Weller, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Tommy Hunt, David Mcalmont, Aretha Franklyn, P.J. proby, Jimmy Ruffin, George Harrison, Nolan Porter, Curtis Mayfield, Jamiroquai, Gladys Knight, Major Lance, Dean Parrish, Maxine Brown, Bobby Hebb, Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr, Bob & Earl, Tobi Lark, Jimmy Radcliffe, Roy Hamilton, The Temptations, The Detroit Spinners, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, The Four Tops, The Funk Brothers, James Jameson, Van McCoy, Frank Wilson, The Small Faces, The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Beat, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, The Specials, Martha Reeves, diana Ross, James Brown, R Dean Taylor, Frankie Valli, Bobby Paris, Harold Melvyn, JJ Barnes, Richard (Popcorn) Wilie, Booker T & The MGs, Ruby Andrews, McAlmont & Butler, David Bowie, Oasis, Jim McClusky, Randy Crawford, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Robert Knight, Jimmy James, Saxie Russel, Luther Ingram, Bunny Sigler, Bad Manners, Pauline Black, Marc Bolan, David Ruffin, Chuck Jackson, Sidney Barnes, Milton Wright, Laura Green, Tammi Tarrel, Secret Affair, Judge Dread, Paul Anka, Dee Dee Warwick, Chubby Checker, Jr Walker And The Allstars, Kim Weston, The Marvelettes, The Flirtations.
Sounds Like
One of the most frequently asked questions is 'what is Northern Soul?' Let me firstly quote you this "Northern Soul is a term that was originally coined to describe 'rare soul of the type enjoyed in the North of England' - From 'Soul Survivors' book by Russ Winstanley & David Nowell, that explanation is very true but it the music also had to be danceable. The records had to be up-tempo 100 mph in order to get people dancing!
The name Northern Soul was attributed to Blues & Soul writer Dave Godin who in an article for the magazine in the early 70's claimed that the soul music that the kids in the North of England were dancing to was different to soul music elsewhere in the country, it was he said 'a form of northern soul music' & the scenes name was born!
In the early days of the scene Northern Soul was very much a part of the youth culture of the day, a youth movement in many ways. Northern Soul was a way of losing some of the weekly stresses of low paid work, for a few hours each week at an all nighter you could forget everything and just enjoy yourself out on the dancefloor! Northern Soul music was your release.
Considered a bit of a 'passing fad' of the time during the early 70's the Northern Soul scene has lasted over 35 years and today in the 21st Century Northern Soul is currently going through one if its most popular phases in Northern Souls history, with massively popular all nighters in London, Manchester, Stoke On Trent and many more. Weekenders in Prestatyn, Fleetwood Nr Blackpool, & Skegness that are attracting many of the legends of Northern Soul to appear live all add to the thriving scene.
Northern Soul is for many people a way of life. JUST A FEW FACTS " BOLTON has a strong link to the Northern soul scene"
In the late 1960s when most of the British youth followed the Californian Hippy and Flower Power culture, many of the
teenagers in northern towns across England, aligned themselves with Detroit rather than San-Francisco. The music of
Motown could be heard in every pub and club from Radcliffe to Rivington.
Times changed and so did the Music coming out of Detroit, The Temptations began to sing about "Psychedelic
Shack" instead of "My Girl". Motown had gone to California (Literally) it moved its Hq from Detroit to Los Angeles, and
in Areas across the north such as Bolton, Wigan, Preston, Barnsley and Wakefield, some of the DJs in these pubs
and clubs sensed a change in the music, and searched for other sources of that foot tapping dance beat.
They discovered that Detroit music was not just Motown albeit it was the largest record label, there was in fact a
myriad of smaller independent labels that had produced records identical to that Motown sound, some of them
featuring the same singers and journeyman musicians, who moved around the companies searching for work.
Some of these records were so rare that if a Dj played it at his club it would bring the die-hard mods from miles away.
and if someone had 2 copies " wow " collectors and Djs would bid extortionate amounts to own them.
Bolton for some strange reason seems to have had more than its fair share of these Clubs, Record Collectors and
Djs, as well as enthusiasts and GOOD Dancers.
One of the first was The Cromwellian club on Bank St, which is quoted as being instrumental in history of rare soul
music (later termed Northern Soul) which drew clientele from all over the North West.
Later the inplace to go was Bolton Palais (now Icon ),
In about 1970 the local government built its admin. Headquarters of Elizabeth house on what was Great Moor St Bus
Station and opened Trendy nightclub called VA VA. in order to generate business on Fridays they opened all night
playing chart records. VA VAs was quite unique in that it had an all nighter on Fridays, this was to get around the
Sunday rule that stated that in Bolton " Members only clubs " could obtain a Music licence to play records after 2 am
on Sunday morning.
Wigan Casino has been named by a BBC review as one of the most famous clubs in the North of England. It was a major venue for Northern Soul music, carrying forward the legacy created at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and Stoke-upon-Trent's legendary club The Golden Torch in Tunstall. Opened in September 1973, the Casino had previously been a popular dance-hall. Many famous soul performers appeared here, Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker to name but a few. A TV documentary (This England) about the venue was filmed in 1977. The Casino shut its doors for the final time in 1981, and the building itself burned down a year later. Russ Winstanley (the Casino's DJ and founder) and David Nowell wrote the book The Wigan Casino Story, which was published in 1996. A stage play about the Casino years, Once upon a time in Wigan, written by Mick Martin, debuted in February 2003 at the Contact Theatre, Manchester, and has since toured nationally. Ironically, the 'Casino' was hated, in its heyday, by the local council, who tried to close the venue down. However, that same council now promote the memory of the 'Casino', purely because of its now legendary popularity. Youngsters from all over the UK regularly made the trek to "The Casino" to hear all the latest Northern Soul biggies of the time, it was one of those places where it didn't matter if you weren't the best dancer all that mattered was the music. Queues to get in were sometimes 5 and 6 deep and stretched round the corner of the cinema and up into the town centre some 300 metres. The second dance floor (Mr M's)opened during the all-nighter till 6 am and played all the best oldies from a variety of top DJ's. Unfortunately amphetamine and other drug misuse lead to the downfall of the club with pressure from the Police and the Local Authority forced it to close in 1981.The American music magazine 'Billboard' officially voted it 'The Best Disco in the World' ahead of New York's 'Studio 54' in 1978.
Alrite people i,m finally on line J.B. has come out of the stone age and is now a soul singing, scooter riding, beer drinking myspace cyber kid, i dont understand all the cyber geek crap and i never stuck in at school so B*****ks to my punctuation.
It’s difficult to describe what Northern Soul is. Just how the term came about is easy to write down but the essence is in the sounds themselves. The best way to find out about Northern Soul is to listen to the music, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it after they had heard a few of the more popular tracks. For Me, Northern Soul means danceable, smoochable, BIG PRODUCTION sounds.. including all my favorite drums, brass, woods, glocks, Xylophones, strings and a bloody good black vocal. Need I say more? More so it means to hell with the bollocks of what the elite’ests say! It’s not about how much the record costs, what label it is on or even what media you choose to use. It’s about the music… simple as that! Just because you don’t collect doesn’t mean you’re not worthy. This scene will die soon if everyone keeps up this pretence that northern soul is about a small black piece of vinyl/acetate! Play it how you like and let it live on.
