Manasseh David Israel

Manasseh David Israel was born in 1988 on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii. He didn't start his musical career like everyone else. He was almost a bit stubborn. At age 2 he was given an Ukulele which he quickly turned into a water bucket and at age three he was given a guitar but turned it into splinters by way of smashing it in the family's car door. At age five his father didn't give up and for his fifth birthday Manasseh was given a half size guitar and thus the romance between the music and the musician began.

Manasseh won first place in his first talent show in the second grade, where he played an instrumental rendition of the Free Willey Song with his younger brother Cabell Tice who still plays drums for him to this day.

By fifth grade Manasseh had taken up the Ukulele and started mastering the instrument. From the age of 13 through 15 Manasseh played at Cafe's and Restaurants on weekends to earn spending money by playing mostly instrumental music on the Ukulele. However in the middle of age 15 he brought guitar back from about a 5 year hiatus to being his main instrument, and started taking flamenco lessons from a local teacher. During this time he also started to fall in love with Jazz and pulled much of his main influence in the genre from Charlie Byrd.

Of the main influences in Manasseh's music, he started very young listening to Elvis and The Beatles and pulled a lot of his technical styling from Paco De Lucia and Charlie Byrd, Jimi Hendrix, and Tim Reynolds.

In 2004 Manasseh moved from Hawaii to Oregon where he got his heart made, and broken and began to write his first love songs while listening to the likes of Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, 311, Sugar Ray, Ray Lamontagne, Paul Simon, and James Taylor.

The creative element that lies in all musicians is something extra special with Manasseh. It's his way with pulling the best from the greats and putting it together in his beautifully unique way that makes his music stand on it's own.

In Oregon Manasseh played music at coffee shops and restaurants consistently for money during school and took a brief stint in the promotions part of music before being accepted to The Berklee College of Music where he decided to turn his full attention towards performing and writing.

Manasseh currently plans on attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston during the Fall of 2008 and can't wait to make things happen on his musical journey through life.