Soul on Nice

Although his album hasn't even been out a month, Mann has already toured twice overseas, opening some European shows in March for Sting and performing this past summer on several dates with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Sting was so taken with Mann's pipes that he featured the vocalist on his nightly version of "Lithium Sunset" and has invited Mann to return to Europe for some upcoming dates this summer. "I was shocked to be playing with him," Mann admits. "I mean, this is Sting! He's got such a vast musical vocabulary, and for me he represents my definition of a real musician, so to get a vote of confidence from someone like that is a pretty big deal. If you forget about everything else, and if the music business were a utopia where there were no Grammy Awards or anything, and everything was just about the music, all you'd really want is to be acknowledged by the masters of your field.