Manuel Seal
| Manuel Seal | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Manuel Lonnie Seal Jr. |
| Born |
September 26, 1960 (age 55) Freeport, Illinois, US |
| Genres | Pop, R&B, gospel, soul, hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | music executive, record producer, musician, composer, songwriter, arranger |
| Instruments | piano, keyboards, guitar, synthesizer bass, saxophone, organ, flute |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Seal Music Productions, So So Def |
| Associated acts | Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, Xscape, Nelly, Da Brat, Jermaine Dupri, Ron Isley, Bebe Winans |
| Website | Official website |
Manuel Seal, Jr. (born September 26, 1960) is an American musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and arranger. His credits include artists as Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Usher, TLC, Aretha Franklin, Xscape, Cherish, Tyrese, Alicia Keys, Ashanti, Monica, Lionel Richie, Avant, Gladys Knight, Aaron Hall, George Benson, Mary J Blige, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, El DeBarge, Shanice, Johnny Gill, LSG, Tamia, Gerald Levert, Marc Dorsey and Destiny's Child. He has won one Grammy Award from 13 nominations. Manuel Seal is the owner and CEO of Seal Music Productions. Inc. and S.L.A.C.K.A.D. Music.
Early life
Manuel as born in Chicago Illinois to parents Manuel and Betty Seal. Manuel also has two younger sisters. The family moved to Freeport Illinois when Manuel was 3. Both of his parents had musical backgrounds and they got him into piano lessons at the age of 5. His father was in a band, sang and played multiple interments and his mother sang in the church choir. They lived in the projects and when Manuel was 10 his father left the family, moving back to Chicago. His mother was a school teacher and worked hard to get her and her children a home. By the time Manuel was in high school his mother purchased a home, which him and his sisters still share. Manuel started playing the flute in grade school, because they didn't offer guitar. He was already excelling at the piano and wanted to learn every instrument he could. By high school he had formed a band and traveled to the few towns near him to perform. He was performing at bars, underage, and picked up a huge fan base throughout the midwest. He traveled extensively performing and perfecting his skills as a musician.
Career
Manuel Seal was found by a manager while working with Grammy Award winning artist Ann Nesby. Him and Ann had known each other for years, they are from the same two small towns. His manager had gotten him meetings in LA and he stayed there for 3 months working at BMG. He then moved back to Freeport. Soon thereafter his manager set up some meetings for him in Atlanta. While at the hotel one night, he was found by Jermaine Dupri, in the hotel lobby playing the piano and signing. He had attracted a huge crowd and Jermaine signed him instantly.
He got right to work on Al Jerreau. The first major success came with the group Xscape. Manuel wrote, produced and arranged their 1st album. He wrote 2 #1's and a top 10 on that first album Hummin Comin At' cha. The surprise hit on that album was Understanding, which Manuel wrote in his hotel room one night in between sessions.
Da Brat's Funkdafied was the next huge success for him. He is the vocals on the lead single Funkdafied, and composed all the music on the album. It was the first time a female rapper went Platinum. TLC's CrazySexyCool sold 23 million copies worldwide. Manuel wrote 3 songs on that album. Ushers "My Way" album went 7x Platinum and Manuel wrote 7 of the ten songs on that, "You Make Me Wanna", " My Way", " Nice and Slow" and more. Mariah Carey's "Daydream" album sold 25 million copies worldwide, making one of the best selling albums of all time. Manuel wrote "Always Be My Baby" , amongst others. He went on to write numerous hits for Jagged Edge, Aretha Franklin, Destinys Child, Bebe Winans, LSG, Johnny Gill, George Benson, Tamia, Aaron Hall, Mary J Blige, Monica, Lionel Richie, Ashanti and Gerald Levert.
The most major successes came with "My Boo" off of Ushers "Confessions" album, which went on to sell more than 10 million copies in America alone. As well as Song of the Decade, Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" off of the Emancipation of Mimi, which he won the grammy for, his biggest success to date. He continued with Mariah Carey's followup album "E=MC2", Usher's "Here I Stand" album and Janet Jacksons "20 YO" and "Discipline"