Manuel Ortega (singer)

Manuel Ortega (born Manuel Hanke, Steyregg, 8 April 1980) is an Austrian singer of Spanish origin.[1]

Manuel Ortega
Manuel Ortega, January 2008
Background information
Birth name	Manuel Hanke
Born	8 April 1980 Steyregg, Austria
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals

Biography

The son of a Spanish mother and an Austrian father, Ortega began his career as a singer when he was 10 years old. He sang with the Florianer Sängerknaben in one of the oldest choirs from Austria. His love for pop music led to him joining a band called BAFF when he was a teenager. Starting from an early age, meant Ortega has been able to make over 200 stages performances as of 2003. When he was 17, he took part in a search for talent and was chosen out of 1300 entrants to be the singer of a new group. Whilst successful, the group was not enough for Ortega and in 2001 he began a solo career.

The song El Amor, La Vida was the Austrian summer hit of 2001. In 2002 he represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest[1] with the song Say A Word. He participated in the 3rd Season of the Ukrainian Dancing With the Stars (so-called International League of Champions) where he danced with the Ukrainian ballroom dancer, and Eurovision Dance Contest 2007 runner-up Yulia Okropiridze.

References

1. Michael Osborn (17 May 2002). "A vision of Euro musical riches". BBC. Retrieved 4 February 2011.

External links

• Official homepage