Heavily influenced by her parents’ love of traditional Romanian folk music, teenage Mădălina Manole began taking guitar lessons and joined a local youth choir. After college, Mădălina worked as an air traffic controller while performing at festivals in her free time. She met and married fellow singer Şerban Georgescu, who took an interest in furthering his wife’s career. Through connections with Romanian radio, Mădălina got airplay with a song composed by her husband that became very popular. She signed a recording contract and a favorable article in Billboard magazine boosted her popularity. She played hundreds of shows in her native Romania, including a bill with Los del Rio, the band famous for the international dance hit “Macarena.”
On July 14, 2010 — her 43rd birthday — Mădălina took her own life by drinking a half-liter of carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide.