Mike d'Abo

Mike d'Abo
Birth name	Michael David d'Abo
Born	1 March 1944 (1944-03-01) (age 67) Betchworth, Surrey, England
Genres	Rock, pop, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	1960s–present
Associated acts	Manfred Mann A Band of Angels
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.

Biography

Michael David d'Abo, the son of a London stockbroker, was educated at Harrow School and Selwyn College, Cambridge. He was born in March 1944, 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, Band of Angels that had their own comic strip in a UK pop music weekly, Fab 208. Band of Angels didn't make the big time but d'Abo did: in August 1966 he joined Manfred Mann ['MM'], already a chart-topping group, as replacement for Paul Jones, who was leaving to go solo.^{[citation needed]}

D'Abo later reflected on what had gone wrong for Band of Angels: "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)

Comparison between d'Abo and Jones was a media preoccupation at the time of the switch, but d'Abo wasted little worry on it. "I enjoy being with the group," he told Pete Goodman. "We really do have an enormously wide range of musical tastes among us."

D'Abo's first big hit with MM, "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James," was nearly launched with "Mr Jones" in the title. It had not occurred to the group that a reference to Paul Jones might have been surmised. D'Abo first recorded the As Is album (with the attaching single "Just Like a Woman"). All of the UK Fontana and U.S. Mercury releases featured d'Abo.^{[citation needed]}

He composed a hit single, "Handbags and Gladrags", for Chris Farlowe (which was also notably recorded by Rod Stewart and Stereophonics and subsequently became the theme music to the BBC television show The Office). He also wrote two songs recorded by Rod Stewart on Immediate Records: "Little Miss Understood" and "So Much to Say (So Little Time)." With d'Abo fronting, Manfred Mann enjoyed numerous hits, including "Ragamuffin Man", "Ha Ha Said the Clown," "My Name Is Jack." and the Dylan-penned number one hit, "Mighty Quinn."

In December 1968 d'Abo played the lead in Gulliver Travels (subtly, not Gulliver's Travels) at the Mermaid Theatre, Blackfriars, London. After the MM group disbanded in 1969, he also portrayed Herod on the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. He had a cameo role on the original recording of Evita and co-wrote the song "Build Me Up Buttercup", made famous by The Foundations. He also wrote "Loving Cup" for The Fortunes and "Mary, Won't You Warm My Bed" for Colin Blunstone. In 1970 he composed and performed the music for the Peter Sellers film There's a Girl in My Soup and played John Lennon in No One was Saved at the Royal Court Theatre Schools scheme. D'Abo also worked with Mike Smith, the former keyboard player of the Dave Clark Five. In 1976 they released an album on the CBS (UK) label, "Smith & d'Abo."

Recently, d'Abo has participated in The Manfreds, a group of original Manfred Mann members other than Mann himself, and played occasional live dates with his part-time group, The Mighty Quintet. In 2000 he briefly advised and worked with Stars in Their Eyes champion Ian Moor.^{[citation needed]} He was musical director during the filming of Moor's live concert video, Naturally, at the Hull New Theatre and played keyboards for the concert.

Family

He is the father of actress Olivia d'Abo, Ben d'Abo, and twins Ella and Louis (born in November 2007). He is a first cousin of actress Maryam d'Abo.

Radio

In 1997 D'Abo presented a programme on BBC Radio Bristol, "The Golden Years," playing music from the '50's onwards; it broadcast on Saturdays on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. BBC Wiltshire Sound subsequently added the programme to their schedules.^[1]

During the '90s, he also presented "Late Night West," a popular weeknightly programme on west-of-England local radio for five nights a week he also presented 'Late Night West', a popular programme broadcast on BBC local radio in the west of England that included music, competitions, and a listener phone-in.

In the late '90s he contributed to 'The Mike d'Abo Story', a documentary written by Geoff Leonard, narrated and produced by Phil Vowels, and broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

Discography

Year	Album	Label
1970	d'Abo	UNI
1972	Down At Rachel's Place	A&M
1974	Broken Rainbows	A&M
1987	Indestructible	President
1988	Tomorrow's Troubador	President
2001	The Mike D'Abo Collection, Vol. 1: 1964-1970 - Handbags & Gladrags	RPM
2003	A Little Miss Understood: Mike d'Abo Collection, Vol. 2	RPM
2004	Handbags and Gladrags: The Mike D'Abo Songbook	President
2004	Hidden Gems & Treasured Friends	Angel Air

References

1. ^ "Geocities.com". Webcitation.org. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/7501/mannnews.htm&date=2009-10-25+10:08:55. Retrieved 2011-04-05. 

External links

• Official website
• Mike d'Abo at Allmusic
• The Manfreds biography
• Radio London Fab Forty 28 November 1965 featuring A Band of Angels at #36
• New Amen Corner featuring Mike D'Abo Live 2008
• Mike D'Abo Interview

Persondata
Name	Dabo, Mike
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Date of birth	1 March 1944
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