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Nuela Charles

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Hometown	Edmonton, Canada
Genres
Band Members	Manuela plus her 4 awesome band members
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Artist / Band Member Manuela manuela@themanuela.com email for number
# Years Experience Performing Live:	3
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	11
Market Draw:	Edmonton, Alberta: 76-100
Venue History:	Brixx Bar and Grill - Edmonton,, AB Edmonton Events Center - Edmonton, AB Dicken's Pub - Calgary, AB The Streaming Cafe - Kelowna, BC Java Express - Moose Jaw, SK
Opener Experience:	Rick Ross
Similar Artists:	Corinne Bailey Rae; Feist; Sade
Performing Rights Society:	Outside US
Discography:	A Different Kind of Fire LP—2010

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About the Artist

Without taking away from the beauty of her lyrical themes, it’s the music that really makes Manuela stand out as an emerging artist. Embracing the spirit of old soul and present musical mentors like John Mayer, and Corinne Bailey Rae, Manuela has the...

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Music

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Achievements

Reached 3rd in Best of Pop chart in 2014. In the top 20 for 11 weeks.

Reached 9th in Best of Pop chart in 2013. In the top 20 for 12 weeks.

Reached 13th in Best of Pop chart in 2011. In the top 20 for 6 weeks.

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Press Coverage

Album Review by SEE Magazine - Jen Hoyer
Manuela A Different Kind of Fire (Golden Recordings) *** Manuela has been busy touring Canada’s West, including a stop at the Vancouver Olympics. But she’s found some time to release a different kind of fire. This first full-length album, while a little predictable, delivers quality sound. Manuela fuses soul inspiration with airy pop and her vocals are light and fresh. It takes a hearty optimist to sound upbeat while singing, “I’m just gonna try / to walk away / forget the day I cried”. The final track, “2&3”, stands out with a marked mood shift. Manuela finally taps into the darker side of soul that her voice hints at, but never explores on the rest of the album. With relaxed piano and cello accompaniment, her voice is rich and silky. Singing, “two days and three nights ago / you searched the depths of my soul”, we finally hit the depths of Manuela’s soul and I hope we hear more from there.

Manuela releases album, tours Western Canada by Catherine Griwkowsky Sherwood Park News Staff
The week before Manuela was to head out on her Western Canada Olympic tour, she lost her voice. Despite suffering this devastating setback for a singer, Manuela presses on. She has tour dates lined up in Edmonton, Moose Jaw, Regina, , Medicine Hat, Calgary, Kamloops, and Vancouver. She was accepted into the "More Than Gold" showcase, coinciding with the Olympics and decided to make it her CD release tour. Manuela has been singing since the days of elementary school choir and picked up the guitar when her family picked up and moved to the Bahamas when she was in Grade 7. There, she joined her church's music team and learned guitar. With a guitar in her hands, she started songwriting. Looking back, they were some terrible songs," she admitted. "But just like anything else, I kept at it. And as my guitar playing improved, so did the songs." It's been a two-year labour of love in creating A Different Kind of Fire. Manuela keeps away from the overly produced sounds heard on the radio waves. This album is definitely authentic and pure in its sound, if I can use those words," she said. She said her influences range from UK's Corinne Bailey Rae, to John Mayer to old Motown soul to church worship music. The eight-track album was produced across borders when she moved to Vancouver, a city she loved. Although it was definitely overpopulated, it was very inspiring at the same time," she said. It just felt like there was so much life, and creativity there. I met so many great people, and amazing artists. It definitely was a great experience." Life in general inspires her songs and "Wreck" was inspired while in Vancouver. Manuela quit her job and was in a low place away from her family. Most of the time, her music stems from her life motto of "love". I hope that people will be able to take a sense of joy and happiness from my music, even if it's not necessarily a happy song," she said. "I would hope they could relate to the songs in one sense or another and see that I'm just like them, a regular person trying to live my life doing what I love." Currently, her album is available at shows, or by ordering it from her website, themanuela.com. After the tour, you can catch Manuela every first Thursday of the month at Café Haven.

THE Manuela by John Pippus, Booker for Trees Coffeehouse
“Manuela stands out from the crowd. Her quiet, unassuming offstage presence vanishes when she's in front of a mic, replaced by a confident, tuneful chanteuse. Her songs are perfectly rendered pop/jazz/folk numbers that are played with a professionalism that is downright uncanny. I've booked hundreds of solo singer/songwriters over the past years. Manuela is right in there with the best of the best.” John Pippus , Singer/Songwriter, Trees Coffee House Booking Agent www.johnpippus.com

Good Girls with Guitars by By Sandra Sperounes, Edmonton Journal March 4, 2010
Girls didn't just own the podium at the Olympics. They're also staking their claim to the stages in and around Edmonton, thanks to an influx of up 'n' coming girls with guitars such as Erica Viegas, Ariane Mahryke Lemire and Manuela Wuthrich. All three are overachievers with global visions. They speak at least two languages. They like to travel. They take charge of their own careers, and in some cases, devote their time and talent to humanitarian efforts. I think people who write music are generally inquisitive and you get a lot of inspiration from watching people -- and what better way to watch people than to explore the world?" says Viegas, who works as a fundraiser for the faculty of dentistry at the University of Alberta. As luck would have it, all three musicians are promoting new albums -- joyful, poppy efforts showcasing their worldly, soulful vocals. Here's a quick introduction to three local indie songstresses: ... MANUELA WUTHRICH By the time she was 15, she likely had more stamps in her passport than George W. Bush did on the eve of his inauguration. Wuthrich was born in Kenya, went to kindergarten in Switzerland, spent her childhood in British Columbia, then moved to the Bahamas in her teens. "I started playing in church there," she says. "I taught myself the guitar and the piano. As soon as I could play, they had me up there. I started recording with the church, then writing my own songs. Stylistically, in the Bahamas, you only have reggae or soca, and so I sought inspiration from Avril Lavigne. I started off writing angst-filled songs, but once we moved back to Canada, I started finding my sound -- jazz stylings with pop influences." Latest album: A Different Kind of Fire, issued in February. It's her third effort -- Wuthrich released The Love EP in 2008 and Some Kind of Wonderful in 2003. "My voice has changed over the years. It's more jazzy and soulful," she says. "This album has a lot more depth to it." Lyrical inspirations: As nonchalant as she now is about her family's globe-trotting adventures, she knows it's shaped her as a person and a musician. At 25, she's still a free spirit -- having lived in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. in pursuit of her musical dreams. She now lives in Sherwood Park with her parents. "It's really hard starting over," says the English/Swiss/German-speaking daughter of a Kenyan mother and a Swiss father. "In a way, it's made me really quiet. I've become very observant in all of this." Business savvy: For her first tour of Alberta and British Columbia, Wuthrich was smart enough to recruit sponsors to help with the costs. Budget chipped in with a van, while a hotel chain provided her with rooms in Kamloops and Kelowna. "For me, it's difficult to ask anyone for money, so getting over that was the hardest part. But looking at it as a business, I can offer these people my services, and if I don't ask, how will I know if they're willing to help?" Next up: Wuthrich performs Thursday, March 25 at Cafe Haven in Sherwood Park, and she's starting to plot out her next tour, slated for September. ssperounes@thejournal.canwest.com © Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

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