Mike Hugg, co-founder of the ’60s rock band Manfred Mann, turns 86 on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Born in Gosport, England, in 1940, Hugg helped launch the group that would score a string of major hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including the chart-topping “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.”
That dream began taking shape in 1962, when Hugg hired keyboardist Manfred Mann to play alongside him during a summer season at Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Clacton. After returning to London, the pair formed the Mann-Hugg Quartet, which gradually evolved into the blues-oriented group that would ultimately become Manfred Mann.
The group broke through in Britain with “5-4-3-2-1,” co-written by Hugg and used as the theme for the popular TV music series Ready Steady Go! But an even bigger hit was just around the corner.
According to music historian Fred Bronson’s"The Billboard Book of Number One Hits," Manfred Mann discovered the Exciters’ record in a London bargain bin and began performing the song as part of the group’s live act. Their manager then persuaded them to record it.
Released in 1964, Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and also topped the charts in the U.K. Bronson notes that its success led the group to record another American song for its next single, the Shirelles’ “Sha La La.”
Marsh also highlighted the wonderfully nonsensical origins of its title. Barry and Greenwich were trying to come up with a follow-up to “Da Doo Ron Ron,” with Greenwich explaining that the syllables had to do more than merely sound right: “They have to sing right.”
And despite competing in an extraordinarily crowded British rock scene, Hugg remembered Manfred Mann as formidable onstage.
When Manfred Mann broke up in 1969, Hugg and Mann continued working together in the more experimental Manfred Mann Chapter Three. Hugg moved away from the drum kit to become a vocalist and keyboardist while writing much of the group’s material.
In 1991, Hugg reunited with several former Manfred Mann members as the Manfreds, a group that continued performing the music of the original band without Manfred Mann himself. Hugg eventually retired from regular touring in 2022.
More than six decades after Hugg helped form one of the signature groups of the British Invasion, that teenage “hopeless dream” turned into a career that helped produce some of the era’s most enduring music.
Related: 1963 Bob Dylan Song, Ranked Among 'Greatest Songs of All Time,' Went to No. 1 For Beloved Folk Trio
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