Paul Jones -

Paul Jones is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the original vocalist of Manfred Mann. He fronted the band for two albums and multiple singles, including their 1964 British Invasion hit “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” He went solo with a string of late ’60s titles on His Master’s Voice, culminating with the 1971 Vertigo release Crucifix In A Horseshoe. In 1979, he reteamed with Manfred alumni Tom McGuinness and Hugh Flint in The Blues Band.

Background

Paul Jones was born Paul Adrian Pond on February 24, 1942, in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He attended Portsmouth Grammar School, then completed his final two school years at Edinburgh Academy. Jones sang in choirs from childhood and developed an interest in jazz at sixteen, followed by American blues. He learned blues harmonica and won an Open Exhibition in English to Jesus College, Oxford, where he pursued music alongside his studies.

At Oxford, Jones sang at parties and coffee bars with Thunder Odin’s Big Secret. He met guitarist Brian Jones through the Alexis Korner circle at the Ealing Jazz Club in 1962, and the pair also played together at Oxford gatherings. Jones asked Brian to join Thunder Odin’s Big Secret, but the guitarist wanted his own group. Brian subsequently invited Jones to front the band that became the Rolling Stones; Jones declined because he doubted that a blues group could support its members and had accepted work with a dance band in Slough.

Jones also sang with the shifting personnel around Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, where he encountered musicians from the emerging London R&B circuit. By early 1963, he joined keyboardist Manfred Mann and drummer Mike Hugg in the Mann–Hugg Blues Brothers alongside multi-instrumentalist Mike Vickers and bassist Dave Richmond. Manager Kenneth Pitt secured auditions with Pye, Decca, and EMI, and a May EMI audition brought the group a contract with His Master’s Voice. Producer John Burgess shortened the group name to Manfred Mann and produced the July debut single “Why Should We Not” (b/w “Brother Jack”).

Manfred Mann reached the British Top Five with the Ready Steady Go! theme “5-4-3-2-1” in early 1964, then topped the UK and US charts with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” Jones sang and played harmonica across The Five Faces of Manfred Mann and Mann Made, while the group balanced pop singles with blues, R&B, jazz, and Dylan material. He decided to leave after the repertoire moved further from the blues that had drawn him into music, but remained through “Pretty Flamingo,” a UK No. 1 in spring 1966.

Jones reached the end of the Manfred Mann EMI contract in May 1966 and persuaded the label to retain him as a solo artist. EMI signed him separately in June, while Mike d’Abo succeeded him in Manfred Mann. Jones continued with producer John Burgess for “High Time,” which reached No. 4 in Britain, and the same association led into sessions for his first solo album, My Way.

Discography: