Mike D'Abo
| Mike d'Abo | |
|---|---|
From left to right: Tom McGuinness, Dave Berry, Klaus Voormann, Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann, Mike d'Abo (The Netherlands, 1967)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael David d'Abo |
| Born |
1 March 1944 Betchworth, Surrey, England |
| Genres | Rock, pop, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Associated acts |
Manfred Mann A Band of Angels The Manfreds |
| Website | Official website |
Michael David "Mike" d'Abo (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann and as the composer of the popular song "Handbags and Gladrags".
D'Abo was born in Betchworth, Surrey, the son of Dorothy Primrose (née Harbord) and Edward Nassau Nicolai d'Abo, a London stockbroker. His surname comes from his father's part Dutch ancestry. He was educated at Harrow School and Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), and has eyes "that honestly seem to change from blue to brown to green, depending on the light" (Pete Goodman, music journalist). D'Abo's original intention at Cambridge was to read theology and become a priest but, faced with "everything to learn" (not least Classical Greek and Hebrew), and a disconnect between the "strange, impractical philosophy" he was being taught and his idealism about "bringing comfort to people" and spreading "understanding in the world," he "became wholly disillusioned" (Rave, November 1966). He switched to economics, also unsuccessfully, and left Cambridge with "a first class jazz collection" but without completing his studies.
His musical career began while he was still at Harrow School. He had minor success with a group of Old Harrovians, A Band of Angels, that had their own comic strip in a UK pop music weekly, Fab 208. A Band of Angels did not make the big time and D'Abo later reflected on what had gone wrong for them: "We weren't right for each other. We weren't a group. They didn't want me to be too outstanding, a thing that happens naturally in most groups.... Also we looked old-fashioned when we started. I knew I looked wrong but I didn't want to change, I looked like me and what I am. It is just lucky that fashion now agrees with me." (Rave, November 1966)
After leaving A Band of Angels he joined in August 1966 Manfred Mann, an established chart-topping group, as replacement for Paul Jones, who was leaving to start a solo career. Comparisons between d'Abo and Jones became a media preoccupation at the time of the switch, but d'Abo wasted little time dwelling upon it. "I enjoy being with the group," he told Pete Goodman. "We really do have an enormously wide range of musical tastes among us."
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Wikipedia