John Lingwood

Manfred Mann's Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann.

Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You", "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night".

Keyboardist Manfred Mann started in the 1960s with the self-titled band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and Bob Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn" and then moved on to jazz fusion-inspired Manfred Mann Chapter Three before forming the Earth Band in 1971.

Feeling that Chapter Three had suffered from too many self-imposed rules, being frustrated with mostly only playing Mike Hugg's compositions and not being an economically feasible venture (due to the number of musicians involved) were all reasons for forming the new group, which was open to songs from outside the band (like Mann's earlier groups) and developed due to the different musical backgrounds of its members as opposed to adhering to a strict musical concept.

The original line-up consisted of Mick Rogers (guitar and vocals), Manfred Mann (keyboards, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals), Colin Pattenden (bass guitar) and Chris Slade (drums and vocals).

In its very earliest stages, the band was sometimes billed as "Manfred Mann" and thus a continuation of the 1960s group, sometimes as "Manfred Mann Chapter Three" due to that being the most recent incarnation of Mann's career.

This song, as well as the re-recording of "Mighty Quinn" (also released as a single to celebrate the original 1968 hit's tenth anniversary), was recorded live with studio overdubs.

Before the recording of the album, original bassist Colin Pattenden had departed and was replaced by Pat King.

After forming in 1971 and with a short hiatus in the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Earth Band continues to perform and tour.

The quartet released their first single, Bob Dylan's "Please, Mrs. Henry", in 1971, simply credited to "Manfred Mann".

A debut album "Stepping Sideways" was recorded but not released because the band's style was rapidly maturing, and the group felt it was not representative of their live act anymore.

In September 1971, a new name was chosen.

Manfred Mann suggested a title containing "band" (which almost rhymes with "Mann") and after considering the likes of "Arm Band", "Head Band" and "Elastic Band", Chris Slade suggested "Earth Band", a name both related to the band's originally straightforward musical style and the ecological movement ongoing at the time.

Their second single, Randy Newman's "Living Without You", was still credited to 'Manfred Mann' in Europe, but by 'Manfred Mann's Earth Band' in the US, where the track became a minor chart hit.

The membership of the Earth Band was stable between 1971 and 1976, during which time they released their first six albums.

The iconic logo, which appeared on the band's most future album covers, debuted on the second released LP, Glorified Magnified.

The Earth Band combines the stylistic approach of progressive rock with Mann's jazz-influenced Moog synthesizer playing and keen ear for melody.

Beside producing their own material, a staple of the band's music and live performances from the beginning has been also relying on covers of songs by other modern pop/rock artists, notably Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, in their progressive rock style.

On two non-charting single releases in the UK in 1972/73, the group was billed simply as 'Earth Band', but otherwise, from 1972 forward, 'Manfred Mann's Earth Band' was the band name used on all releases.

Mann's interest in English 20th century classical music saw him adapt Gustav Holst's Planets Suite and turn a version of the "Jupiter" movement into a UK hit entitled "Joybringer" (perhaps surprisingly excluded from the 1973 album Solar Fire).

The title song to 1973's Messin' (written by Mike Hugg and originally recorded by Chapter Three on their unissued third album), as well as most of the 1974 album The Good Earth, tapped into ecological concerns, a recurring theme in Mann's music in later years, with The Good Earth giving away a free gift of a piece of land in Wales with each album sold.

Like other prog-rock acts, the band also issued concept albums on space and sci-fi themes (particularly the 1973 album Solar Fire and the singles "Launching Place" off the 1974 The Good Earth and "Starbird" off the 1976 The Roaring Silence) and religious or biblical imagery ("Prayer" on the band's debut album, "Buddah" on Messin', Dylan's "Father of Day, Father of Night" and "In the Beginning, Darkness" on Solar Fire, "The Road to Babylon" and "This Side of Paradise" on The Roaring Silence and "Resurrection" on the 1979 Angel Station).

The group's sixth album, 1975's Nightingales & Bombers, took its title from a World War II naturalist's recording of a nightingale singing in a garden as warplanes flew overhead; the recording appears in a track on the album (the US version included an extra track, a cover of Bob Dylan's; "Quit Your Low Down Ways" sung by Mick Rogers).

After this album, Mick Rogers left the band (temporarily, and he still contributed backing vocals to the next album).

He was replaced by two musicians, Chris Thompson (lead vocals, guitar) and Dave Flett (lead guitar, backing vocals).

Other classical music adaptations include "Questions" from the 1976 album The Roaring Silence (which is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major), "Earth, the Circle, Pt. 1" from Solar Fire (which uses the melody from Claude Debussy's "Jimbo's Lullaby") and "Starbird" also from 1976's The Roaring Silence (which is based upon Igor Stravinski's ballet The Firebird).

The US breakthrough for the band came in the third week of February 1977, when they charted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" from The Roaring Silence.

The Roaring Silence also featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophonist Barbara Thompson.

Taking advantage of the publicity of their hit song, the band re-released another Springsteen song, "Spirit in the Night", re-titled "Spirits in the Night", which the band had released the previous year on Nightingales & Bombers, in a vocally re-cut version with Chris Thompson taking a new lead vocal in place of Mick Rogers' vocal on the original album version.

Following these popular successes, the Earth Band released the album Watch (1978), which produced another UK hit single in "Davy's on the Road Again".

Drummer Chris Slade and lead guitarist Dave Flett left before 1979's Angel Station.

It was announced that Chris Thompson would also be leaving at this same time to pursue his own group, Night, but Night quickly faded after scoring two hits and Thompson was back in time for the Earth Band's next album and tour.

Flett was replaced by guitarist Steve Waller, who shared lead vocals with Thompson.

Geoff Britton played drums on the album but was soon replaced by John Lingwood, due to illness.

Social criticism was also addressed ("Black and Blue" on Messin' dealt particularly with slavery and "Chicago Institute" on Watch with mental institutions and science as a means of social control); a trend which grew throughout the 1980s, with songs such as Lies (Through the 1980s) on technological progress vs. social setbacks on Chance (1980), and with Mann's growing involvement with the anti-apartheid movement which was featured on the 1982 album Somewhere in Afrika.

1980's Chance, featuring several guest vocalists alongside Thompson, Mann and Waller, showed a move towards a more electronic approach and produced several cuts that were hits in the UK and/or saw significant airplay in both the US and UK, with the songs "Lies (All Through the 80's)" sung by Thompson, "Stranded" and "For You" (another Springsteen song sung by Thompson).

Trevor Rabin, a fellow South African and London session musician, and lead guitarist of the 1980s version of Yes, guested on the album, as did original Earth Band guitarist Mick Rogers.

Bassist Pat King left the group in 1982 to be replaced by bassist/guitarist Matt Irving.

By this time, Mann had become personally active in the international anti-apartheid movement and was banned from entering his home country of South Africa.

Mann's intention for acknowledgement of oppressed ethnic groups also influenced the 1992 album Plains Music, which featured traditional Native American music.