Paul Jones - Before his solo career, the world knew him as "the one in the middle" - singer for Manfred Mann.
A Word Or Two From Paul Jones (Manfred Mann) – 1965 – Past Daily Talking Music.
BBC Pop Profile – Brian Mathew talks with Paul Jones – (circa 1965) – BBC Transcription Service –
Paul Jones may not ring a lot of bells outside of Britain (where he is, among other things, a TV personality), and people who were not around for the British Invasion of 1964 would be hard-pressed to recall the name. But Paul Jones, as lead singer of Manfred Mann during those insane days where seemingly half the population of Britain had come to the U.S. and just about every other song dominating the charts was recorded somewhere in London or Liverpool, was the be-all/end-all in the Pop Music world.
Jones was lead vocal on Do-Wah Diddy, a song ironically penned by the New York writing team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded by The Exciters, an R&B group out of Queens. But in the hands of Manfred Mann, became part of the British Invasion legacy and an anthem for coming of age all over America in the 1960s.
Jones, along with Manfred Mann had several hits before Jones left the group to pursue a solo career. He was less successful without the band than they were with his replacement, Mike d’Abo, but did have a few hits, notably with “High Time” (1966) (UK no. 4), “I’ve Been a Bad, Bad Boy” (1967) (UK no. 5) and “Thinkin’ Ain’t for Me” (1967) (UK no. 32), before branching into acting. While his solo career in the UK was mildly successful, he sold few records in the United States. He had enough hits in Sweden to have a greatest hits album released there on EMI. His subsequent single releases in Britain in the late 1960s were on Columbia.
Here is an interview Jones did with Brian Mathew for the BBC Transcription service program Pop Profiles around 1965 (no specific dates).
And as a reminder of what Do-Wah Diddy sounded like – here is a live version the band did on Shindig here in the U.S. in 1965:
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