‘The man I am now would have enjoyed the 60s a lot less than the man I was then’
Paul, can you tell us where you were born and a little about family life?
I was born in Portsmouth. Life was normal for the family of a Royal Navy Officer, i.e. with my father away for three years at a time in places like Singapore, Malta and Ceylon.
Are you from a musical family?
Yes, my mother played the piano, my father the violin - and we all sang.
What music or singer made you want to be in a band?
At age 14, Lonnie Donegan. At age 18 (and more seriously) the harmonica player Junior Wells.
Were you in a few bands growing up?
A skiffle group at school, and then my own band Thunder Odin’s Big Secret, at university.
What instruments can you play?
Harmonica.
How did you join Manfred Mann?
I had been playing occasionally with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated at The Marquee Club. When Manfred and Mike Hugg were putting together a band to play rhythm & blues, they asked The Marquee if they could recommend anyone. They were given my name, and they asked me to audition.
What is your all time favourite Manfred Mann song and why?
5-4-3-2-1. We were asked to write a signature-tune for a TV programme called Ready, Steady, Go! So Manfred, Mike and I came up with this. That’s all it was supposed to be, but suddenly it was a hit record, our first. It’s a bit of nonsense, really, but it’s still working.
Being in a band in the 60s must have taken you to new countries to experience different cultures. What places or experiences have stayed with you to look back on?
Apart from Europe, we mostly went to places like Australia, New Zealand and North America. I don’t honestly remember much ‘different culture’. I did like Sweden, being more successful there than anywhere outside the UK.
What would you say is your proudest moment in your music career?
I don’t do ‘proud’. I do like it when my songs are recorded by other artists such as Ten Years After, Helen Shapiro, Al Kooper with Carlos Santana.
I watched you on Jools Holland and I have to say you were phenomenal! It must have been a lot of fun doing Hogmanay?
Well, thank you! It might have been even more fun for me if I hadn’t been so nervous.
I understand the church is a very important part of your life, have you always been spiritual?
Well, we’re all spirits, but I started to be spiritually aware in the early 1980s. The Bible is a very important – no, crucial – part of my life.
I’d have loved to have been
around in the swinging sixties with such great music, fashion and cool cars. From looking in, the 60s looked such an amazing time to be
alive. What would you say defined the 60s for you?
Self-centredness, probably. When I look back at the 60s, I think that the man I am now would have enjoyed it a lot less than the man I was then.
This year is your 60th anniversary in the business. If I asked you in 1964 the question ‘do you still think you’ll be in a successful international touring band and performing in 2024?’ what do you think your answer would have been?
Unquestionably, my answer would have been ‘yes’. I never thought of my career as a youth-oriented, shortlived thing – probably because my role-models were people like Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing, Noah Lewis and Sonny Boy Williamson, who were in their 50s and 60s already.
What keeps you looking so well and active to be on tour?
I don’t know. I like simple, healthy food and a good night’s sleep. I think maybe being on tour helps keep you well. Some of my role models are still at it in their nineties. I do also pray.
So The Manfreds was formed back in 1991, what do you think has kept the band together for so long?
I don’t know this, either. Maybe it’s just that we like the same things, musically. I admire everyone else in this band, and am constantly excited by what they can do.
As well as having a hugely successful music career you are also an acclaimed actor. Is there any productions or roles you would love to still play?
I enjoyed nearly everything I did as an actor, although most of us will have the odd thing they wish they had turned down. I haven’t the least desire to go back into that world now.
Where did you used to record when you were in Manfred Mann?
We always recorded at Abbey Road.
Back in the 60s, was there any particular artist or bands you would have loved to tour with?
We toured with so many. I don’t remember having a wishlist of any others.
Is there still anybody you would love to collaborate with?
I’m still collaborating with new people from time to time. One with whom I did tour a bit in the 60s, and would like to work with some more, is Steve Winwood.
One of my all time favourite Manfred Mann songs is Do Wah Diddy! Can I ask how you came up with this line please?
We didn’t come up with this one. The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and originally recorded by the American vocal group The Exciters. I heard that record, loved it, bought it and convinced the others that we should do it.
Any advice you could pass on to new bands in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire?
Play what you really like and want to do. If anyone tries to make you do something different, be polite (even to the extent of trying it in rehearsal in case they may have a point) but in the end just do what you are sure you want to do, and don’t you ever – ever – be discouraged!
The Manfreds are coming to Nantwich Festival on Sunday, May 22. Will you be playing some of your back catalogue with a mixer of blues?
Yes, this is right, but there will be more in the mix, too: some jazz and soul. Those were part of the recipe in 1962, and still are.