Northern Soul, Northern, Northernsoulinoz, Twisted Wheel, Wigan Casino, Night Shift, Night Shift, Blackpool Mecca, Mecca, Ian Levine, Motown, Tamlamotown, Gordy, Okeh, Ric Tic, Wingate

WHAT IS NORTHERN SOUL?  
Someone once said love is a serious business, well so is Northern Soul and fans know it is something special and that the term "Northern Soul" does not refer to music from the Northern States of the USA (where coincidentally much of it did originate), but is a term used to identify soul music from the 1960s and early 1970s' that rarely made the popular music chats the first time around, but became the preferred music in a few small clubs in the North of England. This brief explanation does not tell the complete story and attempting to answer the question "What is Northern Soul" is similar to asking how long is piece of string? There are many different ideas as to what is Northern Soul, mine is just one of them and is based on my time on the UK Northern Soul scene in the late 1960s' and early to mid 1970s'. One thing is for sure though and that is "Northern" is a music genre that has endured for almost forty-years, has spanned many generations and which even today continues to gain new followers.

As far as main stream popularity goes Northern Soul can be said to have continually missed the boat, that is apart from a  brief period during the mid to late 1970s'.  Northern Soul has therefore remained exclusive, the “exclusivity” sometimes not understood by non-believers having the opinion that Northern Soul is just inferior 1960s' soul that cannot possibly be any good as didn't make it the first time around in the USA, or that it is just a poor imitation of Berry Gordy's "Motown" sound. Both these claims have little credence, for although generally ignored in the USA, the records have not only proved themselves resilient over time, but have always been judged as brilliant by those fortunate enough to appreciate them. Without underestimating the brilliance of the Motown sound, let's not forget that many recording artists and labels in the 1960s' were actually squeezed out of radio airplay by the popularity of Motown records and so were "missed" in the USA the first time around, they were then later "discovered" by Northern Soul lovers from the UK, so ironically one might say we have Northern Soul because the tracks were missed the first time around because of Motown. These "missed" tracks were then later played in underground UK clubs and so "Northern Soul" was created. 

Ironically Motown also squeezed out some of its own artists giving preference to those able to gain super star status such as Diana Ross, The Supremes, The Four Tops etc, and whose recordings repeatedly made the popular charts all around the World. Because preference was given to these popular artists some Motown artists and their tracks later became regarded as Northern Soul, quite simply because they too had been forced to take a back seat at Motown and so never made the popular charts. This includes groups like the Contours, The Isley Brothers and lesser known artists such as Frank Wilson, Chris Clark, The Hit Pack, Bobby Taylor, The Vows, The Lewis Sisters etc who often recorded on some of lesser known Motown's subsidiary labels. Let's also not forget that Motown founder Berry Gordy actually bought labels and recording studios such as Ric Tic and Golden World to capture and bring to Motown their "sound". These labels had artists such as J.J. Barnes and Edwin Starr, yet inexplicably Motown chose not to use them to any great extent, and so even though these great artists ended up at Motown, they were not seen as desirable Motown artists by Berry Gordy, but later they would become Northern Soul rather than Motown legends.

From the point of what is actually "in the groove" it is hard to describe what is actually "Northern Soul" and why tracks from artists such as Frankie Valli, R. Dean Taylor, Bobbie Goldsboro, Charlie Rich, Kiki Dee, Chris Clarke, Timi Yuro, et al are classified as "Northern Soul" alongside with tracks from Edwin Starr, Major Lance, JJ Barnes and Chubby Checker just to name a few.  Perhaps the common factor is that Northern Soul is steeped in the tradition of seeking out undiscovered rarities, yet Northern Soul is a strange thing and in the 60s' and 70s' should one of these "rare" record become popular in the mainstream, it was usually quickly dropped by the venues that had either “broken” it, or that new it was being played it a rival venue. Popularity then never has been an essential ingredient of Northern Soul. The terminology "Northern Soul" represents a type of music that was unpopular the first time around (unlike most Motown) and so very few records were sold and are now hard to find and increasingly rare. Why not then use the terminology "rare Soul"? Perhaps because this does not sufficiently consider or give reference to the cultivation of this type of music in the North of England during the 1960s' and early 70s', without which it would have been totally missed and lost forever. "Northern Soul" therefore is an appropriate terminology, first used in record shops in the South of England to denote the type of records that were being played and discovered in the North of England, which will always be recognised as the birthplace of "Northern Soul". Having said that, it must be acknowledged that "Northern" Soul, like all Soul has its roots in black American gospel / rhythm and blues and influenced more by gospel than the blues, in that it is usually uplifting and rejoicing, in comparison to the slower, deeper and reflective "blues" style.  The roots of Northern Soul are therefore deep having been created long ago and this music is so powerful it can still in the late 2000's raise the hairs on the back of your neck and have you rushing to the dance floor to dance alone.    

"There is no need for some fellow born yesterday
 to come up and tell me now that 
Soul is something new" 
                                                                           THOMAS DORSEY. 1961

As already said, "Northern Soul" has developed a distinct style of its own mainly emanating from the soul music of the late 1960s' that did not make it onto the popular music charts or radio stations. In this regard, if a soul venue today advertised itself as being a "Northern Soul" night, but then played mainly popular Motown tracks such as those from The  Supremes, The Four Tops, Diana Ross, The Jackson Five and the like, then there would sure to be a lot of disappointed Northern Soul fans, who would understandably have gone to the gig to listen to "Northern Soul" eg the rarer soul tracks that were never played on the popular music charts.  By the same token, if a soul night was advertised as a "Motown" night and then lesser known tracks on the Motown label were played from artists such as The Contours, Chris Clark, Rose Banks, The Fantastic Four, Joe Frazier, The Hit Pack, Eddie Holland, Willie Hutch, Laura Lee, Barbara McNair, The Originals, Bobby Taylor etc, then there would be many disappointed Motown fans who would understandably never have heard many of the tracks from these great Northern Soul artists and who would have turned up expecting to listen to popular Motown tracks from the Supremes, Diana Ross etc.  It can therefore be seen that whereas "Northern" and Motown are related and a small amount of Motown tracks are Northern, the two genres are certainly different and due to much chart success, it might be said the majority of Motown  is popular rather than Soul music.

To confuse matters further, there later came a "Northern Soul" sound and style heavily influenced by the tracks played at the Blackpool Mecca and Wigan Casino. Without even trying in the mid to late 1970s' such tracks almost commercialised Northern Soul, even though the "Casino & the Mecca" were very different type of establishments than the earlier clubs such as Manchester's Twisted Wheel and The Pendulum etc.

Many will agree the near commercialisation of Northern Soul went a little too far and in which doing so almost extinguished the flame in the late 1970s'. This was in party attributable to Northern Soul "bandwagon" records and other gimmicky tracks with little or no soul content that were just "dancers". In the mid to late 1970's this saw many new fans jumping onto the "Northern Soul ????" bandwagon and many originators and true believers decided to get out and leave "the top of the poppers" to it.  True Northern Soul believers watched in dismay as newcomers danced to the Sharonettes "Papa Ooh Mow Mow", Joe 90, Hawaii 5-O the theme from SWAT. The BBC featured Wayne Gibson doing "under my thumb" and Johnathon King dressed in "Northern Soul" attire doing "Hooked on a feeling", then came "The Sounds of Lancashire" and as these records made it into the charts more top of the poppers flocked to join the burgeoning Northern Soul?? scene. For many Northern fans this was the end, with such terrible music being looked upon as "Northern Soul" many were rightly ashamed to admit in public they were "Northern Soul" lovers, doing so would have seen them tagged as one of the "top of the poppers". It was a sad time for Northern as many of the pioneers and stalwarts dropped off the scene, who could blame them? The contribution of Clubs like the Mecca and Wigan casino should however not be underestimated as this is where many "Northern Soul" classics were first played and without which the Northern scene would not be what it is today. Thankfully many of the original late 60's early 70s' Northern fans  have now returned and brought back their true Northern Soul with them, most of the "bandwagoners" have faded away and thankfully it's almost impossible to find anyone who will play or confess to having danced to the Sharonettes, Joe 90 or Hawaii 5-0 and the like.

Yes, there are still different opinions as to what is Northern Soul, but Northern fans are generally accepting of and enjoy other genres of Soul music. They are however passionate about what is true "Northern" and so many disagreements and divisions have been created over the years and many may still follow. At the end of the day though, there is an appreciation that fans of all types of Soul are a rare breed and so must co-exist and promote what they enjoy and believe in and if a record has "soul" then let it be played, whether it be from the 60s', 70's or 80's doesn't really matter, it just needs to have that "Northern" sound. This may be why Northern Soul has remained so resilient, after all, it's all about actually listening to and enjoying Northern Soul music, not just being someone who wants to change the definition of Northern Soul just to meet a personal taste or make money out of it. No-one has, or should ever claim to have a monopoly on Northern Soul and there is always room for another record in the box that has some guts, has soul and has not been heard before and which will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end, because that is all part of what makes it "Northern". Ray Charles is perhaps the Father of Soul and although blind for most of his life he said: 

"Soul is like electricity. We don't really know what it is,

 but it's a force that can light up a room."
                                                                      RAY CHARLES

The electricity Northern Soul it creates where and whenever it is played is infectious, but may be different for each and every soul fan. It is therefore unfair to try and provide a definitive interpretation of Northern Soul, certainly I do not feel qualified to do so, as in the late 1960s' I was just a youngster who merely enjoyed the scene, rather than being one attempting to create it.  In 1969 as a fifteen year old I illegally rode my scooter (Lambretta LI 150 Series II) into Manchester to the Twisted Wheel. Steering the scooter through the murky streets and the Manchester rain I was wet, but happy, in fact I was on top of the world, on my Scooter, on the way to the Wheel, I felt I had come of age.  Outside the wheel I was a little crestfallen, feeling young, under dressed, wet and soggy and having a reverence for the older regular members. On this first night I was turned away for being too wet, too scruffy and too young. This initial rejection made me even more determined to become a member of the Wheel and so I quickly sharpened up and so gaining the coveted membership allowing me to attend the all-night sessions, especially if there was a live act such as Edwin Starr or Junior Walker. Ironically only 4 years later during a couple of visits to the Wigan Casino I felt and perhaps looked like an oldie when experiencing the more of an anything goes style in dress code and music.  I have always loved the music however and I am sure that like me, although many fans of Northern may not be able to (or want to) provide a precise and universally acceptable definition of what makes the unique "Northern" sound, they certainly know what it is immediately they hear it. Although perhaps not able to easily describe, it is always easy to identify the uplifting, sometimes haunting and "wholeness" of the danceable Northern sound. 

 Obscure / Exclusive? - Regarding the so-called exclusivity / obscurity; it is true this was maintained and even cultivated as records were dropped when they became popular within the mainstream. It is not entirely true though that records were played just because they were seen as exclusive or obscure, which I suspect may be more true today. Northern soul tracks just had to be good and danceable, although not everyone did or now do prefer the "stompers" and later as many of the faster tunes dried up some slower tracks were introduced, which were loved by some, but not always appreciated by the pop eyed blocked dancers who needed stompers. Many of the slower "shuffling" records such as "It really hurts me girl" by the Carstairs were introduced by Ian Levine, one of the true and few pioneers of Northern Soul and who had earlier sourced many of the rare imported stompers during visits to the USA. The "shufflers" were introduced to bring new sounds to the scene and as it became harder and harder to find the "stompers". Northern therefore can be seen to have always had a fascination with rarity, after all apart from a very few exceptions it wouldn't be "Northern" if it had been a hit the first time around in the US. The fact is many records were rare, and so by its very nature “Northern” Soul has to be obscure. Many of the recordings were created by small independent black record labels in the US and there were often only a few hundred pressings distributed in only one state or region of the USA. As already discussed, one view point is how these small studios were attempting to capture the elusive 'Motown" sound, and many hired moonlighting session musicians from Motown, such as Benny Benjamin, James Jamerson and Earl Van Dyke aka the Funk Brothers and often created a different and unique sound, in part due to recording studios and equipment that were far superior to those used at Motown and which on hearing convinced Berry Gordy to buy Ric Tic and Golden World. 

Many of these unique sounding records when eventually "discovered" by Ian Levine and other UK DJ's became known as alternate titles to those with which appeared ob the label, these were the infamous "cover ups" created by DJ's wanting to keep the rare sounds and labels they had discovered to themselves. Who can blame them? Often they searched hard and discovered an unknown and rare record which became valuable, only to find it had been drastically devalued a few weeks later by  the release of a bootleg version. Today however the originals are more valuable than ever and that's even if bootlegs or a second issue is readily available. It is also worth noting some great Northern sounds were recorded on Motown and its many derivative labels. Other than Motown the Northern Soul sound was however generally unpopular with the mainstream in the USA (like most black music) and so was rarely played on radio. The original recordings more often than not went unnoticed in the US, and recordings remained so obscure the original US artists long believed their work to be flops and many were later shocked but delighted to find their recordings were revered and enjoyed an almost cult like status in the North of England. In this sense many US artists were "born again", often quitting low paid jobs in the US and visiting the North of England to perform live their recordings of many years earlier and sometimes on returning to the US or staying on in the UK to record new songs that would become "hits". Such artists include Jerry Williams, Brenda Holloway, JJ Barnes and Tommy Hunt who were originally frequent visitors to the UK where today they continue to enjoy a cult status. The late and great Edwin Starr also frequently visited the UK and lived there for many years before passing away in the UK which had become his home. Edwin is on record as saying: 

"I am sure that a great many US artists would pay homage
to the UK Northern Soul Scene. It has allowed us to still have
some place to be.

Maybe we are not on BBC Radio 1, or recognised at music
awards, but the one thing that can never be taken away is our
Northern Soul legacy".
                                                                           EDWIN STARR
                                                                      (21 January 1942 - 2nd April 2003)

 A recent article in the USA's Detroit "Motor City Journal" has the title:

 "BRITISH FANS SAVE DETROIT'S MUSIC MEMORIES"

Explaining how unlike in the US, people in the UK worship the "unsung made in Detroit music" and how it is  named "Northern Soul" after the location in Great Britain of its original aficionados, a recent report from the BBC in England says "Starting around 1967 and continuing into the new millennium, Northern Soul has been one of the most extraordinary and potent underground movements in the history of popular music". All proving that Northern Soul is one of the most enduring music forms ever known.     

The Detroit Entertainment Guide said in August 2002:

The Northern sound is exclusive and unique because in the UK as well as the US black music in the 1960s' and early 1970s' was virtually forced underground receiving hardly any support from the mainstream radio DJ's, Manchester's Piccadilly Radio in the early 1970s' with the Andy Peebles "Soul Train" and guest appearances from DJ's such as Russ Winstanley being a notable but well overdue exception. Due to its rare and special qualities Northern has been triumphant and is still eagerly sought out by a small but extremely loyal and dedicated group of Soul fans and club goers, many of which have been followers of the scene for 30 years or more and so unintentionally helped create Northern Soul in UK Soul clubs. There can therefore be no doubt that without the UK scene of the 1960s' and early 70s' and clubs such as the Twisted Wheel, Pendulum, The Mecca, Wigan Casino, The Torch, Va Va's, Cleethorpes, Catacombes etc, the World's Northern Soul scene could not be what it is today. Not forgetting of course the early pioneers such as Ian Levine who brought and first introduced into clubs such as Manchester's Twisted Wheel and the Mecca previously many previously unknown records. Word of these then spread like wild fire across the whole of the UK, hence the "cover ups", they are now "uncovered" and popular over the World with the Northern scene spreading into Europe with strong Northern Soul scenes in Belgium, Germany, Italy and more recently Japan, Taiwan and Asia.  

"I really love coming to England, here I am a star
 and the fans are so knowledgeable, without Northern Soul, 
many US artists and much Soul would have been lost forever" 
                                                                   BRENDA HOLLOWAY  

The “Sound" -  There is far more to Northern Soul than four beats to the bar creating an infectious dance beat. For me, it is how the overall sound creates an uplifting feeling. Northern is about emotional expression, which lifts the soul sustained by the infectious back beat, swirling strings, prophetic phrases and haunting rhythms. The sound is made whole with mellow main and deep chorus vocals (although some great Northern tunes are instrumentals), alternating tones, orchestral symphonies, almost ghostly harmonies, infectious clapping and drumming, a vamping rhythmic approach to musical time, often supported by horn and string ensembles and a galloping rhythm urging you to get up and dance. 

 The “Faith" - Whenever a new potential “monster” was introduced to the eager fans belonging to the Northern fraternity it was ultimately tested out on the dance floor and if it worked was treasured, and those who had discovered and/or  “broken” it were revered. If on a rare occasion a Northern “smash” subsequently became popular in the mainstream it was quickly dropped, not because it had become popular, but because there was no point in playing it in any longer in the all-nighters when you could listen to it on Radio 1. The name of the game was getting the rare undiscovered sounds out to the faithful and not playing something that could be heard just about anywhere. This is how the devoted followers of Northern wanted it and how the unique Northern following was created, which assisted the further evolution of Northern and so helped ensure it still has many devoted followers today, they "still keep the faith" and hopefully help others become aware of it. 

Northern Aspect -  Why did this type of music become popular in the North of England? That is perhaps the hardest question to answer. It should be remembered we were dancing (oh yes dancing, I forgot to mention the energetic, athletic and often acrobatic dancing with backdrops, high kicks, splits, spins, twists, slides, swallow dives and other previously unseen gyrations, all which were a key success factor helping to create the Northern Soul Scene) to tunes that had not yet been categorized as “Northern”, a terminology believed to have been first adapted from an article in the legendary "Blues and Soul" magazine and penned by David Godin around late 1970.  All the same, we knew what the music was all about well before the Blues and Soul definition, in fact “Northern” was far more than just music, it was an emerging culture that had not yet been key holed into a phrase easily related to. After all, the Twisted Wheel closed in 1971 after being the heart of Northern Soul for over seven-years and therefore Northern had been around far longer than just 12-months after the terminology “Northern Soul” was coined in the Blues and Soul magazine.

There is no doubt however that “Northern Soul” was a very appropriate terminology, but I suspect the down to earth types from the North of England would never have been so presumptuous to coin a phrase which suggests a rare form of American music has emanated distinctly from the North of England (do not send me e-mail, this is NOT a criticism of Mr. Godin) who has done much for Northern Soul. The terminology "Northern" was perhaps somewhat belated but perfectly apt and so was quickly embraced, we cannot say Northern Soul was then born, but it was perhaps given an identity. The same can be said for "Soul" which was only given its "name" and so unique identity in the mid 1950s'.

Iconic - The scene did and still does boast many unique icons, including badges, patches, radical fashions, energetic dancing, "allnighters", stimulants, scooters to name just a few. A surprise to many is how little alcohol was consumed, which is a consequence of the early venues being mainly “cafes” who were licensed to stay open late providing they did not sell alcohol. Lots of Coffee and Coke (the drink) were guzzled however; washing down what by today's standards were some relatively tame and safe "prescription" amphetamines, used to help the faithful stay awake 24-hours after traveling most of the day, arriving at the venues late in the evening and in preparation for and during the soon to commence "Night Shift". The pills however were blamed for the closing down of some of the best all-night venues, such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and the Torch in Stoke, although it is believed Ivor Abadi may by this stage may have believed the "Wheel" had run its course (see the Twisted Wheel Page).  Since then the Northern scene may have ebbed & waned, but it has never died, lives on and is gathering momentum. Northern Soul should then be considered as one of the most enduring modern day music types ever known, although still enjoyed by relatively few, but a music form and culture which has demonstrated virtual immortality.