarnated. He was released in 2028, just as the band began their farewell Last Men Standing Vegas Residency. He has occasionally performed with them ever since.

## Discography

### All Business

* *Mogul Status: Executive Perks* (1993)
* *Liberation* (as part of the 18 Kings release) (1997)
* *God Bless America* (1998)
* *Humble Servants* (1998)
* *The Real History* (1999)
* *We’ve Got Something to Say* (2000)
* *Back to Business* (2015)
* *Back 3 Basics* (2016)
* *Buy Low, Sell High* (2017)
* *Barely Legal: The Gangsters* (2018)
* Rockstantinople: Dawn of An Empire (2020)
* *X Marks the Spot* (2024)
* *Red Scare* (2025)
* *Last Men Standing* (2028)