Nicola Emmanuelle

Nicola Emmanuelle
Born	London, England

Nicola Emmanuelle is an English jazz singer from London, England.

Early life, education

Nicola Emmanuelle comes from a South African jazz dynasty. Her Father Nathan ‘Dambuza’ Mdledle was the founder and lead singer of the Manhattan Brothers and a South African Hall of Famer, her mother Louisa Manuel also in the South African Hall of Fame, the female lead singer with the Woodpeckers. Nicola attended the Cleo Laine School of Music followed by the Bourne school of Music and Goldsmiths Foundation, then underwent classical training by Elizabeth Anderson Kramer.

Music career

Emmanuelle was invited by the multi-Academy Award nominee and Bafta winner, composer George Fenton and award winner Sir Richard Attenborough to sing the opening score "Crossroads – a Dawn Raid" to the successful British film Cry Freedom.

This led to numerous musical and film collaborations in the late '80s, notably with the BBC, singing on Death is Part of the Process, then with Pete Townshend on his The Iron Man Musical album and with Phil Fearon of Galaxy where she branched into pop music with the club classic Touch.

Between 1990 and 1997 Emmanuelle stopped performing live, instead working behind the scenes; and it wasn’t until 1998 when George Fenton called her back to the live scene for a BBC live radio Christmas concert "Christmas at the Movies" with Lord Attenborough and Alan Bennett.

This sudden return led to her working with Gabrielle Yared on the movie soundtrack of City of Angels, and again with George Fenton for the "Mandela Benefit Concert" at the Royal Albert Hall followed the next year with her and Gabrielle Yared both debuting at The Proms.

Emmanuelle also worked in 1999 with Mike Oldfield on his Millennium album The Millennium Bell, performing with him in Berlin for Germany’s Millennium celebrations.

While concentrating on movie soundtracks over the next six years, including Pride (2004), Duma (2005), Racing Stripes (2004), Tsotsi (2005) and The Constant Gardener (2001), Emmanuelle started writing again, culminating in her returning from 2007 to her first love of jazz. She has been working with her band ever since, performing at venues across the UK and Europe, writing and singing her own material as well as original arrangements of the classic American Songbook.

In 2010 she released her first solo jazz album Orry as a collaboration of her own BuckOrrLinDill and Splashpoint records.

Discography

As leader

• Orry (2011)

References

• Jack Massarik (2008-09-12). "Nicola Emmanuelle flies to cabaret's rescue". Thisislondon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2011-08-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

• Official website