Manel Navarro Quesada (born 7 March 1996) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song " Do It for Your Lover" and finished last in the final.

Career

2014–16: Early beginnings

Navarro first came to prominence in 2014, when he won the second edition of the regional contest for young singers, Catalunya Teen Star, with an acoustic cover of "

Hold On, We're Going Home "Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake, featuring the R&B duo Majid Jordan. The song was produced by Noah "40" Shebib, OVO Sound's Majid Jordan and Nineteen85, and it is the second single from his third studio album, ' ...

" by

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

. He also had a YouTube channel where he would publish acoustic covers of songs. Following his victory, he was signed to record label TeenStarRecords, and released his debut single, "Brand New Day", on 4 December 2014. Navarro served as the opening act at Sweet California's 2015 tour ''Wonder Tour''. In 2015, Navarro was signed to

Sony Music Spain Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, and on 24 June 2016, he released his first single with Sony, "Candle", which reached number two at

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

's Viral 50 chart in Spain.

2017: Eurovision Song Contest

In January 2017, Navarro's second single with Sony, " Do It for Your Lover", was released. On 12 January 2017, Navarro was announced as one of the six candidates to represent Spain in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and ...

with "Do It for Your Lover". On 11 February 2017, he was declared the winner of the national final amid much controversy, and thus represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, Ukraine. In the national final, Navarro was awarded the first place in the jury panel's vote but came third in the popular vote. The controversy arose from the presence in the jury panel of

Los 40 Los 40 (The 40, stylized as LOS40 and formerly ''Los 40 Principales'', es, Los Cuarenta) is a Top 40 music radio network and radio station brand in many Spanish-speaking countries from PRISA Radio. The station has its origins as a music show ...

radio host Xavi Martínez, who had previously promoted Navarro on his radio program and via Twitter; Martínez awarded the minimum possible points to Navarro's most direct competitor and eventual public vote's favourite Mirela. Navarro and Mirela tied in number of points, and the jury panel selected Navarro as the winner in a tie-break voting round. Loud boos and accusations of rigging could be heard from the audience at the studio, to which Navarro responded with a bras d'honneur. He would apologise for the gesture two days later during a TVE press conference. At the Eurovision Song Contest final, he finished in last place: Navarro obtained no points from the professional juries and only five points from the public televote, all of which came from Portugal. He also made a voice crack during the act, which lead to thousands of memes calling him "gallo", word that in Spanish means both voice crack and rooster. On 2 June 2017, Navarro released the followup single " Keep On Falling".

2018—present: After Eurovision

On 27 April 2018, after signing to Universal, Navarro released the single "Voulez-vous danser?". On 25 October 2019, Navarro released "Mi mejor despedida" featuring the Spanish band Funambulista, the first single from his upcoming first studio album. Navarro's first studio album, titled ''Cicatriz'', was released on 23 April 2021.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Manel Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2017 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Spain Living people 1996 births People from Sabadell Spanish pop singers Singers from Catalonia 21st-century Spanish singers 21st-century Spanish male singers Música Global artists