Michael John Hugg is a British musician who achieved fame as a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.
Biography
Hugg was born in Gosport, Hampshire in 1942. His parents condoned his jazz drumming as long as he continued his piano lessons. Pursuing a career in jazz, he met Manfred Mann while working as a musician at Butlin's Clacton, and they formed a seven-piece group. The Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers recruited Paul Jones and later Tom McGuinness. On signing with HMV Records their producer, John Burgess, changed their name to Manfred Mann. Hugg is a competent pianist and an able vibraphone player, but his main role in Manfred Mann was as drummer. However, he recorded several vibraphone solos with the band and used the instrument to augment hits such as "Oh No Not My Baby". He was credited as co-writer of the group's early hits and contributed solo compositions throughout its life, including jazzy instrumentals and wistful acid-pop. His abilities as a songwriter grew throughout the group's career, though Hugg became progressively unhappy with the band's commercial output, describing the group's single "Ha! Ha! Said the Clown", in an interview with Melody Maker as one of the five worst records he had ever heard. He and his brother composed "Mister, You're a Better Man Than I" which was recorded by the Yardbirds in 1965. Hugg also composed the majority of the songs for the 1968 Paramount film Up the Junction. By this time Hugg was already branching out into film and television composition. After composing for Up The Junction, he wrote incidental music to a BBC Wednesday Play, and contributed to the score for the Jesús Franco film Venus in Furs in 1969, together with Manfred Mann. He co-wrote the theme music to the BBC TV comedy series Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads in 1972, followed by the score to the 1976 feature film. Between 1967 & 1968 Hugg helped write & produce songs for The Cherry Smash, a group that included his brother Bryan Sebastian, along with Mick Gill, John Curtis, Graham Hunt, and Mark Tuddenham. Their singles were: 1967 - Sing Songs of Love/Movie Star 1968 - Goodtime Sunshine/Little Old Country Home Town 1968 - Fade Away Maureen/Green Plant When he and Manfred Mann formed the more progressive Manfred Mann Chapter Three, taking inspiration from Doctor John and free jazz and touring with a five-piece brass section, Hugg moved to electric piano and lead vocals. He took the latter role, by his own account, purely because no-one better was available. One of its themes was used as the soundtrack of a TV advertisement for cigars. Hugg released two solo albums, and one album with the band Hug in the 1970s. Today, apart from his role as keyboard player with the Manfreds, a reformed version of the 1960s band who tour the UK and Europe regularly, Hugg is part of the jazz trio, PBD.
