Bio

Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer, recording engineer and artist known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres.

Manning began in the music industry in El Paso, Texas, where he played guitar and sang with several local bands, notably The Wild Ones, and on a couple of occasions sat in with his friend Bobby Fuller. Upon leaving El Paso, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked for years at both Stax Records and Ardent Studios as an engineer and producer, recording and mixing such artists as Isaac Hayes, Ike & Tina Turner, Booker T. & The MG’s, Eddie Floyd, Al Green, Rufus Thomas, Sam & Dave, Billy Eckstine, Otis Redding, The Boxtops, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, Leon Russell, Ronnie Milsap, and many others. Manning was a principal part of Stax owner Al Bell’s production team for The Staple Singers, responsible for such hit records as “Respect Yourself,” and “I’ll Take You There.”

In 1970, Manning licensed release of his own solo album, Home Sweet Home, to Stax's Enterprise label (re-released with extra tracks by Sunbeam in 2006, and in original configuration on Four Men With Beards vinyl in 2012).

Later working as an independent, Manning produced or engineered recordings by Joe Cocker, Wattstax, Alex Chilton, Big Star, James Taylor, Leon Russell, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Jason & The Scorchers, Rhino Bucket, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Joe Walsh, Johnny Winter, The Rainmakers, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Molly Hatchet, The Angels, Johnny Diesel and The Injectors, Lenny Kravitz, Jimmy Buffett, Shakira, Crash Test Dummies, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Widespread Panic, and many others.

In the mid 1980s Manning moved to London, and worked for a year out of Abbey Road Studios.

As a photographer, Manning began with black and white in the mid-1960s, capturing street scenes and topics of his interest. He has continued his photography to this day. Adding color photography to his repertoire in the1970s, Manning amassed a large collection of private works over the following years. With the beginning of Gallery and Museum presentations in 2015, Manning’s photography is now being presented in Exhibitions across the US, as well as world locations. Musically, he also photographed Chuck Berry, Terry Reid, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, Procol Harum and many other musical artists of the rock period as both an independent and as a writer/photographer for New Musical Express. Manning was one of the last to photograph his acquaintance, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the day before the tragic assassination.

1991 saw him founding Lucas Engineering, a boutique audio company which makes professional audio recording gear; this company expanded in 2008, adding microphones to their arsenal of products. Lucas Microphones, under Manning’s guidance, have since become amongst the top high end recording devices in the audio world.

In 1992, Chris Blackwell of Island Records fame sought out Manning as a partner to revitalize Blackwell's famous Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, which Manning operated successfully for over 20 years.

Manning’s newest music as an artist are the Lucky Seven Records’ releases of Manning’s 2025 “ ,” his (2019) live album “Playin’ In Elvis’ House,” 2015’s “Heaven Knows,” the instrumental album “Planets,” and “West Texas Skyline,” A Tribute To Bobby Fuller, released in October 2013.