Manfred Mann- Do Wah Diddy Diddy (1964)
Here's a band that went through quite a few phases and members. Hailing from London England, keyboardist Manfred Mann formed the group in 1962. initially they performed jazzy blues-based tunes and settled on a line-up that included vocalist Paul Jones, guitarist Mike Vickers, bass player Tom McGuiness and drummer Mike Hugg.
They struck gold just in time for the British Invasion scoring a #1 hit around the world with a cover of the girl group The Exciters Doo Wah Diddy Diddy. Another girl group cover, this time from The Shirelles called Sha La La broke into Top 20 territory. They continued to chart successfully, especially in the UK through 1966.
1967 saw the band run into trouble with diminishing sales and membership changes. Jack Bruce, before joining Cream, played bass for about a year. Klaus Voorman was brought in for bass right after. The lead vocalist changed too, now being Mike d'Abo. You'd think it was time to right the group off.
But in 1968 they resurrected themselves with the Bob Dylan penned The Mighty Quinn followed by another hit My Name Is Jack. However this phase ended by late 1969 when the band disolved
But wait, there's more. 1970 they came back as Manfred Mann Chapter Three as an experimental jazz-rock group. 2 albums made then it was quitting time again
But hold on. Late 1971 they were back again at first with the same group name then changed in 1972 as Mannfred Mann's Earth Band. Now geared as a progressive rock group, they are best known for their cover of the Bruce Springsteen song Blinded By The Light. They stayed together until the late 80s, disbanded and then to no one's surprise reformed in the 90s and continue to lumber on even as we speak
Back to the beginnings, the first cut from the first USA album 1964
Bonus clip: The original Exciters version