Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann were an English rock band of the 1960s, named after keyboardist, Manfred Mann. The group had two different lead vocalists during their success, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966, and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969.. Manfred Mann were regularly in the charts in the 1960s. Three of the band's most successful singles, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo" and "Mighty Quinn", topped the UK Singles Chart. With the success of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" the sound of the group's singles moved away from the jazzy, blues-based music of their early years to a pop hybrid that continued to make hit singles from cover material.

Mann and Hugg were already writing advertising jingles at the time of the group's demise but continued to work together in a group format with Manfred Mann Chapter Three, an experimental jazz rock band described by Mann as an over-reaction to the hit factory of the Manfred Mann group. Mann then formed a new group. In its very earliest stages, the band was simply billed as "Manfred Mann" and thus a continuation of the 1960s group. Their second single, Randy Newman's "Living Without You," was also released by "Manfred Mann" in Europe, but by "Manfred Mann's Earth Band" in the USA, where the track became a minor chart hit. From 1972 forward Manfred Mann's Earth Band was the band name used on all releases by this group, and they are considered a separate band from Manfred Mann. (Read more at Wikipedia)

Links to Peel
Manfred Mann had their most successful period in the mid-1960s, when Peel was living in the USA and working as a DJ under the name John Raven(s)croft. Some of their UK hit singles also made the US charts, and three of them, “Just Like A Woman”, “Pretty Flamingo” and “Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James”, appeared in the British Top Ten listings compiled by Peel during his stint at KMEN in 1966. All three tracks remained in Peel’s chart for several weeks, with the latter two titles both reaching Number One, in May and December respectively..

Yet when Peel returned to Britain, he didn’t play much material by Manfred Mann. By 1967 their run of hit singles was slowing down, and they were thought of as a commercial pop group, despite the more adventurous side they showed on their LPs. Because of this, they never did a session for Top Gear, although Peel played their version of Bob Dylan’s “Mighty Quinn” on the show when it was a new release. Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, whose LPs were issued on Philips' "progressive" label Vertigo, seemed much more suited to the style of Peel's programmes of the early 1970s, and they were booked to do sessions for Top Gear, as was the more commercially successful Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

Peel didn't seem to revisit Manfred Mann's material or pay any attention to the band's later incarnations (the Blues Band and the Manfreds), but Tom McGuinness's McGuinness Flint, a popular live band of the early 1970s, did sessions for Top Gear. Former Manfred Mann lead singer Paul Jones later became a respected Radio Two broadcaster amd host of the station's long-running blues show, yet despite Peel's love of the blues he is not known to have recommended Jones's show on air, or to have appeared on it as a studio guest. However he did contribute to Pepper For Ever!, a 1997 Radio Two documentary narrated by Jones on the thirtieth anniversary of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.

Sessions

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Other Shows Played
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