Maria Manuela de Oliveira Moreira Bravo (Queluz, December 7, 1957), is a Portuguese singer.
The first time that Manuela Bravo appeared to the public was when she was 5 years old in a children’s competition at Cinema Éden. Her father, Loubet Bravo, was a well-known fado singer from Coimbra.
She appears on the program “Canal 13” and is invited by Mário Martins to record for Valentim de Carvalho. In January 1974 she released her first single, with two songs by José Cid, “Nova Geração” and “Another Time”, where she appears accompanied by Quarteto 1111.
In 1975, she recorded a new single, this time with arrangements and orchestrations by Jorge Palma, the two compositions, “Tínhamos Vinte Anos” and “Soldado-Escravo”, by Tozé Brito.
She released a few singles in 1977 and collaborated with Paco Bandeira in that year’s RTP Song Festival. She already had five albums recorded and appeared on RTP programs such as “Domingo à Noite”, “A Feira”, “Nicolau no País das Maravilhas” and “Ligeiríssimo”.
In 1979 she won the Festival RTP da Canção with the song “Sobe, Sobe, Balão Sobe” by the well-known composer Nóbrega e Sousa to whom she had been suggested by the singer Mara Abrantes.
There were several invitations to record abroad but she declined because law school was her priority. In 1979, she released a new single with the songs “Adeus Amor” and “Até Quando” by Tozé Brito.
“Recordações”, an adaptation by Cristiana Kopke of a hit of the time, is her big hit of 1980. She participates in the 1981 RTP Festival da Canção with the theme “Quando A Banda Chegar”.
In 1985 it appears with a new look and a new style. At Orfeu, she releases a single with Portuguese versions signed by Nuno Gomes dos Santos for the songs “Tango” (Rainer Pietsch / Werner Shuler) and “Não Sei Porquê” (Harry Tschebiner / Werner Shuler) originally performed by Ingrid Peters. In 1986 she achieved great success with the single “O Meu Heroi”.
In 1989, the album “Oculos de Sol” was published, which included songs such as “Pintei-me com um Raio de Sol” (Paulo de Carvalho), “Namoro” (Fausto), “Maria Faia”, “Oculos de Sol” or ” Only Love Is Rainbow”. She records the program “Let the Music Pass” for RTP.
In 1992, through Discosette, she released the LP “Canções Que Me Fazem Feliz” with several songs by Ricardo Landum and Toy.
In December 1995, Soprosom published the album “A Preto e Branco” with several songs by Ricardo Landum and José Felix. At the time, he already revealed his interest in recording an album of fado de Coimbra and another of evangelical music.
In 1996, she recorded an album of fado de Coimbra, in honor of her father, but she found herself embroiled in controversy because the more traditional media do not accept that this style is sung by women. The album “Intenções” was recorded with António Pinho Brojo and his “Guitar Quartet”.
For about 10 months, in 1999 and 2000, she played the role of Celeste Rodrigues in Filipe La Féria’s musical “Amália”.
In 2002, she confessed in an interview that she intended to resume her career by releasing a compilation of the best songs she sang and that were lost on vinyl records. One of the themes would be “Bravo”, planned for the album “Intenções” from 1996. She also confessed that she would like to try the work of a television actress. In the summer of 2002 she started singing fado at the typical restaurant A Severa. In between, she made an author’s edition of the CD “Intentions”.
In 2004 she recorded a “master” of a new album (the compilation “Este Bravo Que Sou”) but found no publisher. In 2005 she participated in the show MUSICATTOS BEST OF BRODWAY, produced by Óscar Romero, where she played the role of Grizabella, singing ‘Memory’.
The year 2014 is the year of celebration of the 40 years of her career. “Contrapalco Convida Manuela Bravo” is a show-concert on stage in various parts of the country, where the singer works with André Faria and Sérgio Pancadas, in a production by Nellson de Souza and Ricardo Figueira.
She prepares a new commemorative CD and also a DVD.
