He was a founding member and guitarist for the band Halfnelson, later called Sparks.
He became a record producer, predominantly for Los Angeles area bands like The Pop, 20/20, The Runaways, Concrete Blonde, Jumpin' Jimes, The Long Ryders, The Three O'Clock, The Tearaways, The Conditionz, Adicts, Durango 95, Leslie Pereira and The Lazy Heroes, and Kristian Hoffman.
[1] Mankey's route into studio work began formally with the demo recordings he engineered for Halfnelson.
[2] On his approach to recording and making music, he says: "About the only thing that can excite me is to try to think of something I haven't thought of before and then try to do it - which is the satisfying part.
Earle is the older brother of Concrete Blonde guitarist James Mankey.