Two years ago, he represented Bulgaria as part of Equinox at Eurovision in Lisbon. Now the American singer Johnny Manuel is trying his luck down under, auditioning on The Voice Australia. And his performance attracted the attention of another Eurovision star, Australia’s Guy Sebastian.
While Johnny Manuel is originally from Michigan in the United States, he’s now enjoying life Down Under with his Australian partner. And he’s making the most of the experience, auditioning for The Voice Australia.
Johnny’s song of choice was the Diana Ross ballad “Home” from the musical The Wiz. The emotional song let Johnny show off the full extent of his vocal talents, impressing both the four coaches and the live audience.
All four judges — Guy Sebastian, Boy George, Delta Goodrem and Kelly Rowland — turned their chairs. But in the end, Johnny chose Guy as the judge to mentor him.
While both Guy and Johnny both have Eurovision experience, they both share similar vocal styles and know how to deliver a knock-out R&B performance.
In a backstage clip, Johnny also shared a few pieces of information about himself. He talked about enjoying the warm Aussie weather — compared to the freezing cold of Michigan — and said Australia really feels like a second home. Just don’t ask him to say “gidday, mate”.
Guy Sebastian has already been supporting his act. On Twitter, after a fan boldly declared Johnny to be the winner, Guy replied with an enthusiastic “How good is he?!?!”
How good is he?!?!
— Guy Sebastian (@GuySebastian) June 7, 2020
Johnny Manuel’s got talent
Johnny is no stranger to talent shows. In 2017, he competed on America’s Got Talent. While he received the Golden Buzzer from the judges and wowed the audience, he ended up being eliminated in the semi-finals.
In 2018, Johnny was part of the group Equinox, who represented Bulgaria at Eurovision with “Bones”. Despite the immense hype surrounding the song, Bulgaria only finished 14th in the grand final.
Johnny was first signed to a record contact as a teeenager but was eventually dropped. After his AGT experience, he released a few singles. And while his Equinox were said to be working on new material, this has not yet eventuated. Will Australia’s Got Talent be the break he’s looking for?
What do you think? Can Johnny Manuel win The Voice Australia? Could he reinvent himself down under? Tell us your thoughts below!
Read more Australia Eurovision news here
Wait wut, when I watched this, I didn’t even he realize had gone to Eurovision as a member of Equinox. Instead, mom and I spent his whole performance going on about him being really attractive and having one hell of a voice lmao.
I hope Johnny return the Eurovision and new represent to the Bulgaria.
I think these show are getting very close to JUMPING THE SHARK….Seen this guy and at least five others who have gone from one show to the other AMERICA GOT TALENT, THE VOICE, BRITISH GOT TAKENT NOW AUSTRALIA GOT TALENT…STOP THE MADNESS
How is that guy still auditioning for talent shows? He is INSANELY talented! Someone write him a hit song already.
I wish good luck to him. Very talented and warm voice. Rooting for him.
I hope to see him at Eurovision again but solo! Equinox did a great job in 2018 (and deserved more than a 14th place) but he was way over the other artists of the group. Bulgaria, let’s do it with VICTORIA in 2021 and think about him for 2022 😉 and since Victoria has really great songs, she could compete for the win and take the contest in Sofia for 2022!
He’s not Bulgarian so why should they send him
Well they already sent him so
He has an awesome voice, and seems to be a real sweetie
He has the voice and charm to be an artist, don’t know why he is still roaming around every single talent show. Maybe he wants to grow a worldwide fan base. He could have already worked on an album.
He needs good songwriters, managers and label behind him. He is really talented singer. He just needs right people around. He needs a hit song.
I do think Johnny’s great but how many of these talent shows are you allowed to do? If you’ve already been on “Got Talent”, it’s not exactly a surprise when your voice is really good on, you know, “The Voice”. 😉
Wow he killed it! So happy for him 🙂
I was surprised to see him show up too! It would be cool to see him in Eurovision again one day, he was great although the result was somewhat disappointing