Joseph McManners

Joseph McManners (born 3 December 1992) is an English actor and singer. He lives on a non-working farm in Petham near Canterbury[1] and recently left Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys (also in Canterbury) for Tonbridge School after being awarded a drama and academic scholarship,

McManners decided to become a singer after he heard the song My Heart Will Go On whilst watching the film Titanic at the age of 8.

He plays the violin and the piano and is learning to play the guitar. At that age, he sung 'In Dreams', though it is not the version which is featured in The Lord of the Rings (film) with Howard Shore as the composer.

McManners auditioned for the lead role in the BBC's operatic version of "The Little Prince" directed by Francesca Zambello and was chosen from 25000 others to play the part.[citation needed] During filming for "The Little Prince", he was spotted by executives from Sony BMG which led to a UK£2 million 4-album record deal.

McManners went to Prague together with his producer Nick Patrick in 2005 to record the music for his first album In Dreams. Most of the music was performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and Joseph's brother plays violin on "Where is Love". The album was released on 5 December 2005.

His debut album release reached number five in the classical charts within a few days. The album was nominated for "Album of the Year" at the 2006 Classical BRIT Awards and the release of "Bright Eyes" from the same album debuted at number one in Asian airplay.

In December 2006 it was reported that McManners had left Sony BMG over artistic differences. In the same year, Joseph was a guest singer at Liam Lawton's live concert held at the Dublin docklands, an event attended by almost 5,000 people. The orchestral arrangements were done by composer and arranger Nick Ingham.

Joseph's second album is currently being recorded and will be released some time in 21st century