Crystal Gayle-EveAnna Manley

... Manley leaves behind a rich legacy that continues to grow under the leadership of, for VTL, his son Luke Manley and daughter-in-law Beatrice Lam, and for Manley Labs, his fifth wife, EveAnna Manley.

... Disagreements over distribution channels eventually led to a split between father and son. David did what is often termed in AA circles as "a geographic," and briefly split to Spain, where he tried to open a factory. When that didn’t pan out, David and his wife of three years, EveAnna, moved into the current Manley Laboratories building in Chino in 1993 with half the crew, inventory, and the ViTaL record label and home studio. Luke retained the rest of the operation and began running VTL. Three years later, David left for France, where he lived with his sixth wife, Veronique.

In the mid-90’s I went to a small 16/24 track studio in L.A. for a session, and was surprised to see a Manley faceplate in the outboard gear rack (it was a mic pre-amp, or limiter, or equalizer, I don’t remember). In the early-90’s, David separated the VTL and Manley divisions of his company, giving VTL to his son Luke to run, himself focusing on the pro market with the Manley brand.

In ’93 David left the U.S.A., and handed over the Manley company to daughter EveAnna (a real character, and a sweetheart imo. I became acquainted with her in the late-90’s at the Vegas CES). I think she’s done a great job with the brand and company.