Simon Ashberry talks to singer Paul Jones about life in, out and then back in The Manfreds.

There can't be many bands who still bear the name of their founder 30 years after he left.

But that unusual honour falls to The Manfreds, whose career continues to progress serenely even though they have had no involvement with keyboard player and inspiration Manfred Mann since the end of the 1960s.

Their biggest hits - including 5-4-3-2-1, Do Wah Diddy Diddy and Pretty Flamingo - were notched up under the name Manfred Mann, and five members of the Sixties line-up have been back together as The Manfreds since a successful reunion in 1991.

Singer Paul Jones explained that relations with Manfred Mann himself, who formed his own Earth Band in the 1970s, had been strained.

"We asked him if he wanted to be back in it when we got back together but apart from some rather terse communications on legal matters we are not really in touch with him," he said.

"We needed to thrash out what the group was going to be called and in the end we agreed that he would keep Manfred Mann and we could be The Manfreds."

Now the band, who also feature original members Tom McGuinness, Mike Hugg and Mike Vickers, plus Mike D'Abo, the man who replaced Jones in the group, as well as Benny Gallagher and Rob Townsend, are about to embark on a major UK tour which arrives at St George's Hall next week.

Jones sang on Manfred Mann's string of big hits from 1964 to 1966 but dropped a bombshell when he announced he was quitting to go solo at a time when the group seemed to be at the peak of their success.

"We were behind the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the next echelon with The Animals and The Hollies, I suppose," he said.

"It really had more to do with what I saw as the big picture. I hadn't joined the band thinking 'Oh, great, I'm in a band. That's the rest of my life now.'

"For me it was always something to do for the time being so when it came time to leave it was no surprise to me. It was always the next thing I was going to do.

"We had never really discussed it and the others were quite surprised. They were a bit offended and that was why I agreed to stay until they found somebody else they were perfectly happy with. I couldn't have known they were going to take almost a year to do that, although that's paid off because the person they found was Mike D'Abo."

At the time of his departure in 1966, Jones could never have imagined The Manfreds still being in demand more than three decades later.

"If somebody had said to me that I would still be in showbusiness and still busy in 30 years' time I would have said 'Yes, I know.' I was very confident," said Jones.

"But if they had said that I would be back in the band with the same guys, particularly in 1966, I would have said 'No way!'"

Jones belies his 56 years with his youthful looks and is still an extraordinarily busy man, juggling his role in The Manfreds with commitments to other groups - including the Blues Band, which he formed originally as a fun project - and weekly shows on Radio 2 and Jazz FM.

"By the time you've totted them all up I will have done around 200 concerts in the past year and I've been doing that for years. I don't call myself a workaholic. I'm fortunate," he said.

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