BISHOP MANNING & FAMILY
(Source: Cover of Su-Ann LP 1750)
Dready Manning was born in 1934 in Gaston, North Carolina. As a child, around the age of six, he learned guitar playing from a cousin. When he was in his early teens, Russell Moody became his guitar teacher. From his late teens up until a life-changing experience in 1962 Dready Manning was a hard drinking, hard living, Blues musician playing the bars and juke-joints of the area. One day in 1962 he started bleeding out of his nose and haemorrhaging. Bishop Manning told us that he would have died if not for the intervention of prayer on his behalf by some neighbours. 'I had a converted mind right then,' he says.
It was only after his conversion that he started playing the harmonica in 1965-1966. That was around the time he started practicing his family. Bishop Manning's style of playing and singing gospel music is heavily influenced by his past as blues player. Bishop Dready Manning, his wife Marie and their five children Zacchaeus Earl, Dready Paul, Joyce Elaine, Carolyn Lee, and Clara Marie recorded several 45's on their own Manning (Big Sound) label before they got an arrangement with Su-Ann. It was Bishop Manning who contacted HSE and Su-Ann owner Hoyt Sullivan. Bishop Manning sent the recordings to Hoyt Sullivan and mister Sullivan put the record out. No signed contract. Although their Su-Ann recordings got quite a bit of airplay, according to Bishop Manning, Hoyt Sullivan continued telling the Manning family that the record was making no money at all. The Manning Family never received any payment of any kind from Hoyt Sullivan.
Bishop Manning still pastors at Saint Mark Holiness Church in Roanoke Rapids and together with his family he never has stopped playing at churches across the region. Check the clips at YouTube and you get an impression what Bishop Manning & the Manning Family are doing when they are performing.
Besides all this he continues to do a weekly radio program on WSMY and appears on TV at WVVN. He even issued a CD a few years ago with the support of the Music Maker Relief Foundation.
(Based on a telephone conversation between Bishop Manning and John Glassburner at January, 26 2008)
Bishop Manning & The Manning Family 45's Discography:
(exact chronological order isn't known)
| I am a pilgrim and a stranger | Manning Big Sound 35611 | ||
| The jealous men and the jealous women | Manning Big Sound 35612 | ||
| Talk about me | Manning SO 12996 | ||
| What they gonna do | Manning SO 12997 | ||
| The last step | Manning SO 12998 | ||
| If you miss me | Manning SO 12999 | ||
| I wanna thank you Jesus | B.L.M. 41393 | ||
| Something inside of me | B.L.M. 41394 | ||
| Back in slavery days | Nashbrand 32513 | ||
| Count of your deeds (Carolyn Manning) | Nashbrand 32514 | ||
| I know you been good to me (Little Paul Manning 10 years old) | Peatock 33189 | 1974 | |
| Help all the people everywhere | Peatock 33190 | 1974 | |
| People don't pray like.. | Su-Ann 766 | ||
| This is everybody's song | |||
| I thank Jesus for another birthday | Memorial 29 | ||
| You don't know what I've been through | |||
| I want to shout at the meeting | Memorial 35 | ||
| Somebody is calling my name |
Bishop Manning & The Manning Family Album Discography:
| Manning's Gospel Train (Su-Ann SA 1750) | Manning Family theme song | |
| Back in St. Matthew days | ||
| I am a pilgrim | ||
| The jealous men & the jealous women | ||
| Help all the people everywhere | ||
| Going off theme | ||
| The Lord sent Brother John | ||
| Don’t let Satan ride | ||
| The Gospel Train | ||
| What the people gonna do | ||
| Information long distance | ||
| The people don't pray like they use to pray |
The 2 versions of "The Jealous Men And The Jealous Women" sound slightly different. We assume that they were recorded at the same session. The 2 versions of "What They Gonna Do" are totally different and most likely recorded at different sessions. The two versions of "Help All The People Everywhere" and "I'm A Pilgrim" sound identical.
| Gospel Train (Music Maker BM 100 CD | What was I doing when the Saints of God found me? | |
| The Gospel Train | ||
| Hard headed children | ||
| Don't let the devil ride | ||
| Go ahead Satan and leave me alone | ||
| When the Lord gets ready | ||
| Joy that I have | ||
| Glory, Glory | ||
| People don't pray | ||
| Search me Lord | ||
| I am a pilgrim | ||
| Where could I go but to the Lord? | ||
| Sit down servant | ||
| Blind Barnibal | ||
| I ain't going to let that old Devil ride | ||
| Hard luck and trouble | ||
| Say Amen | ||
| Something on the inside |
Sources:
- Bishop Manning
- Howard Robinson
- John Glassburner
- Music Maker Relief Foundation
- Jay Martin