Manoj discovered his passion for music at a young age and began formal training at seven. His early initiation was at the age of three, singing bhajans on a pilgrimage to Shirdi. At eleven, he started professional Hindustani music training under Mrs. Vineeta Tembe and had mentors like Pandit Prabhakar Karekar, Pandit Ramesh Prem, and Mrs. Geeta Prem. He received a scholarship for Hindustani classical vocal music from the CCRT from 1988 to 1995, and a Master of Fine Arts in Hindustani Classical Vocal Music in 1999 from Mumbai University, where he also became a gold medalist and rank holder receiving the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi scholarship at the post-graduate level in 1998-99. His accolades include the Sur Singar Samsad Award in 1995 for light vocal.