Manila Grey (stylized as MANILA GREY) are a Canadian R&B duo from Vancouver, British Columbia. [1] They are most noted for receiving a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2021. [2]
Consisting of Filipino Canadian singer Soliven and rapper GhostrideNeeko, [3] they formed in 2016. [4] Their debut EP, No Saints Under Palm Shade, was released in 2017, [5] and was followed by their full-length album No Saints Loading in 2019, accompanied by their hit single “Silver Skies”. [1] In 2020, they released the singles "Shibuya" and "Blue Vegeta", both previews of their forthcoming second album No Saints on Knight Street [6] which was subsequently released on March 26, 2021. [7]
Manila Grey name consists of their cultural background with "MANILA" coming to represent their heritage of being Filipinos and "GREY" to reprsent their new home in Vancouver. [8]
Part of the release of the album No Saints on Knight Street, Myx [9] states that Manila Grey worked with one of Philippine's celebrity and fellow artists James Reid (actor) on the song 'Backhouse Ballin.' The article adds that both Manila Grey and Reid had an opportunity to perform at Universal CityWalk. This performance marks "...a huge step for Filipino artist crossing globally as our music gain exposure" quoted by Manila Grey from the same article. Entertainment Tonight Canada [10] published an article on April 13, 2023, about how Manila Grey shares their experience as first generations musicians finding success in music and starting from nothing. Manila Grey released their fourth album Sound Drift which features the single 'Motherland' a nod to their Filipino heritage and where they came from.
Manila Grey formed in early 2016 and released their first single "1z" on October 2, 2016, produced by long-time collaborator Azel North. [11]
On their single "Sometimes" from their album "No Saints on Knight Street" which is the third and final album of the "No Saints" trilogy the duo quotes that, "Lust is a drug, in 'Sometimes', we explore the balance between fantasy and commitment. We absolutely love women who know what they want, sometimes it's too much, but ironacally, that's what keeps us coming back. There's just something about that attitude that gets us hooked". Neeko claims that, "With No Saint's on Knight Street, we really wanted to capture where we grew up and just tell our stories from our childhood here [12] "No saint's on knight street is a studio album that consist of 13 songs which features both solo songs from the duo such as Long Game (Neeko's Redemption) and Deep cut (Solivens Romance) as well as features from James Reid, P-Lo, and Renz Monclare as well as producer Azel North.