Manel Navarro Quesada (born 7 March 1996) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "

Do It for Your Lover "Do It for Your Lover" is a song performed by Spanish singer Manel Navarro and written by himself together with Rayito, Antonio Rayo "Rayito". The song was released as a digital download on 13 January 2017 through Sony Music, Sony Music Spain. It ...

" and finished last in the final.

Career

2014–16: Early beginnings

Navarro first came to prominence in 2014, when he won the second edition of the regional contest for young singers, Catalunya Teen Star, with an acoustic cover of "

Hold On, We're Going Home "Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake, featuring R&B duo Majid Jordan, released by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Republic Records and OVO Sound on August 7, 2013 as the third single from Drake's thi ...

" by

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

. He also had a YouTube channel where he would publish acoustic covers of songs. Following his victory, he was signed to record label TeenStarRecords, and released his debut single, "Brand New Day", on 4 December 2014. Navarro served as the opening act at Sweet California's 2015 tour ''Wonder Tour''. In 2015, Navarro was signed to

Sony Music Spain Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, and on 24 June 2016, he released his first single with Sony, "Candle", which reached number two at

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's Viral 50 chart in Spain.

2017: Eurovision Song Contest

In January 2017, Navarro's second single with Sony, "

", was released. On 12 January 2017, Navarro was announced as one of the six candidates to represent Spain in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song " 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) an ...

with "Do It for Your Lover". On 11 February 2017, he was declared the winner of the national final amid much controversy, and thus represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine. In the national final, Navarro was awarded the first place in the jury panel's vote but came third in the popular vote. The controversy arose from the presence in the jury panel of

Los 40 Los 40 (stylized as LOS40, formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', ) is a Spanish Top 40-themed music radio station that broadcasts current and recent music, primarily focusing on genres such as pop, dance, electropop, Electro Latin, and Reggaeton. T ...

radio host Xavi Martínez, who had previously promoted Navarro on his radio program and via Twitter; Martínez awarded the minimum possible points to Navarro's most direct competitor and eventual public vote's favourite Mirela. Navarro and Mirela tied in number of points, and the jury panel selected Navarro as the winner in a tie-break voting round. Loud boos and accusations of rigging could be heard from the audience at the studio, to which Navarro responded with a

bras d'honneur Bras d'honneur (From French; ) is an obscene gesture used to express contempt. It is roughly equivalent in meaning to phrases like "fuck you" or "up yours", similar to the finger gesture. To perform the gesture, an arm is bent in an L-shape, ...

. He would apologise for the gesture two days later during a TVE press conference. At the Eurovision Song Contest final, he finished in last place: Navarro obtained no points from the professional juries and only five points from the public televote, all of which came from Portugal. He also made a voice crack during the act, which lead to thousands of memes calling him "gallo", word that in Spanish means both voice crack and rooster. On 2 June 2017, Navarro released the followup single " Keep On Falling".

2018—present: After Eurovision

On 27 April 2018, after signing to Universal, Navarro released the single "Voulez-vous danser?". On 25 October 2019, Navarro released "Mi mejor despedida" featuring the Spanish band Funambulista, the first single from his upcoming first studio album. Navarro's first studio album, titled ''Cicatriz'', was released on 23 April 2021.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Manel Living people 1996 births People from Sabadell Spanish pop singers Singers from Catalonia 21st-century Spanish singers 21st-century Spanish male singers Música Global artists Eurovision Song Contest entrants