Manuel Carrasco Galloso (born January 15, 1981) is a Spanish pop singer from Isla Cristina (Huelva), Spain. He rose to fame during his participation in the second edition of the Spanish reality TV singing competition Operación Triunfo, where he finished second. He has gone on to record four studio albums, including his debut album, Quiéreme, which sold more than 200,000 records.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Operación Triunfo 3 Recording career 4 Discography 5 External links Early life

Manuel Carrasco was born on January 15, 1981 in Isla Cristina, a seaside town in Huelva, Spain. Son of José Carrasco and María Galloso, he is the fourth of five siblings. From a very young age, he worked as a painter with his brothers, while he rehearsed and performed with a carnival group from his town. He joined the group when he was 13 and led it at age 16.

Operación Triunfo

At 21, he tried out for the second edition of the Spanish interactive reality TV show Operación Triunfo (Spain's version of Fame Academy or Star Academy) where he finished second. The winner of that edition of OT was Ainhoa Cantalapiedra. As one of the top three contestants of the edition, Carrasco bid to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, but the chance to represent Spain was won by Beth.

Recording career

His first album, Quiéreme was released a month after the show's end in 2003. The album was produced by Miguel A. "Capi" Arenas and included four songs written by Carrasco himself. His first album sold more than 200,000 copies. The Quiéreme concert tour performed in 39 cities throughout Spain.

While recording his second album, Carrasco was offered the chance to participate in the Latin American music festival, “II Festival Mundial de Canción,” in Puerto Rico. After competing against 22 singers from countries around the world, Carrasco won the competition with his self-composed song titled “Dibujar Tu Olvido.”

In October 2004, he released his second album, Manuel Carrasco. It was produced by Jordi Armengol, Jordi Cristau and Carrasco himself. All of the 13 songs (lyrics and music) were composed by Carrasco. He sold more than 100,000 albums and performed in 80 cities in the tour for his second album, including Ceuta, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. Throughout the tour, Carrasco was accompanied on stage by renowned musicians, including Jordi Armengol (electric guitar and artistic direction), Jordi Cristau (keyboards), Jordi Portaz (bass), Eduardo Cortés (Spanish guitar), Carlos Martín (percussion) and David Simó (drums).

After spending more than a year recording in studios in the United States (New York City) and Spain (Girona), Manuel Carrasco released his third album, Tercera Parada, on September 5, 2006, with 13 self-composed songs plus an added bonus track. His first single from the album was titled "Y Ahora."

Carrasco's self-composed song, "El Beso de la Vida," was the theme song for the Venezuelan telenovela Ser Bonita No Basta.

In February 2005, Manuel Carrasco won the "Premio Dial" prize and went on to win the "Premio Musical 2005" for best new artist. He most recently received the "Premio Cadena Dial 2006" prize on February 28, 2007.

On September 16, 2008, Manuel Carrasco released his fourth studio album, Inercia. It was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and produced by Cachorro López. To promote the album, Carrasco will perform in theatres and auditoriums throughout Spain from January to March 2009. The official Inercia concert tour began in April, 2009. Inercia entered the Spanish charts ("Lista 40 Principales") in its first week at number 34. As of November 29, 2008, the first single from the CD, "Sigueme," was at number 27 on the Spanish charts. The second single from the album was "Antes De Ti". The third single from the album "Que Nadie", a duet of Carrasco with Malú, became an unexpected hit that was awarded a Platinum Record certification and stayed at number one on the Spanish Singles Chart for seven weeks.

Carrasco's fifth album Habla was recorded in Milan, produced by Claudio Guidetti. It was published in January 2012 and peaked at number one in the Spanish Albums Chart; it was awarded a Platinum Record certification. The album was re-issued eleventh months after as Habla II with six new tracks. In 2013, the compilation album Confieso que he sentido was released to celebrate Carrasco's ten anniversary as a recording artist.

Discography Studio albums Quiéreme (2003) Manuel Carrasco (2004) Tercera Parada (2006) Inercia (2008) Habla (2012) No. 1 Spain Confieso que he sentido (2013) No. 1 Spain, Platinum Bailar el viento (2015) No. 1 Spain Extended play Quiéreme (2003) 200.000 copies SP External links Manuel Carrasco Official Website vteOperacion Triunfo Series 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Winners / finalistsSeries 1 1st Rosa López 2nd David Bisbal 3rd David Bustamante 4th Chenoa 5th Manu Tenorio 6th Verónica Romero Series 2 1st Ainhoa Cantalapiedra 2nd Manuel Carrasco 3rd Beth 4th Miguel Nández 5th Hugo Salazar 6th Joan Tena Series 3 1st Vicente Seguí 2nd Ramón 3rd Miguel Cadenas 4th Davinia Cuevas 5th Mario Martínez 6th Leticia Pérez Series 4 1st Sergio Rivero 2nd Soraya Arnelas 3rd Víctor Estévez 4th Idaira 5th Fran Dieli 6th Edurne Series 5 1st Lorena Gómez 2nd Daniel Zueras 3rd Leo Segarra 4th Saray Ramírez 5th Moritz Weisskopf 6th José Galisteo Series 6 1st Virginia Maestro 2nd Pablo López 3rd Chipper Cooke 4th Manu Castellano 5th Sandra Criado 6th Mimi Series 7 1st Mario Álvarez 2nd Brenda Mau 3rd Jon Allende 4th Ángel Capel 5th Patricia Navarro 6th Silvia Parejo Series 8 1st Nahuel Sachak 2nd Álex Forriols 3rd Mario Jefferson 4th Alexandra 5th Niccó 6th Josh Series 9 1st Amaia Romero 2nd Aitana Ocaña 3rd Miriam Rodríguez 4th Alfred García 5th Ana Guerra 6th Agoney Hernández Series 10Current series