The late Geoff Mann, the former frontman for neo-proggers Twelfth Night and musician in his own right, is to be celebrated in a new official biography, His Love: Art, Music & Faith, by Twelfth Night biographer Andrew Wild, which will be published by SonicBond Publishing later this year.
Twelfth Night announced the impending book in today's Bandcamp Friday e-mail to fans due to the close proximity to the thirtieth anniversary of Mann's passing on February 5.
"Geoff Mann was many things: artist, poet, playwright, singer, actor, songwriter, self-confessed ‘wobbly’ musician, husband, father, curate and vicar. Often irreverent, never compromising, Geoff packed more into his thirty-six years than most do in three-score and ten. He released fifteen albums, performed hundreds of concerts, including the Reading and Greenbelt festivals, exhibited his art at ten galleries and cared both for his family and his church members."
The official biography has been written with the full support and blessing of the Mann family and takes a fresh and detailed look at Mann's life, from his childhood in Manchester through his student years in Reading, his time as a professional artist, and the two tumultuous years with Twelfth Night. Also covered is his subsequent musical career, including The Bond, Eh! Geoff Mann Band and his collaborations with Marc Catley and Clive Nolan, as well as his conversion to Christianity, his subsequent calling to be a vicar, his impact as a curate, and his resilience and humour in the face of a terminal illness.
His Love: Art, Music & Faith will be a limited-edition 160-page hardback book celebrating Geoff’s continuing influence and includes unpublished poems, sixteen pages of photographs mostly unseen outside friends' scrapbooks and family photograph albums, and the recollections of his closest friends, bandmates and musical peers.
Pre-orders come with a new Best of Geoff CD, which will include tracks from Mann's post-Twelfth Night albums, a couple of TN rarities, and some recently discovered solo demos which have never been heard publicly before.
