Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann (born Manfred Sepse Lubowitz, 21 October 1940, Johannesburg, Transvaal, Union of South Africa) is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Lubowitz studied music at the University of the Witwatersrand, and worked as a jazz pianist at a number of clubs in Johannesburg. Between 1959 and 1961 he and his childhood friend Saul Ozynski recorded two albums as the Vikings – South Africa's first rock and roll band.

Strongly opposed to the apartheid system in his native South Africa, Lubowitz moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 and began to write for "Jazz News" under the pseudonym Manfred Manne (after jazz drummer Shelly Manne), which was soon shortened to Manfred Mann. The next year he met drummer and keyboard player Mike Hugg at Clacton Butlins Holiday Camp and together they formed a large blues-jazz band called the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers. This eventually evolved into a 5-piece group and they signed a record deal with EMI in 1963, under the HMV label. They changed their name to Manfred Mann at the suggestion of the label's record producer, and from 1964 to 1969 they had a succession of hit records: ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Sha La La", "Pretty Flamingo", "Mighty Quinn"). The group split in 1969, and Mann immediately formed another outfit with Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann Chapter Three, an experimental jazz rock band. They disbanded after two albums, but Mann formed a new outfit in 1971, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which still record and perform to this day. Their well-known hits include the No. 1 "Blinded by the Light", "Runner", which peaked at No. 22 and "Davy's On The Road Again". Mann has also released solo projects under "Manfred Mann's Plain Music" and "Manfred Mann '06." Manfred Mann used various keyboard instruments through his career, but he is especially famous for his solo performance on Minimoog synthesizer. His keyboard parts are often improvised, inspired by jazz.