The Band’s Namesake is Not the Lead Vocalist: Manfred Mann

It’s the second week in the month and time for our Second Week Special. In October and November, I featured instrumentation; however, this month I plan to do something a little different – “The Band’s Namesake is Not the Lead Vocalist.” During this week the seven examples will be bands where the namesake of the band is not the lead vocalist.

Our first example is the band Manfred Mann – which was named for the band’s keyboardist and not for the singer, Paul Jones. Originally named Manfred Mann and the Manfreds, producer John Burgess suggested that the name be shortened to Manfred Mann. While there was a Manfred Mann in the band, all of its members were considered as being Manfred Manns. This is reiterated with the title of their first UK and second US albums, “The Five Faces of Manfred Mann.”

“Pretty Flamingo” was the next to the last single release that featured Paul Jones on lead vocals. In July 1966, he left the band for a solo career and was replaced by Mike d’Abo. Prior to Jones leaving the band, guitarist Mike Vickers exited the group. Bassist Tom McGuinness (later of McGuinness Flint) took over the role of guitarist. He played a National steel bodied guitar on this cut.

For a short time, Jack Bruce (later of Cream) handled the bass guitar chores in Manfred Mann. “Pretty Flamingo” features Bruce on bass. While it was #1 record in the UK, “Pretty Flamingo” only made it to the #29 spot on the US charts.