WHEN I WAS BORN IN SLOVENIA MY PARENTS NAMED ME MANUELA BREČKO, A PERFECTLY GOOD NAME FOR A SLOVENIAN GIRL.

I SANG BEFORE I COULD TALK AND, FROM THE MOMENT I BECAME AWARE OF THE WORLD AROUND ME, I KNEW THAT MY LIFE WAS TO BE DEDICATED TO MUSIC…
TO SINGING, MAKING SONGS. BRINGING JOY AND LOVE TO ALL WHO HAD EARS TO LISTEN.

IN PRIMARY MUSIC SCOOL I STARTED LEARNING PIANO ACCORDION. SOON I BEGAN TOURING WITH A LOCAL BAND, SINGING AND PLAYING BASS GUITAR.
AT 16 I HAD MY FIRST SOLO PERFORMANCE ON A NATIONAL TV SHOW.
I HAD ALWAYS DREAMED OF BECOMING AN INTERNATIONAL SINGER ONE DAY,
AND BY THE TIME I WAS A TEENAGER I KNEW THAT MY COURSE WAS SET.

ALTHOUGH I ALWAYS KNEW I WOULD BE AN ARTIST, I STUDIED MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AT THE FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TO GAIN SOME HELPFUL SKILLS, AND GRADUATED AT 22 WITH A DEGREE IN MUSIC PRODUCTION.

FIVE YEARS LATER I WROTE AND RECORDED “BLUE AND RED”, THE SONG WHICH BROUGHT ME TO THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN.

A VOICE TOLD ME THAT THIS WAS TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE, AND I SPENT TWO YEARS THERE EXPANDING MY HORIZONS. IT WAS THERE THAT I MET SONGWRITER/PRODUCER ERIC BAZILIAN, WHO WROTE AND CO-WROTE TWO OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SONGS –
JOAN OSBORNE’S “ONE OF US”, AND BILLIE MYERS’ “KISS THE RAIN”. WE SET OUT TO MAKE AN ALBUM OF TIMELESS SONGS THAT WOULD CARRY AN INTIMATE, YET POWERFUL MESSAGE FOR YOUNG AND OLD.

JOINING FORCES WITH SLOVENIAN PRODUCER MARTIN ŠTIBERNIK AND MY HUSBAND MARJAN HVALA , WE RECORDED MY DEBUT ALBUM “SUNRISE”.