Garry Manuel

Garry Manuel - Bare Bones Bio:

Singer-songwriter, Vocalist, Guitarist, Producer, Owner of Indie Label/Publishing (Sunflare Songs/Records), Founder and leader (19 years) of non-profit organization (Project URGE, Inc.) that worked to alleviate poverty and racism through efforts to unite churches, other non-profits and social service organizations to collaborate more closely in Greater Rochester, NY. He founded and ran Manuel’s Music Studio (a teaching studio in Fairport, NY), which eventually became Rochester Area Music Project (RAMP), both operating the studio and as a guitar instructor for over forty years. Garry played in several rock bands starting in high school, led the group Sunup for decades, that is presently a non-touring recording group. He also continues to record as a solo artist. Photography and horses are two other major interests playing major roles in life.

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Singer-songwriter, guitarist, offering music crafted through years of experience, personal journeys, wrapped in skilled vocal and instrumental musicianship.

Garry’s musical influences are vast and diverse, often sprouting up in the songs he has written and continues to write. While some tunes bear the marks of rock or country, the others border on pop or jazz. Some songs feature prolific lyrics with memorable hooks and others are more folk-like in nature, with an emphasis on storytelling and his acoustic guitar work. One of his more notable attributes is writing romantic ballads that typically showcase his vocal talent. There are also a number of uplifting pop songs and occasionally he ventures into political commentary.

Long before he picked up his first guitar, Garry was singing along with a transistor radio and albums like Ray Charles’ “In Person” (live in Atlanta). It’s the music that fueled his fire and paved the way for future influences of the Beatles and Crosby, Stills and Nash. About the time when Garry learned to strum his first two chords, he was already crafting lyrics and jotting them in a spiral notebook.

Garry’s professional career launched in high school in the late ‘60’s with the band playing dances in high schools around the Rochester, NY regional area. Shortly after high school the rock band formed that eventually recorded under the name “Meadow” and scored one local hit record, You Don’t Know the Pain, which was penned and sung by Garry. 

During his early college years, he teamed up with James Wilson to create Sunup, which started out as a guitar/vocal, songwriting duo, then soon after added a bass player. The first bassist was Charlie Castilano (long-time friend) and after leaving the band, Kerry Peterson became the bassist throughout a few decades.

It wasn’t long before Sunup was recording with renowned engineer, Mick Guzauski, and adding other instruments into the mix as the music textures suggested to their ears. They performed at colleges, clubs and coffee houses, and opened shows for major recording acts like Jackson Browne & Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Cliff, The James Gang and others.

In the late ‘70s, James moved to Connecticut to pursue a career in communications, while Garry continued to record and perform in New York. He began writing jingles, playing guitar on some recording sessions and performing top 40 hits with a band in nightclubs and hotels.

In the early ‘80’s Garry reassembled Sunup and once again found himself writing, performing and recording, as well as opening a music studio and teaching guitar. The group played on and off for another decade plus and adding keyboardist, Brian Soule. They began work on the Saratoga Sunrise album, which included many guests who had played with Sunup over the years. 

Garry’s musical influences are vast and diverse, often sprouting up in the songs he has written and continues to write. While one bears the marks of mainstream country, the next border on rock, pop or jazz. Some songs feature great verses with memorable hooks and others are more folk-like in nature, with an emphasis on storytelling and acoustic guitar work. His songwriting ranges from romantic ballads to uplifting pop songs and occasionally ventures into political commentary. But the main focus has almost always been on writing, recording and producing. Performing was secondary, though he has done plenty of gigs throughout his career.

Garry commented, “I’ve always enjoyed taking a bare bones song and building the song in production to more accurately paint the picture and represent the emotion intended for the tune.”

In 2002 he also founded a non-profit named Project URGE, Inc., that was focused on working on efforts to alleviate poverty and racism. These are strong passions that began in his early college days and continue today.

For Garry, the bottom line is this: musicality and great performances never stop evolving. In the end, it’s the music that speaks with power and to the sensitivity of our lives.

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Would you like to know more? The following details are written by Garry:

Why write and play music? I’ve been asked this a few times in my life. The answer is quite straightforward actually. Nothing in my life has affected me the way that music has. Sounds, chord progressions, lyrics, melodies and their vibe have the power to penetrate my inner being, to the point that it correlates to a deeply spiritual and emotional experience. It has held me captive from a very early age and those feelings have never ceased. Music has offered me some of my greatest highs as well as some of the deepest lows. But, music plays a role by reflecting on life and allowing us to feel it more sensitively and deeply.

The draw to music was so strong that I began writing lyrics before I could play the guitar. As soon as I knew three chords I was putting melodies to the changes. Those songs were dreadful, but you have to start someplace and I couldn’t wait for the time I’d become more proficient on my instrument. Now that I’ve said that, it prompted me to think of all the successful songs that were built on three chords! After all, if Bob Dylan could pull it off, why not me?! A number of others have made a living out of a 3 or 4 chord progression.

I had a desire to create songs that would move people emotionally the way I had been. In the very beginning my ideas for tunes were nothing earth shattering. It wasn’t too long before I stood on stage with our high school rock band singing one of my originals, watching my peers dancing slow and responding to the song. For me, that was a validation of my songwriting and vocal talent. From that point on I could not stop dreaming about getting in a recording studio and allowing my songs come to life.

In the early days of Sunup, we started as a duo - two guitars and vocals. Soon after we began we added a bassist. Before we ever played a gig, we went in the recording studio and recorded with one of the best recording engineers of our time. Did we know it at the time? Did he know it at the time? I’d say no. It was Mick Guzauski - a genius with incredible ears and intellect. In 1974 we had the privilege of opening up for Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt at the Auditorium Theatre in our hometown of Rochester, NY. Six years prior to that concert I was in the front row listening to an incredible performance by Ray Charles, who was one of the main reasons I gravitated to music. Billy Preston was his organist. I was truly struck with deep emotion from that concert. From that moment one of my goals and desires was to play the Auditorium Theatre. There is much more to that story, but this will suffice for now.

At that point in time Sunup was labeled ‘folk-rock’, which was accurate. We were heavily influenced by Crosby, Stills and Nash and Dan Fogelberg. The songs were either up tempo country-folk or political topics like Attica, Nixon and touched on the environment and a dream for something better. I was influenced by a wide variety of music genres. While I listened and played mostly rock music in the late ‘70s, I really started gravitating toward folk, bluegrass, fusion and even some classical music. Naturally, the music I wrote began to reflect some aspects of those styles. So, in 1975 we headed back Into the studio with a new bassist and plenty of gifted back up musicians. We were very proud of the music we created and without trying to be braggadocious, what we produced rivaled what was getting plenty of airplay. Cutting to the chase, often the response to our demos were, the music is great, but “they (Sunup) lack an identifiable style.” We did well at the colleges we performed and it seemed that we were gaining some traction with an A&R person at Bearsville Records, In Woodstock, NY; however, while we had tempered excitement, that flame blew out when the person we dealt with left the company. That was the end of that morsel of hope for a deal. About a year later my best friend and music partner, James “Goon” Wilson, left to become a disc jockey near Danbury, CT. He had a degree in Communications from Ithaca College, and while I was disappointed, I never faulted him for making the leap. We had been recording and playing gigs for 8 1/2 years (6 of those years as Sunup) and we needed a more solid income to stay afloat.

There is much more to the Sunup story, which, by the way, has not yet ended. In the very late ‘70s I managed to get a job teaching guitar, and working in a music store to supplement my income of gigging, which was very inconsistent. I was also writing many songs and recorded a boat load of demos on a 4-track recorder. I’ve even considered releasing a bunch of those very raw recordings, but so far, haven’t been able to bring myself to actually do it. While genuine and real, I’ve had a fear that the loose quality and rawness of those recordings could backfire in a number of ways, so I’ve opted not to let them out of the music coop. Perhaps someday?

Next up I played a gig with a Top 40 Cover band, playing dance clubs and hotels. The music store I had been working at closed, so starting from scratch with no seed money, I opened my own teaching studio, while still playing gigs 5-6 nights a week. There was some great talent in that band and I was led to believe that once we got up and running we’d go in the studio and cut some tracks. We all had recording experience and a couple of the band members previously were on a major label with another band (Brass Buttons) that I had admired so much. Those recording dates never happened and the band folded after a year. We were playing a lot of gigs at a time when Disco was taking over with very few bands gigging. Live music was pre-empted by turntables and mirror balls. We were fortunate to have the jobs. I think I made about $225 a week and that was 1980! So, I still needed to work all the time. I even picked up a part-time job working two days a week in a guitar repair shop. During that period I rarely saw friends, except on Sunday nights, where two of my very good friends (and future Sunup keyboardist) performed at a restaurant, not far from my apartment. Honestly, it was a very dark time in my life. While I did manage to record a couple demos, there was little time or energy for writing or recording.

In the early ‘80s I met my wife, who prior to us dating, became a piano teacher at my music studio. She definitely was the best person to ever walk into my life. It wasn’t long after she began teaching at the studio that she wound up teaching full time at the high school in Rochester, where she had gone to school. It was a private school, which didn’t pay all that much, so she eventually moved on to the public schools, teaching almost every grade level. Meanwhile, I was building up the studio, playing gigs, working on an album project for Sunup and starting up a second store in a small town, where we rented an apartment for ten years. In the midst of all that we started attending a small church, where I began to play in the worship band. Not too long after all this activity was churning we had our first and only child. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. He is guitarist, recording engineer, songwriter, producer, instructor and has taken over the studio I started in Fairport, NY in 1980. I’m biased, but honestly, he has great skills as a recording engineer, producer and guitarist, and some that go beyond the music business too!

In the late ’90’s you could also find me volunteering on Saturday mornings with a kids program at a church in the inner-city.of Rochester, NY. Basically, it was feeding and entertaining young children for a few hours in the morning. That experience led me to starting a faith-based, non-profit called, Project URGE, which initially set out to bring churches and non-profits to the table to figure out how we could all work better together and initiate an attempt to close the racial gap and fight poverty. In addition to running music studio, this became my other non-paying position that I sank my heart and soul into. Although I stepped down from leadership in 2021, the goals and desires remain a passion of mine.

Our whole family is now playing and recording. Since I retired from teaching guitar and running the studio in 2020 (during the pandemic), I’ve been making up for lost time by writing, producing, recording my solo material as well as the 50th Anniversary Sunup album and spending way too much time and money on the music business side of things. In 2017 Goon and I also recorded an album with our sons, and named the group, Sonsup. In short, who’s going to hear your music if you don’t promote it?! In all honesty, the business side of things is a complete drag on the creative endeavors. It is easy to collapse into a burnout situation. I’m not going to lie when I say that it is tough to balance the two sides. Indie artists are tasked with doing much more than they used to. In general, the income for musicians, as a whole, has not risen all that much (if any) since the late ’60’s. Averaging $.003-004 per stream/play on your song is an abomination! Let me break it down in terms you’ll definitely understand. In order to break even on the cost of recording, side musicians, distribution, promotion, copyrights and etc., our music would have to receive about 5 1/2 MILLION streams. Yup, 5,500,000 streams, just to break even! This is big deal when you’re not touring and selling merch at your shows. So, the answer to this issue given by music marketers is to create your “fan funnel” and sell merchandise on your website. I’m adverse to word, fan. Perhaps it’s because I was used to hearing that word when I was in my teens and reading the music magazines who aimed their sites on teenagers or even younger. At this stage of life, that term seems awfully awkward. When I think of a new or better term, I’ll let you all know!

I must fess up, I do have a merch site and I have earned as much from those sales as from streams in one year. We do have a few things up on the site that are music and band related, but mostly it’s photography, art (lots of horses), Adirondack Mountain pics, Saratoga sites and landscapes around the Finger Lakes. The items are unique, of good quality and we don’t send out an email every week trying to get a sale on “merch”. Offering gift items has actually been a creative venture and sometimes it’s even a good time creating the various products. (Click on MERCH on this site)

I’ve always enjoyed photography and in my early 20’s began taking many photos with a camera given to me by my aunt, who was a long time employee of Eastman Kodak. In fact, many of our family members worked for Kodak for many years. It was the giant employer for Rochester, NY. To this day the Eastman name can be found all over Rochester, and in fact, there is the Eastman School of Music and Kodak Hall. It led to much of the prosperity found in the Rochester area. I, along with many, benefited greatly from this historic corporate giant. All this to say that my passion for taking photos kept growing over time and I have utilized that creative gift greatly over time. In fact, I take many pictures of horses and horse racing.

Not only have I taken photographing horses seriously, but have also become involved with horse racing, owning  percentages of horses through various partnerships over the years. I can no longer call it a hobby, as it is now a business. My interest began in August of 1978 when I witnessed Affirmed (Triple Crown winner) and Alydar compete against each other in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The race course was super crowded and electric! Ten years later I had written a song about the Hall of Fame trainer, Woody Stephens, and got to go back to his barn in Saratoga and meet him. The fact that he loved the song and that I was able to meet this horse racing icon, kept the seed growing for horses. I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve written.

Furthermore, I’ve created a documentary (Training for Life) that takes a look into the lives of  trainers who operate smaller barns in horse racing, also utilizing my music to assist in communicating their experiences and stories. This will provide an interesting story in the days ahead.

I continue to write music that varies in style. Some of the lyrics reflect the current political environment, while others are directly tied to my experiences and passions. There are also instrumentals that are purposed to convey aurally nature scenes or set the atmosphere for a morning at a horse barn. In a sense I’m seeking to paint pictures for the listener through music. Some songs are just made up stories or realities that someone communicated to me. The genre and styles vary, because the experiences and the audience they are aiming for vary greatly. Remember, having major influences like Ray Charles, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Beatles, and the Rodrigo Concerto, don’t exactly add up to only one slice of music. This is me! My hope is that listeners are able to relate to the music I’ve created insome way and that a song or two moves that listener emotionally or helps paint that picture.

If you have read all the way to this point, thank YOU for taking an interest and I truly hope you enjoy the music we have to offer…

~Garry

Contact:
Sunflare Songs
Email: mmssunflare@aol.com
31 W. Church St. - Fairport, NY 14450
585.223.2310