Tom McGuinness

Thomas John Patrick McGuinness (born 2 December 1941) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who played guitar and bass with rock band Manfred Mann, among others, before becoming a record and television producer.

McGuinness was born in Wimbledon, South London in 1941, studied at Wimbledon College and has Irish ancestry. One of his first bands, The Roosters, included an 18-year-old Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

Following a stint in the short-lived Roosters with Eric Clapton, McGuinness joined the 1960s group Manfred Mann as a bassist, performing in a line-up with Paul Jones. As the band sought to transform itself from jazz into a rhythm-and-blues-orientated group, he took over bass duties from Dave Richmond and received joint songwriting credits on the group's early hits. Explaining how he came into the group, McGuinness said, "They had a great bass guitarist, but he was into Charles Mingus and things like that, which the whole band was. But he refused to play simple bass lines that would fit Bo Diddley numbers. He'd play incredible 3/4 lines and things like that. So I came in and I had the overwhelming advantage of not really being able to play the bass guitar, so I played simple." Appointed the writer of album sleeve notes, he took the opportunity to identify himself as "the nastiest in the group".

When Mike Vickers and then Paul Jones left the band, McGuinness took over the guitarist role; Jack Bruce then played bass until replaced by Klaus Voormann. McGuinness' National Steel guitar became an important part of the group's sound, and featured on hits such as "Pretty Flamingo". He composed a few album tracks for the group, notably "L.S.D." (from Mann Made), "One Way", and "Cubist Town" (from Mighty Garvey!).

In total, the band had a successful run in the 60s pop music scene. Three of their most successful singles, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo", and "Mighty Quinn", topped the UK charts. They were also the first southern-England-based group to top the US Billboard Hot 100 during the British Invasion.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.