Manuel Franco Barón, a Spanish flamenco guitarist, known in the artistic world of the guitar as Manolo Franco, was born in Seville in 1960. At just 15 he started his brilliant artistic career, accompanying flamenco dance companies. In 1979 he won first guitar prize at Radio Sevilla and later he won the Giraldillo del Toque of II Biennale of Flamenco Art, awarded by a jury of great artists, including Paco de Lucía, Serranito, Manolo Sanlúcar and Juan Habichuela, and in competition with Pedro Bacán, Tomatito, Riqueni, José Antonio Rodríguez and José Manuel Roldán. On his record Aljibe, released in 1986, he dedicates a song to his important teacher Maestro Antonio Osuna.