With the album What Remains, Jamie Manning has found his voice as a songwriter by giving a voice through song to parents dealing with the traumatic effects of raising children with autism.

The eighth and final child in a Boston-Irish family, Jamie grew up in a house filled with music. Both of his parents were gifted natural singers and every sibling either sang or played an instrument. He gravitated early toward playing drums and piano, writing his first song by age 10.

His life followed a somewhat chaotic, though otherwise predictable course until age 15, when his mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. It was a heavy blow, one that immediately ended his childhood and drove him to study music obsessively as a means of escape. In the ensuing years, he would watch his mother slowly fade away while his father sold the family home and spent his retirement savings to pay for medical bills and nursing care.

Following high school, Jamie pursued music full-time, eventually receiving his bachelor and master of music degrees in classical music performance, education, and conducting. During this time, he wrote and performed jazz, classical, R&B, and other music extensively in his native Boston and abroad, eventually earning the distinction of 'Boston's Best Drummer'.

After finishing graduate school, and sensing a need for change, Jamie pursued an entirely different career path and ventured into the business world. He stared out building a short-lived business in radio advertising and moved on to the world of marketing, with jobs ranging from graphic designer, to multimedia producer, to marketing director.

Jamie's life once again began to follow a comfortable, predictable path until one day in January 2002, when he and his wife Karen learned that their 18-month-old son had autism. It was devastating news, made worse for Jamie by its similarity to his mother's illness. They decided to do whatever necessary to help their son overcome the effects of autism. Years of intensive therapy followed, and though the process has taken its toll emotionally and financially, their son has made tremendous progress, while completely redefining for them the true meaning of love.

As it had earlier in life, dealing with a life crisis drove Jamie to music to find resolution. He began to find it on a snowy drive home from a New Years Eve performance. At some point during that trip, a song came into his mind, and with it, inspiration. What followed was 15 months of late nights and weekends spent writing and recording the songs that became What Remains. They are heartfelt and genuine, a journey through a wide range of profound emotions, delivered through well crafted, listenable songs.

At present, Jamie continues his work in marketing and plans to perform select concerts to benefit autism and related causes. He can be reached via e-mail at [pressATjamiemanningDOTcom].