Manuel Ortega

This article is about the Austrian singer. For the settlement in Emberá comarca, Panama, see Manuel Ortega, Emberá.

Manuel Ortega, January 2008

Manuel Ortega, (born Manuel Hanke, Steyregg, 8 April 1980) is an Austrian singer of Spanish parents, born in Steyregg. When he was ten years old, he began his career as a singer. 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 with the song Say A Word. Because of his Spanish temperament Manuel Ortega soon became known as the Austrian Ricky Martin,^{[citation needed]} although his talents include song writing as wel

Manuel 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, Eurovision Dance Contest's silver medallist Yulia Okropiridze.

External links

• Official homepage

Preceded by Marika Lichter & Andy Kainz	Dancing Stars winner Season 2 (2006 with Kelly Kainz)	Succeeded by Klaus Eberhartinger & Kelly Kainz
Preceded by The Rounder Girls	Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002	Succeeded by Alf Poier