Manuella Brečko (born 31 January 1989), better known as Manu, and formerly known as ManuElla, is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n singer, songwriter and music producer. She represented

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

with the song " Blue and Red.

Life and career

Manuella was born in

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

, present day

. At the age of 6, she started to play accordion, with 9, piano and with the age of 12, she started to play bass-guitar and formed a band. At the age of 16, she performed on the National television in the second season of ''Bitka talentov''. In 2011 she competed in '' Misija Evrovizija'' and placed in the Semi-final. In 2012, Brechko graduated from

music production A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

at the University of

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, Ljubljana. On 5 January 2016, she was announced as one of the ten competing artists in ''EMA 2016'', with the song " Blue and Red". In the final, held on 27 February, she was declared the winner. Brechko represented Slovenia at the

performing during the second semi-final held on May 12, 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. In December 2016, she moved to Stockholm, to forge an international career. In 2017, Manu released her comeback single 'Salvation' which garnered attention on streaming services and became the highest streamed non-Eurovision single by a Slovenian solo artist. In early 2018, it was revealed Manu would re-enter EMA with the song 'The Sound'. Manu's third single since her Eurovision participation, 'Only Love', was released in April 2020, serving as the lead single from her upcoming album 'Sunrise'. The second single, 'Forever Flow', was released in July 2020.

Discography

Singles

References

{{Authority control 1989 births Living people Slovenian pop singers 21st-century Slovenian women singers Musicians from Celje Eurovision Song Contest entrants