Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Famed for the 1960s pop hits Do Wah Diddy Diddy and The Mighty Quinn with his previous band Manfred Mann, the South African born keyboard player developed a beefed-up, more complex, prog rock sound with his second musical project, Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Formed in 1976, the band dabbled with Moog synthesizers, jazz meanderings and bluesy guitars and addressed ecological concerns on their early works; even giving away the ownership rights to one square foot of land on a mountain in the Brecon Beacons, Wales with each copy of their album The Good Earth (1974). Their finest hour came with Top 10 album The Roaring Silence (1976) and their cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded By The Light, which reached Number 6 in the UK singles chart, and they went on to build up a loyal fan base in Germany with the albums Watch (1978) and Angel Station (1979). Mann became more politicised in the 1980s, campaigning against apartheid to the extent that he was banned from the country of his birth, and continues to create sonically ambitious, melodic rock and cover a diverse range of artists from The Jam to Super Furry Animals to Franz Schubert.