Las Vegas-born singer Manika takes on two holiday classics

Manika is a brave woman. To celebrate Christmas, the Las Vegas-born singer recorded her own renditions of "White Christmas" and "Santa Baby," two of the yuletide season's most iconic tunes.

But Manika, 18, doesn't worry about taking on songs identified with musical giants such as Bing Crosby and Eartha Kitt, mostly because she's such a big fan of both the singers and the songs.

"I love those songs so much," Manika explains during a recent phone interview. "Those are two of my favorite Christmas songs."

Manika -- her last name is Ward, but she goes professionally just by her first name -- lives in Los Angeles these days, but she will be coming home Saturday to perform at the 13th Annual 98.5 KLUC's Chet Buchanan & The Morning Zoo Toy Drive.

Manika was born and raised in Las Vegas and says she has loved music, singing and songwriting all her life. She taught herself piano and guitar when she was just a kid, and Manika admits some were surprised at the ease she showed onstage while performing in school music programs.

"When I was young -- especially in preschool, like the really early years -- I was very shy in person," she says. "But when I'd go onstage, I just felt free and by myself and not shy anymore."

Manika "always loved to sing in school and in choir," recalls her mother, Grace Ward. "She always loved it and she definitely stood out."

Manika also credits a popular amateur musical pastime with helping her to hone her vocal chops.

"I'm part Filipino, part Japanese, part Chinese, part Malaysian and part Spanish, and all those people, they love their karaoke," she says, laughing. "So whenever my family got together, we'd all karaoke."

Manika counts among her musical influences Aerosmith, Alanis Morissette and Michael Jackson, who were some of the artists her parents listened to.

"I love them. They're like my biggest musical inspirations," she says. "Alanis, just her unique, organic vibe. Aerosmith, I just love their loud guitars."

"And, Michael Jackson. People say it and it's a cliche," Manika says, but "watching his videos and watching him live, just the intensity he put into each performance. And he had such great style -- his singing style and how he moved, the style of his clothing. It's just incredible how me moved."

Manika's reference to Jackson is particularly apropos: Frank DiLeo, Jackson's longtime manager, was working with Manika before his death earlier this year, and Travis Payne, choreographer of Jackson's proposed "This is It" tour, also is working with the singer.

Another member of Manika's management team is noted vocal and performance coach CeCe Sammy, who became acquainted with Manika through a mutual friend.

When she was 15, Manika had written a book, "The Exciting Adventures of Boo." In addition, "I was doing a lot of work with charities ... and going along to different hospitals and reading to cancer patients," Manika recalls. "(Sammy) heard about me through that, and one of her friends told her about me."

As a favor to her friend, Sammy agreed to meet with Manika.

"I showed her all of my songs," Manika says. "She told me that the thing she liked about me ... is how I had been working already on my own songs. I didn't just come there, 'Oh, I want to be a star.'

"I really think you should love music, you should love songwriting, and that was what she loved, because I had all these songs I had written myself, I had taught myself piano and guitar, and I asked her how to get better."

"I always knew I wanted to do this," adds Manika, who has won three straight outstanding performance awards at the National Performing Arts Festival in New York City. Her debut single, "Just Can't Let You Go," made the playlist at radio stations across the country.

Manika was on the road to radio show appearances and a performance in Illinois when she heard the song on the radio for the first time. But, because she usually played her iPod through the car radio, Manika almost missed it.

"I'm like, 'Wait a minute, is that the radio now? You're kidding' " she says. As she listened, Manika flashed back to the song's evolution, from the point that she first began to write it and on through "the process of writing and recording and shooting the music video and staging the music video and, then, hearing it on the radio. It's amazing to see how something starts off as an idea and, now, other people are listening to it."

Manika spent much of last summer touring with the "Shop Til You Rock" tour, which played malls and schools across the country.

"Last year, Demi Lovato and Cody Simpson were on it. This year, I was the only girl in it," Manika says. "It was a bunch of fun.

"The thing that can get kind of annoying is, when you travel so much, how hectic it gets. I was being interviewed once -- it was a phone interview -- and they said, 'Where are you right now?' and I didn't know where I was.

"But when I'd get there, at the place, and do things like (appearances at) radio stations or interviews or performances, and it was great. Also, it was nice to see the cultures of all the places."

Manika is a graduate of Henderson International School -- she graduated a year early -- and now spends most of her time in Los Angeles. But, she adds, "the nice thing is, it's only an hour's flight," so she does come back to visit family and friends as often as she can.

"Most of my friends are actually off at college right now, which kind of stinks. When I come home to visit Vegas I'm, like, 'Yeah, I get to see family and friends, and ... oh, wait, they're all across the U.S. in college.' "

Mom Grace Ward notes that 2011 has been "a big year" for her daughter.

"We're just very happy," she says, "and we're very, very proud of her."

In addition to the release of her Christmas songs -- which can be purchased on iTunes and via other retailers -- Manika's second single will be released in January.

Her advice for aspiring songwriters: Keep at it.

"Nothing can stop a great song, so just keep songwriting," Manika says. "So you just have to be ready for it, when opportunity comes, to grab it, hold on and run with it."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.