Manfred Mann

The history of the jazz/R&B combo founded by South African Jewish emigré Manfred Sepse Lubowitz in London in 1962 can be divided into three parts, not counting the prog-rock group that rose to fame in 1977 with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light," Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The first incarnation began life as the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers, formed by Mike Hugg and Lubowitz, who had changed his surname first to Manne and then to Mann. Paul Jones was the lead vocalist of this outfit, which changed its name to Manfred Mann upon receiving a record contract in 1963. This was the lineup responsible for "5-4-3-2-1"--rather a larger hit in Britain than elsewhere due to its status as the theme tune for Ready Steady Go!--the Bob Dylan covers "With God on Our Side" and "If You Gotta Go, Go Now," and the timeless smash "Do Wah Diddy Diddy." Jack Bruce, later of Cream, joined the band right before Paul Jones's last hit with the group, "Pretty Flamingo." In 1966 Jones left to go solo and was replaced by Mike D'Abo (it is said that among those in the running for the job was one Rod Stewart), and Bruce's spot was filled by Beatles associate Klaus Voormann. This lineup's first single was another Dylan cover, "Just Like a Woman," and by far their best-known song was "Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)"--the first commercial recording of the song that had been recorded as part of Dylan's Basement Tapes in 1967. The last, short-lived chapter of the group involved a name change to Manfred Mann Chapter Three and a reduction of the band's core back to Mann and Hugg. Two years after Manfred Mann's final recorded effort, the awkwardly titled Manfred Mann Chapter Three Volume Two, Mann formed Manfred Mann's Earth Band, who are still active. In the 1990s, members of Manfred Mann, including Paul Jones, Tom McGuinness, Mike d'Abo, and Mike Hugg, reunited without their namesake as the Manfreds, and are touring under that name to this day.