Manuela was Germany’s favourite female singer of the 1960s, enjoying a run of 24 top 40 hits between 1963 and 1972.
She was born Doris Wegener on 18 August 1943 in the Berlin district of Wedding.
At 16 she began working in a local factory and spent her lunchtimes writing song lyrics that she would set to music on her guitar of an evening. She took singing lessons for a year and began performing in amateur nights in a Berlin bar with all-girl group the Tahiti Tamoures.
After winning a local talent contest, she was offered a recording contract. Given Germany’s enthusiasm for all things foreign, the young singer took the stage name Manuela.
Her debut single flopped and her record company turned down her proposal for a second single, claiming it wouldn’t be a hit. So her manager approached the Hamburg-based Telefunken label with the song. Bosses there liked it and gave the young singer a contract.
Their faith paid off. Schuld war nur der Bossa Nova, a cover of Eydie Gorme’s Blame it on the bossa nova, topped the German charts in the spring of 1963, selling over 500,000 copies and remaining in the top ten for 21 weeks.
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