NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)- Our city is full of incredible musicians. The choices are many, except when you consider male vocalists.
Phillip Manuel has been doing it for a long time with some of the smoothest pipes in town, and like many others music was in his blood.
Manuel recalls, “I remember singing as far back as the age of 7 with my father. My father was a much better singer than 10 like me.”
Growing up in Uptown New Orleans also played a significant part in getting young Phillip to the stage. A famous neighbor was a big fan on Valence St.
“I was born on the same block with the Neville family, and after my dad, Aaron was my first mentor. He used to stand me on the corner to sing for his friends,” said Manuel.
In time he developed that smooth style on stage, first getting widespread attention with songs on local radio from a movie shot in these parts, long before there was a Hollywood South.
According to Manuel, “That was probably my first CD, album, and it came from a guy who was doing a movie called ‘Cane River’ up in Cane River Louisiana. The music was written by a guy out of New York who’s dead now, but his name was Leroi Glover.”
Over the years Manuel has sang or recorded with a veritable who’s who of the music biz from Allen Toussaint, to Patti Labelle, to Dr. John, and continues to perform regularly around town.
He even spent a few years in Washington, D.C., living his dream but returned home and took on a second career in public relations but also using that beautiful speaking voice as a commercial pitchman.
Says Manuel, “It’s fun work, it’s easy work, and it helps to pay the bills.”
While he gets a lot of work out of that great voice and many people go a lifetime trying to figure out what to do with themselves and what gifts they possess.
For Phillip Manuel, this was certainly not the case, “I never knew I didn’t have it. It was never a question. There was never a question about what I would do from the time that I was a little boy.”
You can see Phillip Manuel Friday September 11th at the Bombay Club.
On October 23rd, Phillip Manuel stars with Jeremy Davenport, Kermit Ruffins, and John Boutte in a celebration of the 100th birthday of Frank Sinatra at the Orpheum Theater.