Manfred Mann's Earth Band was formed in 1971 and its present day line up still consists of two of the original members from the seventies' highly successful days: Manfred Mann on keyboards and Mick Rogers on guitar and vocals, thus reproducing the fans' favourite songs live with ease. The Earth Band also consists of Steve Kinch on bass guitar, who has been with the band since the 1986 Tour, Noel McCalla, vocalist and percussion, who has worked on two Manfred Mann Albums and toured since 1991, and Pete May on drums who joined for the 2001 European Tour.
Manfred Mann has steered his bands through four decades of musical changes, from the sixties whereby Manfred Mann, the band, enjoyed a string of no less than 18 hit records including three number Ones in the UK: "The Mighty Quinn", "Pretty Flamingo" and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". After that Manfred formed with Mike Hugg, Manfred Mann Chapter III, a jazz rock band which during its short life has been described by Manfred as an over reaction to the hit factory of the Manfred Mann Group. It was however with the forming of Earth Band in 1971 that Manfred was able to find the platform for most of his musical output since then.
From 1971 to 1975 the Earth Band produced six albums, each one showing a band growing in direction and strength. Amongst these was the now classic "Solar Fire" from which was taken the top ten hit "Joybringer" and the Bob Dylan penned "Father of Day" which still is being performed by Mick Rogers on the live shows today. It was however through the live concerts that Manfred Mann's Earth Band were building a worldwide reputation as a Great Rock Band with a very loyal fan base. In 1975 came a change of line up with a new front man Chris Thompson. The first single release was The Earth Band's version of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded By The Light" which reached Number One in the U.S. Billboard charts and was a huge worldwide hit, as was the album that followed - "The Roaring Silence".