Mike Manuel is a
Christian country music artist based out of
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
.
Singing career
Mike traveled with his brothers Greg and Mark as the Manuel Family Band, which had three single radio releases that climbed to the Singing News top forty. They were also charted as number one in the Christian Country and Country Gospel markets. The brothers traveled and sang their original Inspirational Country music in hundreds of churches and concert halls across the United States and in several foreign countries.
In 1996, Mike Manuel relocated his family to Nashville and began a full-time solo career with a progressive country sound and emphasis. Manuel had a succession of fifteen number one radio singles and over twenty awards from various music organizations,
[ including the Country Gospel Music Association 1998 & 1999 National Entertainer of the Year, 1998 National Songwriter of the Year, and 1999 CCMA Male Vocalist of the year.][ He has also performed at the Inspirational Country Music Awards along with many other well-known Country artists such as Wynonna Judd, Josh Turner, and ]Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...
, where he won the 2006 Songwriter of the Year award. Manuel is a board member of the International Country Gospel Music Association. Manuel received the prestigious 2015 Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award during the Artists Music Guild's 2015 AMG Heritage Awards broadcast held on November 14, 2015 in Monroe, NC.
Federal lawsuit
On May 30, 2008, Manuel and his brothers Greg and Mark Manuel were sued in federal court for securities fraud.[ The lawsuit accused them of setting up a ]Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
to trick investors, including Debbie Smith, a former Christian singer, into giving them money with the promises of large returns and misrepresenting themselves as licensed investment professionals. Mark and Greg Manuel are listed as officers of MPire Holdings, LLC (a.k.a. MRI Holdings). Plaintiffs Jerry and Deborah Smith alleged that the company had been set up as a legal front.WSMV-TV
WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 15). The two stations share studios on Knob Road in ...
of Nashville, all three Manuel brothers were disassociating themselves from their legal identities and declaring themselves a "Sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'.
The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
Nation".[Order, September 26, 2011, ''Jerry Smith et al. v. MPIRE Holdings, LLC, Mark Manuel, Greg Manuel, Mike Manuel et al.'', case no. 3:08-cv-00549, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville Div.).]
References
External links
Official Web PageHiggins Music Group
Original legal complaint against the Manuel brothers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manuel, Mike
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
American country singer-songwriters
American performers of Christian music
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
Country musicians from Tennessee