Artist Spotlight: Manny Garcia

A rising pianist/singer/songwriter, Manny Garcia is a driven, passionate artist prepared to grace your ears with his talents. Whether it is by his seamless medleys, soulful covers, or his uplifting and easily-relatable original songs, Garcia hopes to affect people’s lives for the better through his music. He draws inspiration from a variety of genres, from old school Pop and R&B to Jazz and Neo-soul. Garcia has performed in venues all over the world, including colleges around the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, & Indiana), California’s San Francisco and Bay Area, Florida, London, Tokyo, Manila, and venues in his home town of Chicago.

Garcia has been singing ever since he can remember and started piano lessons at the young age of 4. Always encouraging, his parents taught him never to give up despite the frustrations and difficulties he encounters along the way. All of his experiences go into his music. “Whatever I’m going through, good or bad, I’ll take that feeling and that moment and put it into a song.” He hopes that other people can also relate and connect with his experiences when they hear his music.

In 2008, Garcia spent the year living in the Philippines. He gained a new appreciation for his parent’s country and shares his experience with BakitWhy:

“One of the most striking things to me was the amount of poverty you see on a daily basis, and the very prevalent, enormous gap between the rich and poor.

I actually was so moved by my time there that I had to write something about it—a song on the upcoming EP called “Don’t Cry”—or its Tagalog equivalent that is repeated throughout the piece: “Huwag Kang Umiyak.”  The defining moment when I started writing that song, a story that I tell every time I perform it, was one particular night in Manila waiting for a taxi after eating out with a friend.  A little girl no more than 10 comes up and starts asking us for something.  She’s mumbling at first, but we eventually figure out that she’s asking for our leftovers that we’re carrying.  Though not much, we gladly hand over our baon and this girl reaches out to receive it on her elbows because she has lost both of her hands all the way up to her forearms.

It was that moment that the sheer poverty in the Philippines hit me.  You see it every day over there, but it was this one girl that affected me the most.  I started thinking that she must already have it pretty rough going through life without hands, fingers, or even forearms; how much harder when you add absolute poverty, the near-impossibility of moving up through social classes, and the lack of resources to address her handicap?”

Garcia feels that his experience in the Philippines has definitely contributed to his growth as an artist. He would like to think this change can be heard in his upcoming summer album entitled, “Come With Me EP.” He aims to put out positive music with good underlying messages of love, empowerment, and gratitude. One of his goals in the near future is to collaborate with a charity organization helping the Philippines, giving 100% of the proceeds from his song, “Don’t Cry,” back to aid the people the song is about. Garcia believes not only in the importance of sharing our gifts, but to use them to help those less fortunate.

In our exclusive BakitWhy Spotlight interview, Manny shares his experiences, his insights on performing for diverse audiences, and fills us in on what he has in store for us.

Check out Manny Garcia’s official website, where you will find links to his YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, and BlogTV pages! You can also reserve a presale copy of his “Come With Me EP” Album scheduled for release in Summer 2009 on his website. “It’s a collection of some genuine, feel-good, original music with heavier influences than my previous works from soul, jazz, as well as mainstream genres.” “Story Untold,” featured in his video interview, is also currently available for free download on www.UbeTunes.com for a limited time.