Manfred Mann were one of the leading R&B groups of the Sixties who recorded pop material to get into the charts. They broke through in the winter of 1964 when their third single release "5-4-3-2-1" (the theme for popular TV programme "Ready, Steady, Go") reached the top five. This was the first of a string of hits, mostly covers of American R&B or Bob Dylan songs.

Mann began his career playing jazz in his native South Africa before he moved to England in 1961. The band was formed in London late in '62 as The Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers, initially they were a purist modern jazz band featuring two saxophonists and a trumpet player.

With the addition of Paul Jones on vocals and harmonica and slimming down to a five-piece, they switched the emphasis to R&B and, after unsuccessfully auditioning for Pye and Decca, won a recording contract with HMV in 1963. It was at HMV's suggestion that the name of the group was changed to Manfred Mann.

Both sides of their debut single were instrumentals, but the follow-up "Cock A Hoop" featured the charismatic Paul Jones' vocals.

After the success of "5-4-3-2-1" they released the similarly-styled "Hubble Bubble Toil And Trouble" beofre really hitting the big time with two covers of songs by American girl groups - the Exciters' "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and the Shirelles' "Sha La La". 1965 brought further success for the group, including Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" - the first of several Dylan songs they would record for single release during the 60's.

In contrast to their singles, their album tracks often had a heavy R'n'B sound to them, covering songs by Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf as well as some perfectly competent original material.

Vickers left towards the end of '65 with McGuinness switching to lead guitar and Jack Bruce coming in on bass from John Mayall's Bluesbrekers. Bruce in turn left to join Cream and was replaced by Klaus Voorman, and Paul Jones was replaced by Mike D'Abo from A Band Of Angels in the middle of 1966.

None of these changes to the line-up, nor a switch to Fontana seemed to have any effect whatsoever on their commercial viability and they carried on hitting the charts regularly until the decade's end, albeit in a style increasingly distant from their jazz/R'n'B roots.