The Vikings (South African band)

The Vikings were a band from South Africa. Between 1959 and 1961 Manfred Mann and his childhood friend Saul Ozynski recorded two albums as the Vikings.^[1] THIS STATEMENT IS 100% INCORRECT. Manfred was never in ANY rock band in South Africa, he was in an unnamed Jazz trio with Saul. They never made any recordings and Manfred has never been in a group called the Vipers. I have this information in writing from Manfred who has been a close friend for almost 50 years.

References

^ UNE 11: MANFRED MANN'S NIGGUN Manfred Mann (Manfred Sepse Lubowitz) recorded the smash hit, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", with his eponymous band on this date in 1964. The South African-born keyboardist formed the first rock band in his country, the Vikings, with Saul Ozynski, a childhood friend, before emigrating to the United Kingdom in 1961 in protest of the apartheid system. “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” which topped the charts in the U.K, Canada and the U.S., was actually a cover of a song recorded earlier that year by the Exciters (a Black group) and written by the hit songwriting team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.

[1] UNE 11: MANFRED MANN'S NIGGUN Manfred Mann (Manfred Sepse Lubowitz) recorded the smash hit, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", with his eponymous band on this date in 1964. The South African-born keyboardist formed the first rock band in his country, the Vikings, with Saul Ozynski, a childhood friend, before emigrating to the United Kingdom in 1961 in protest of the apartheid system. “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” which topped the charts in the U.K, Canada and the U.S., was actually a cover of a song recorded earlier that year by the Exciters (a Black group) and written by the hit songwriting team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.

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