Biography
Folk singer-songwriter Della Manley, born Della Magnus in Drumblair, Jamaica, West Indies, grew up as the daughter of a dentist. At fifteen she left Montego Bay for Canada, having already devoted years to piano, guitar, and voice while singing regularly in her neighborhood Catholic school choir. Only after enrolling at York University and joining Latin American and Caribbean cultural events did she reconnect with her musical abilities. At nineteen she wed Joseph Manley, the son of Jamaica’s late prime minister Michael Manley, and the couple moved at once to Cuba. There she spent four years at the University of Havana, where she began composing original material. She entered local contests and captured the Best Female Vocalist prize three years running. Returning to Jamaica in 1983, she spent years performing quiet sets for modest crowds in Kingston venues. Michael Manley forwarded a demo of her song “Ashes On The Window Sill,” which addressed the U.S. invasion of Grenada, to various industry figures, yet the effort produced scant response. Eventually producer Lou Adler noticed her; Adler had recently signed the reggae band Native, formed by Manley’s cousins Brian and Wayne Jobson, and she supplied backing vocals on their album. In 1997 she finished her first full-length record, portions of which were captured at Nyumbani, Michael Manley’s hillside home. Along with the title track the collection included a reading of Silvio Rodrigues’ Cuban standard “Te Amare” and the pointed “City Lights.” Musicologist and broadcaster Dermott Hussey began featuring selections on his “Musically Speaking” program. Although the ten understated songs on Ashes On The Window Sill shared little sonic ground with reggae, Manley expressed admiration for both Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Her broader influences surfaced plainly: Joan Armatrading, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, and Joni Mitchell figured prominently. As a songwriter she credited a special debt to Janis Ian, whose work she first encountered upon arriving in Canada.