Manou

Bio:

Manou is who?....and what?

Manou is a lucky girl, blessed with the genes of a singing and rhyming pianist and those of a drummer. That way an outstanding feeling for rhythm, harmonies & melodies passed directly into her bloodstream.

It all started at the age of 5 yrs., on her mom's piano and in kindergarden, with a colorful glockenspiel. "This 2nd beater has to be good for sth., except for if you lose one!", and so she tried to find out how to play with both and still make it sound good, did the same on the piano and so took her first steps into the world of harmonics.
When the kindergarden teachers recognized that, she was the first one in her group to be given a recorder and some first notes to learn to play her first children's and folk songs. First performance ever was for Christmas that year, and to perfect her play she went on playing in classical ensembles until 9th grade where she switched to traverse flute, taking lessons for another 2 years.

During that time Manou has always been singing in several school- and church choirs, as well as at home, along with her LPs and MCs of ABBA, The BeeGees, Kate Bush, Amii Stewart, Donna Summer, Chaka Khan, Fleetwood Mac, later on also Whitney Houston, Melissa Etheridge, Sam Brown, Julia Neigel etc., etc. .... and yes, also along with classicals music like f.ex. Mozart's Magic Flute and others.

After moving on to another school and other instruments (travers flute + tenor saxofone lessons) she became one of the founding members of the 'Rock-Pop-Workshop' offered by that new school, played and sang in different bands and so gained first experiences in band- and event organisation, as well as improvisation, lyrics- and songwriting.
Manou started writing her own songs and lyrics at about the age of 13, mostly in styles like Rock, Pop, Funk/Soul, Jazz, each in German and English language.

During a one-year-stay in the U.S. (near Denver/CO.) for the first time she played the tenor sax in an orchestra, playing songs by Gershwin, Bernstein as well as some rearranged pop songs. Later on that year she joined an a-capella ensemble and was casted for her first role in a musical

After graduating from pre college for graphics & design (FOS für Garafik & Gestaltung, Hamburg) the insisting love for music was still there and finally won the fight against all other options.
That's why things like painting, drawing, designing all kinds of things like logos, CD covers, flyers/posters, simple websites etc. had to step back and are only done for her own projects or friends, these days.

During and after three years of studying at the "VocaLine - the vocal school for popular music" (Hamburg) she started a new life as a prof. singer/musician, singing and playing with several Rock-, Pop-, Jazz-, Funk- and Soulbands all across the country (Germany). She also started giving vocal- and rhythm-lessons at the VocaLine and other music schools in Hamburg.
In 2002, with her partner Arno ('Strange Moon' ->TOP friends), she founded her first own band ('April Red', s. player!), to finally perform their own self composed and arranged songs with Manou also writing the lyrics to all of them.

Later on she became more and more involved in the music scene of Hamburg, doing lots of jobs with several top40-/cover bands, touring all over Germany and some other parts of Europe, and in the studios (mainly in Hamburg).

Manou is a musician with all her heart & soul!!!
She's known to be very creative and actually kind of chameleonic in using her voice and instruments, changing styles, sounds and that way also moods within seconds. Having kept her childlike curiosity throughout the years, she still loves to try new ways and to take new challenges.
Besides her permanent projects (s. current projects, left column) she's always on her way on behalf of music, f.ex. as a guest musician for different bands, joining sev. jam sessions and studio productions, especially when powerful vocals, demanding background choirs or groovy brass arrangements are needed.
You'll find some examples on this page, as soon as the new demo CD is finished!

Instruments:

-voice: (singing div. styles, speech (Engl./Ger., dialects, accents, animal-imitatios etc.)
-traverse flute(Pop, Rock, Jazz, Blues etc.)
-saxophone (also alto sax, studied on a tenor back then)
-keyboards/piano (meanwhile for composing only)
-drums (hobby, autodidact, simple rhythms)
-trumpet (advanced beginner, but enough for not too demanding solos and brass set movements!)
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Here are some of my own designs, like CD covers, flyers/posters etc. that I made for Arno's & my former band APRIL RED and other projects:

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...and here's one of my mini (5 note) trumpet solos @ the METROSESSION - just a little snippet and nothing special - have fun anyway - you've got 49 seconds! *lol* Go for it! ; )
Manou, mini trumpet solo @ 'essbar' jam session, Hamburg/Germany

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Watch a video by my TOP-friends "THADEUS PROJECT" from Chicago! It's completely different from my stuff, simply great and I love it! Enjoy and have a wonderful flight, y'all !!! ; )
Ghost of Dawn - The Mastered Series

Thadeus Project | MySpace Video

NEW CD "KEEPER OF DREAMS" OUT NOW!!!

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Here's another video by my TOP-friends from "STRANGE MOON" - great stuff - check it out!
Strange Moon - The Room To The Tracks

Member Since:

September 03, 2008

Members:

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! NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS!
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10 / 2010:
Come and see my other profiles:

- MANOU - COACHING


DE:
unter "Manou - coaching" findet Ihr (in den Blogs) meine aktuellen Unterrichtsangebote, also sowas wie verschiedene Workshops, freie Unterrichtsplätze für Gesangs- u./o. Rhythmikunterricht, Bandcoaching etc.!
Ist alles noch im Aufbau, aber ich arbeite dran, also schau' doch mal vorbei! Einfach auf das Bild (s.oben!) klicken, und schon bist Du da! Vielleicht ist ja auch was für DICH dabei?! Bis gleich! ; )

EN:
It's all about my current offers like vocal- and rhythm coaching, workshops etc., but since I'm located in Hamburg/Germany, it's all in German, of course - sorry!
If you are new to Hamburg/Germany, and you're looking for music teachers of any kind but you do not speak German, just send me a message, and I'll try to help you find one who speaks your language! There are many (also prof.) musicians from all over the world here, who can teach you! Don't give up, there's always a way! ; )
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- MANOU'S DESIGNS
- click the pic & enjoy! -

DE:
Noch im Aufbau, aber einige Bilder warten dort schon auf Euch! : )
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EN:
Still under construction, but there already are some pics waiting for you! : )
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current projects:

- SUPERFLY (-> TOP friends)
(www.myspace.com/superfly4you)
lead vocals (Funk/Soul-cover, own stuff, Hamburg)

- FOXIE B. (http://www.foxie-b.de)
background vocals (Rock'n'Soul-cover, Hamburg)

- April Red (-> Player), (http://www.aprilred.de)
all vocals, arrangem., lyrics, melodies, sax, flute
(Funk/soul/Jazz/Pop, own songs, Hamburg)

The own band (APRIL RED) playing own songs has - due to the lack of time - been pausing since 2005. BIG SORRY especially to all true fans from Lüneburg!!! Manou will be there though with the other bands, soon!

Beeing pretty active as a guest musician Manou is often invited to play with other bands - live as well as in the studios. See latest ex. below (2008/2009):

- STRANGE MOON(-> TOP friends): flute, fem. vocals (studio/live)
- Nadine Marx(-> TOP friends): background vocals, trumpet (studio)
- DOCK3 (www.myspace.com/dock3musik): background vocals on "Helden am Kreis", "Bei Dir" (studio)

- Adrian Thommas Band (www.adrian-thommas.com): background vocals on 2 songs

...you never know what's to come, so....stay tuned!

No, I'm not "for sale", but you can "rent" me! ; )

Influences:

Anything that sounds like: (Rufus &) Chaka Khan, The Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Kate Bush, Deee-Lite, B52's, Meshell N'degeocello, SEAL, Tower of Power, rad., Maceo Parker, Vernon Reid, Aretha Franklin, Cassandra Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Bill Withers, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald etc., etc. ... simply ALL THE FUNNY, FUNKY, GROOVY, JAZZY AND SOULFUL STUFF and so much more!!! Listing all would blow this page! ; )

Additional influences are of course all the things that life brings along, like feelings, experiences etc. - just the regular stuff that has influence on everyone who writes own musik, poems....!
You can hear some of it in the APRIL RED-songs (-> player!), but there'll be more to come since life's still moving on! So, be sure to come back & stay tuned! ; )

Sounds Like:

Hmm...don't know...
Think it depends very much on if it's a job with clearly defined order or my own stuff, which sure does make a big difference! But even my own music will always be a colorful mixture of Funk, Soul, Jazz, Pop & maybe a slight touch of Rock...every once in a while...you never know... ; )
So, why don't you just tell me - I'm not sure! Comments are welcome!

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Please, check out my co-composer Arno's very own music under *Cinnamon Skies*! Very unique music! Enjoy!

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Here are two of the wonderful paintings of my TOP-friend "Renate Kaufmann Art" - check out the other ones - there's lots of beautiful paintings in different styles and I'm sure you'll find some matching your taste, too!

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Please go to see and listen to another dear friend of mine, Frankie O'Rourke from Massachusetts, who's music is very different from mine but also very diverse, colorful and full of feelings & experiences!

NEW CD OUT NOW - 'click the pic' to visit his profile!!!

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Please also visit another dear friend, Scott Miller from South Carolina who just presented his new CD in December 2009!

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Record Label:

none