Manny Halley
The Quentissential Manager

If you tune in weekly to Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, you probably know who Manny Halley is. Known to fans as just “Manny”, he is Cole’s manager and keeper of the peace amongst the Cole crew. However, Halley is so much more than that. Try a barber, television and movie producer and restaurant owner on for size. He seems to wear all of these hats effortlessly, by living by the mantra, “Keep it moving.” Halley carved out a piece of time to talk by phone about his rise to the top of his game and why his plans for the future don’t stay plans for long. After wrapping  up a show in Charlotte, North Carolina on the I Am Music Tour with Keyshia Cole, Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain, Halley is still taking care of business, taking two phone calls at one time. The duties of a manager are never over, he says. The music tour, which is supposed to end in mid-January, may be extended to February due to its popularity. Cole is also up for two Grammys, including Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Halley can tell you that being a manager is not all fun and games, especially when positive and negative situations fall on your shoulders, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything else. “I can’t say there’s anything that I would personally change (about managing artists),” he says. “You get the good with the bad.” Halley learned about artist management from the School of Hard Knocks. His first client was Bad Boy rap artist Shyne, who is currently incarcerated (He plans to drop a project this year, according to Halley). That’s not bad for a guy who had no experience in managing artists. What he did have though, was a history of throwing parties that brought out the masses in his Brooklyn borough. “I was the popular person in my neighborhood,” says Halley. A barber in the early 1990s, he would throw birthday parties, promoted by New York radio personalities like Hot 97’s Wendy Williams and Ed Lover. Halley likens himself to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, in respect to his move up the entertainment ladder. He too, had experience in promotions, an inside track to the music industry and an ear to the street. “I thought, ‘You’ve got half the battle.’ It’s a formula that actually works,” he says. When Shyne , who used to come into Halley’s barbershop and spit lyrics, declared that he was giving up rap to job-hunt because Halley was “too busy” to manage him, he immediately took on the role. Halley quickly made moves, assuring Shyne’s contract with Bad Boy and a successful self-titled album. After Shyne’s incarceration, Halley moved to the west coast to pursue a career in movie production, producing straight to rental movies, Sacred and Truth Be Told, starring Regina King. Currently, he’s producing a movie adaptation of the novel True to the Game, written by author, Terri Woods. He is even part owner of an IHOP Restaurant in New York with some longtime friends. Halley has proven that he is not afraid of taking risks to branch out in entertainment. The riskiest chance Halley has ever taken has been to produce Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, but it couldn’t have been a better one. The reality show gives a 360-degree look into Cole’s life, from her music career to her personal life and upbringing, which includes being adopted after her biological mother, Frankie became addicted to drugs. “Four or five years ago, the way the music industry was going… it was getting fluffy,” says Halley. “I wanted to show that even celebrities have trials and tribulations in their lives.” The third season, telecast on Black Entertainment Television (BET) just wrapped up with record-breaking viewership numbers, according to Livesteez. The season debut pulled in 1.4 million viewers, making it the most watched original series season premiere of all time. If you think the drama on The Way It Is is unbelievable, think again. “We don’t hold back anything,” Halley says. “Everything is 106 percent real. No acting.” Frankie and Cole’s sister, Neffe have garnered their own fame, so much so that, Halley is producing a spin-off show for them. Halley is seen as the driving force behind the machine that is Keyshia Cole on The Way It Is. From negotiating movie deals (a biographical movie of Cole’s life is currently in production) to gathering all of her family members together for an impromptu visit to a tour city or setting up counseling sessions for them, he does it all—all while exuding a certain calmness that only he can. Faithful viewers know Manny’s demeanor never changes, whether he is at a listening party or a street brawl. That could be difficult when cameras are zooming in on you six hours a day. “I’m so cool (in every situation),” he says. “My demeanor is what you see (on television). I think I know what to say in situations. I keep it positive.” His job is 24 hours a day. Just ask Frankie, who may call him at 3 a.m. for a venting session. “If there’s a situation, I handle it right away. I never let it linger,” he says. “Sometimes talking to someone is all they need.” While Halley is making sure his clients are taken care of emotionally, financially and even spiritually, he still finds time to treat himself. He manages to squeeze a workout into his schedule occasionally and his family can fly to his location anytime while he’s on the road. For relaxation, he loves to get massages, read and write. He even admits that when it is time to sleep for the night, he keeps his cell phone out of his reach so he can get the best rest possible. As we ended our phone call, in true Manny-fashion, he wanted to leave with a word of encouragement, “Everybody, no matter what you’re doing—put an extra 25 percent into it,” he says. “If everybody does that, the world would be much better.”

story: Alisha Tillery alisha.tillery@gmail.com  |  photos: DIMITRY L. www.dimitryl.com
styling: CHRISTOPHER MANNOR www.christophem.book.fr  |  grooming: VALERI NOBLE www.valerienoble.com