Mike D'abo - Handbags And Gladrags - The Mike D'Abo Songbook (2004)

Educated at the exclusive Harrow School and Cambridge University, Mike d'Abo - the son of a stockbroker - originally planned to be a priest.but ultimately gave it up for a life on the road as an impassioned rock and blues singer. He gained his greatest commercial successes as singer with top 1960s hitmakers Manfred Mann but also went on to have a series of solo hits and also became a successful songwriter. He formed his first group A Band Of Angels at Harrow, joining Manfred Mann in 1966 as replacement for Paul Jones, singing on hits such as Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James, Just Like A Woman, Ha! Ha! Said The Clown, My Name Is Jack and Mighty Quinn. He went on to write (and produce) the Chris Farlowe hit Handbags & Gladrags (it was later a hit for both Rod Stewart and Stereophonics and was the theme music for the Ricky Gervais comedy series The Office). Other solo work covered by Rod Stewart includes Little Misunderstood and So Much To Say (So Little Time) and he co-wrote (with Tony Macaulay) the Number 1 hit Build Me Up Buttercup for The Foundations in 1969. He subsequently moved into musical theatre, 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. He also became a presenter on Radio Bristol and returned to music as a member of The Manfreds, formed his own band The Mighty Quintet and recorded an album Smith & d'Abo with former Dave Clark Five keyboard player Mike Smith.