LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emerging pop recording artist MANIKA, managed by Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s long-time manager, and revered-music coach CeCe Sammy of UK’s Pop Idol, will be releasing her debut single on Wamaframa Records distributed by Sony/Red titled “Just Can’t Let You Go.” The song, featuring Young Money’s LIL TWIST, will go to Top 40 radio on May 15. It will also be available digitally on all platforms, including iTunes, on June 14.
“Just Can’t Let You Go” was written and produced by Tearce Kizzo and Francci (Keyshia Cole, Patti LaBelle, Jo Jo); the video for the single was directed by Travis Payne, Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” choreographer and associate producer of the film “This Is It.” MANIKA is currently in the studio collaborating with A-list songwriters/producers for her full-length debut, including Tearce and Francci, and such heavy hitters as Qura Rankin and Evan Bogart (Beyonce, Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Natasha Bedingfield, Jennifer Lopez). She will tour later in 2011.
Says DiLeo, “MANIKA is a supernova ready to explode. She’s a very rare and unique talent, who can do it all. She sings, she acts, she writes and delivers everything with her trademark style of sassiness and soul. I can’t wait for the rest of the world to discover her. The Kid has it.”
MANIKA (pronounced Ma-NEE-ka), whose mixed heritage includes Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian and Spanish, brings intelligence, wit and tons of emotional life experience to her songs. The multi-talented MANIKA is winner of the Outstanding Performance Award three years in a row at the National Performing Arts Festival in New York. At age 15, she wrote and published The Exciting Adventures of Boo, a fictional children’s book, donating proceeds for the first 750 copies to the Nevada SPCA animal shelter.
MANIKA’s “Just Can’t Let You Go” video can be accessed at: http://vimeo.com/22917187 -- (password is Aloha456).
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