Strongly opposed to the
apartheid system in his native South Africa, Lubowitz moved to the
United Kingdom in 1961 and began to write for "Jazz News" under the pseudonym Manfred Manne (after jazz drummer
Shelly Manne), which was soon shortened to Manfred Mann. The next year he met drummer and keyboard player
Mike Hugg at
Clacton Butlins Holiday Camp and together they formed a large
blues-jazz band called the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers. This eventually evolved into a 5-piece group and they signed a record deal with
EMI in 1963, under the
HMV label. They changed their name to
Manfred Mann at the suggestion of the label's
record producer, and from 1964 to 1969 they had a succession of
hit records: ("
Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "
Sha La La", "
Pretty Flamingo", "
Mighty Quinn"). The group split in 1969, and Mann immediately formed another outfit with Mike Hugg,
Manfred Mann Chapter Three, an experimental jazz
rock band. They disbanded after two albums, but Mann formed a new outfit in 1971,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which still record and perform to this day. Their well-known hits include the No. 1 "
Blinded by the Light", "Runner", which peaked at No. 22 and "
Davy's On The Road Again".