ABOUT
Errol Manning (stage name Al Manning) was born in Jamaica and moved to London to join his family at a young age. Al has a passion for music but pursued a career in Engineering after leaving school. However, music was never far off Al’s mind and he honed his taste in music from a tender age. He would listen to a range of different genres including jazz, but gospel and soul has always been his favourites. Al is inspired by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Albert King, Beethoven, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers. Their music forms inspiration for his debut EP, Changing Times.
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As a teen, Al joined a gospel band called The Sounds of Zion in the 70s. The band leader taught Al the bass guitar. Al was apprehensive at first but with hours of dedication and practise he was on his musical journey of performing with the band. Al thrived under pressure when his band members gave him beautiful and complex records with technical basslines to study. He had many sleepless nights trying to work out the difficult bass riffs.
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The Sounds of Zion toured up and down the UK performing at various concerts over the years. Until the band decided to go their separate ways with new ventures. Though Al’s love story with music did not end there as he formed a band with other musicians, including some of his family members. The band was called Soul Reflection. They toured before Al decided to work on his solo career. Al has much more in the pipeline and hopes to perform more and release an album in the future.
Al’s debut EP Changing Times is a culmination of his life’s work and his love for gospel covers. You can purchase the EP from this website as well as iTunes and listen to it on Spotify.
The tracks are:
Amazing Grace
God Is Standing By
Pass Me Not
The End Is Not Yet