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Music / Manfred Mann

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The "classic" lineup. Left to right: Paul Jones, Tom McGuinness, Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann, Mike Vickers.

"Doo wah diddy-diddy, dum, diddy do!"
"Doo Wah Diddy"

Manfred Mann is a 1960s British band that was notably part of The British Invasion. It was mostly led by keyboard player Manfred Mann and drummer-percussionist Mike Hugg — two men who had originally began a group named the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers in the late 1950s — and they later recruited three other musicians to complete the group.

Throughout their career, they managed to get seven Top 20 singles in the UK charts and a number one single in the US with "Doo Wah Diddy". After they disbanded in 1969, several spin-off groups formed under the same name, such as Manfred Mann (Chapter 3), Manfred Mann's Earth Band (best known for their #1 hit cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light"), and The Manfreds. These versions of the group evolved from the band's pop origins into Jazz, Space Rock and Progressive Rock.

Well known hits include "Doo Wah Diddy", "Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)", "Pretty Flamingo", "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" and "Semi-Detatched Suburban Mr James".


Past members

  • Manfred Lubowitz (Manfred Mann) — keyboards (1962–69)
  • Mike Hugg — drums, keyboard, vibraphone (1962–69)
  • Dave Richmond — bass (1962–64)
  • Mike Vickers — guitar, alto sax, flute (1962–65)
  • Paul Jones — vocals, harmonica (1962–66)
  • Tom McGuinness — guitar, bass (1964–69)
  • Jack Bruce — bass (1965–66) (died in 2014)
  • Klaus Voormann — bass (1966–69)
  • Mike d'Abo — vocals, keyboards (1966–69)

"There she was, just a-tropin' down the street":

  • Cover Version: Quite a few, including their Signature Song "Doo Wah Diddy" (originally by The Exciters) and a number of Bob Dylan songs, including the hit "Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)".note  In The '70s, Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered several Bruce Springsteen songs and had a hit with "Blinded by the Light". Their 1984 hit "Runner" was a cover of an Ian Thomas song.
  • Mondegreen: Manfred Mann's Earth Band produced one of the most (in)famous examples with their famous cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light". Manfred, who took lead vocals on the song himself and sang the chorus, had an accent that caused him to twist the word "deuce", adding a significant "h" sound that made it sound like he was instead saying "douche". He was never able to get it right, so they kept it like that. Even Springsteen has joked about it, once expressing amazement that they re-wrote the song to be about feminine hygeine products.
  • Multinational Team: Manfred was born in South Africa, but emigrated to England to escape The Apartheid Era. Klaus Voorman is from Berlin, Germany; Aside from his work with Manfred Mann, Voorman is best known for his long association with The Beatles, having befriended The Fab Four during their Hamburg days. (Most notably, he won a Grammy for designing the cover for Revolver.)
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted when both Mike Vickers and Mike Hugg were in the band. And then Mike d'Abo joined a year after Vickers left...
  • Protest Song: Their cover of Bob Dylan's anti-war song "With God On Our Side".
  • Silly Love Songs: "Doo Wah Diddy".

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