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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMANFRED MANNUK R&B/pop group formed in 1962 as Mann/Hugg Blues Brothers by Manfred Mann (b Manfred Lubowitz, 21 October 1940, Johannesburg SA) on keyboards, Mike Hugg (b 11 August 1942, Andover, Hants) on drums. They were signed to HMV as Manfred Mann, with Dave Richmond, bass (soon replaced by Tom McGuinness), Mike Vickers, guitar and reeds; ex-Oxford undergrad Paul Jones on vocals and harmonica. Flop single 'Why Should We Not' was an instrumental, betraying their jazz roots; they moved towards pop with 'Cock-A-Hoop' and found a hit grove with '5-4-3-2-1', a no. 5 hit '64 adopted as a theme by Britain's Ready Steady Go pop TV show. USA pop provided Barry and Greenwich's 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy' (no. 1 UK/USA '64) and Mann and Weill's 'Oh No Not My Baby' (11 UK); Bob Dylan 'If You Gotta Go, Go Now' (2 UK '65), 'Just Like A Woman' (10 UK '66) and 'The Mighty Quinn' (1 UK/10 USA '68; Dylan said that of the covers he liked Mann's best). 'Pretty Flamingo' was a no. 1 '66 UK, 'Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James' no. 2. The album Five Faces Of Manfred Mann '64 displayed versatility; they played R&B with a jazz flavour on albums, chafed at being pop stars (cf. song 'The One In The Middle'). Jones quit '66, replaced by Mike D'abo (ex-Band of Angels); Vickers left, McGuinness switched to guitar, Jack Bruce played bass briefly, then Klaus Voorman (b 29 April 1942, Berlin: he had been a member of Brian Epstein's Paddy, Klaus and Gibson; designed sleeves including the Beatle album Revolver '66). Manfred's jazz roots shone in Up The Junction '68 (soundtrack of fictionalized social commentary). They had switched to Fontana '66 but after twelve UK top ten hits '64-9 (six in USA Hot 100) the split personality ended: Mann and Hugg disbanded and formed brass-heavy Manfred Mann Chapter Three with Craig Collinge on drums, bassist Steve York, Bernie Living, Derek Coxhill, Sonny Corbett and Harry Beckett on horns for albums Manfred Mann Chapter Three and Chapter Three Volume Two '69-70. Mann disbanded again and formed the 'progressive' Earth Band: five UK hits '73-9 included 'Joybringer' '73, based on 'Jupiter' from Gustav Holst's The Planets. Mann's pop judgement made him an early champion of Bruce Springsteen; a cover of 'Blinded By The Light' was no. 1 USA '76 (no. 6 UK; also recorded his 'For You'); returned to Dylan for minor UK/USA hit 'You Angel You'. Earth Band albums included Manfred Mann's Earth Band '72, Glorified, Magnified '73, The Good Earth '74, Nightingales And Bombers '75, Roaring Silence '76; Criminal Tango '86 included an incongruous cover of The Jam's 'Going Underground'. Further albums on Grapevine were Plains Music '91 and Soft Vengeance '95.
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