Northern Soul, Northernsoulinoz, Twisted Wheel, Wigan Casino, Tamla, Tamlamotown, Soul, Lambretta, Scooters, 

In contrast to much of the publicity of the wrong type given to Northern Soul, frequently prepared to focus only on the ridiculous and often based around far fetched comments from those looking for the weird aspects of Northern Soul and who certainly never attended any of the clubs they often speak of, this page will instead attempt to provide a realistic view of how Northern Soul has evolved from the early 1960s' to the present day. All the material on these pages is original and has not been ripped off other web sites, so if anyone would like to use anything from these pages, that's OK, so long as you reference that it came from this site, which will be a work in progress, enhanced with sound clips, label scans and comments from those who were actually there. The artists from Chubby Checker to Wigan's Chosen Few, will be explored, as will the venues from the Twisted Wheel to the Rocket. I acknowledge some of what is to follow may have already been published in books, such as the excellent publication "The In Crowd" which is reviewed on the "Book Reviews" page of this website. Unfortunately such books by their very nature, will have only been read by loyal followers of Northern Soul. The "Evolution of Northern Soul" will not try to imitate such publications, but instead with the aid of modern technology will allow visitors from a broader audience to see, hear, live and breathe Northern Soul from the early sixties through to the present day.  Contributions are welcome and full credit will be given to all who provide material that is included. In this regard I ask that nothing be taken from this page without acknowledging this website as the source, as many of the flyers, scans and photographs are personal property and have never been published elsewhere.
 
                                                         
THE BEGINNING - Jazz - Rhythm & Blues
In the early 1960s' a small innovative number of music lovers were listening to sounds that were not mainstream, not played on the local radio stations and not available in record stores, the music was often listened to in small clubs and often there were live bands performing covers of music originally recorded by black artists in the USA, it was known as R&B.  One such club was the "Ricky Tick" Club in Windsor, Berkshire, where artists such as Cyril Davies and his Allstars and Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band pioneered the British R&B movement and which would be the beginning of the UK's mod scene.  In this tradition was a club in Brazenose Street, Manchester, known as the Twisted Wheel. As we are discussing "Northern Soul" there appears no better place to commence than "The Wheel" which is generally accepted as the home of Northern Soul. It should not be forgotten that there were Jazz & R&B clubs in London as early as the 1950s', which lost popularity as the genre gained increasing popularity in the North of England, although jazz always remained popular in London clubs such as the Flamingo where Ronnie Scott played and who would later operate what was to become the UK's premier jazz club. It would be Manchester however that became the pioneer of R &B and Soul music in the UK.  

THE TWISTED WHEEL                                   
The following information is provided as a tribute to the Twisted Wheel and the very significant influence it has had on the global Northern Soul scene. The "Left Wing Coffee Bar" opened in Brazennose Street Manchester, which was later purchased by the Abadi family and in 1963 became the home of "The Twisted Wheel". Three years later the "Wheel" required more breathing space and so was relocated to No 6 Whitworth Street, establishing itself as the leading soul club in Manchester if not the whole of the UK and long before the terminology "Northern Soul" was ever dreamt of.

THE "GEAR"
Howard Yates ex Manchester and a local Northern Soul lover is now living in Melbourne, he was a member at Whitworth Street Twisted Wheel and recalls how the early scene was a "coffee bar" culture where young mods would meet at Manchester's "Expresso Bongo" cafe to discuss their latest buys from Ralph's Records where he used to work. Coffee and music weren't the only stimulants to be used in order to help the faithful keep awake for 24-hours or more and so the all-night cafes were places to buy not only records but the relatively harmless amphetamines used so you could "go the distance" and which were to become a significant influence on the Northern Soul scene and the tradition of 'Gear" has endured ever since. Howard also recalls there were  many other cafe's and pubs on Deansgate where mod types would meet prior to and after the Wheel and suggests the move from Brazennose Street to Whitworth Street was a sign of the times dictated by the rapidly escalating property values at Manchester's Deansgate end of town.  

Many of Howard's favourite tracks from the Wheel are R&B inspired and are from white groups as well as black, including:

Gimme some loving - Spencer Davis Group / Fontana    SCAN/RAM

Fats Domino - It keeps rainin' / London    SCAN/RAM

Kick that little foot Sally - Round Robin / Domain   SCAN/RAM

Click images above to hear the tracks from the Wheel, illustrating the type of sounds played at the early Wheel and which will be seen as being quite different from what was to follow. One of the earlier DJ's at the Wheel was Roger Eagle, a definite innovator who introduced many unheard of  Rhythm and Blues tracks to the North of England and who was invited to DJ at the Brazennose Street Wheel by Ivor & Phil Abadi when they purchased the "Left Wing" with the sole intention of opening a brand new club to be known as "The Twisted Wheel". Roger Eagle therefore became a regular DJ, he would become Whitworth Street's first official DJ and would shape the R&B Soul scene in the North of England for many years. Yet like all innovators, many years later his time would be up and he would leave the Wheel somewhat disenchanted as the club goers demanded more and more Northern Soul "stompers" as the scene continued to evolve.

Label scan & RAM File here

But this was 1963 and well before the Wheel moved to No 6 Whitworth Street, Roger Eagle played the decks spinning serious R&B such as Bo Diddley's "Road Runner". Live bands also played at the Wheel and at the first all-nighter in 1963 these included the jazz and blues inspired Graham Bond Set, who were supported by a yet unknown guitar playing singer named Spencer Davies. The rest is history and the Wheel helped launch the "Spencer Davies Quartet" and Steve Winwood on the way to popularity and eventual big time stardom. The Wheel at this time was still new and ran second place to the established nightclub "The Oasis", but within a short time and able to fuel a new found appetite for "all-nighters" the Wheel would soon become the place to be seen, but to the disappointment of many not at Brazennose Street, which went out in grand style with the local blues artist John Mayall playing at its last all-nighter, an appropriate end to the Wheels era of R&B and setting the scene for the next step and perhaps what was the first commercial direction seen in the evolution of Northern Soul. It was 1965 and the Twisted Wheel had moved to Whitworth Street and yet could anyone really have anticipated what was about to follow?

DOBIE GRAY RAM HERE
 

NORTHERN SOUL & THE ALLNIGHTER
The Whitworth Street wheel quickly established itself as "where it was at" and the "underground" mystique from Brazennose Street began to evaporate. The word was out the Wheel was the place to be and soul rather than R&B fans headed to Manchester from all parts of the UK. The local Piccadilly and Victoria railway stations were kept busy with soul fans arriving from not only the close-by suburbs surrounding central Manchester but also from other regions such as Merseyside, London, Wolverhampton and as far away as Scotland. These were the dedicated fans who would live and breath for the Twisted Wheel where they went for the unique music, the dancing, the camaraderie and to make the absolute most of every hour of the weekend. English law allowed private clubs with registered members and venues that did not serve alcohol to choose their own hours of trading and so the Wheel was able to introduce and maintain the tradition of soul clubs being "all nighters". This advantage was ironically the downfall of the Wheel, for members took stimulants to make sure they could enjoy every moment right up until the early hours of the next day, the drugs would see the end of the Wheel as an all nighter and the doors close early 1971. In the meantime the slower R&B tracks brought over from Brazennose Street became less and less popular as the amphetamine charged members desired to dance and were in the mood for fast and furious action. This meant  records with a quicker beat became the preferred item and newer DJ's were only too keen to deliver, so Roger Eagle moved elsewhere as the members constantly asked for "stompers" in preference to the R&B tracks he pioneered and loved so much.

Live acts were also still very much part of the wheel and in 1966 these included acts such as the Spencer Davis Group, the Ram Jam Band, the Graham Bond Organisation, Steampacket, the Alan Brown Set, Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames. Times were changing however and artists such as Georgie Fame were fast becoming passe and almost uncool as other Manchester Clubs were breaking new ground with acts such as Wilson Pickett and Major Lance. Ivor Abadi was determined the Wheel would not be left behind and contrary to common belief the Wheel was still at this stage a reactive rather than an innovative club, but things were very quickly about to change.

RAMS & labels here
 

NORTHERN SOUL DANCE IS BORN
Ivor soon introduced artists such as Charlie & Inez Foxx, Irma Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, the Drifters, Ben E King,  and cooler local acts such as Jimmy Cliff. This was the beginning of end for previously popular acts such Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames whose catchy but unsophisticated renditions were musically no match for the raw edged and more sophisticated soul artists. It was also the end of the road at the Wheel for DJ Roger Eagle as Ivor began to control the music insisting slow R&B tracks be taken off the playlist and even off the turntable if they did not pack the dance floor. When Roger Eagle walked from the Wheel he moved over to the Bluenote Club and then away from Manchester altogether to Liverpool, leaving the Wheel and its members to enjoy more and more fast tempo music from the black soul artists who were now de rigeur at the UK's most popular soul club, the Whitworth Street Twisted Wheel. With many great DJ's over the years who sourced records from the US as well as locally, including Rob Bellars, Brian Rae, Brian Walker, Brian Phillips, Les Cokell, Barry Tasker and Phil Saxe playing faster "Northern" type records there came not only a change of music, but also of dance style. It was when Alvin Cash and the Crawlers played at the Whitworth Street Wheel in 1967 they brought with them the "backdrop" a dance move which was quickly copied by the fans and embraced at Soul clubs all over the country and which became the most famous Northern Soul dance move after the "spin". The backdrop is still the move most dancers aspire to on the Northern Soul scene, but few are seen nowadays due to the ageing population of Northern soul lovers, many who have been on the scene for thirty years or more. The backdrop is however and always will remain an icon of the Northern Soul scene due to its introduction at the Wheel. The Wheel kept finding rare soul records and so remained the place to go with many tracks not yet played anywhere else in the UK. This tradition continued and in 1970 a young Ian Levine would bring to the Wheel rare previously unheard of records he had sourced whilst on vacation in the US. These would be eagerly played by the Wheel DJ Les Cokell and would become sought after records in every soul club across the UK and include tracks such as Rose Batiste's "Hit and Run" and JJ Barnes 'Please let me in".  

THE NORTHERN SOUL
Bernie Dayle a regular at the Whitworth Street Twisted Wheel from 1967 to it's closure in 1971  travelled all the way from Merseyside to Manchester and the visits were inspired solely by the Wheel's all-nighter. Bernie recalls dancing to tracks played by DJ's Brian Rae, Brian Phillips, Barry Tasker and Phil Saxe such as:

Chubby Checker - At the discotheque
Mickey Lee Lane - Hey Sah-Lo-Ney
The Impressions - You've been cheatin'
Ramsey Lewis - Wade in the water
Ike & Tina Turner - Dust my broom
The Formations - At the top of the stairs
Soul Sisters - Good time tonight
Billy Butler - Right track
Edwin Starr - Agent Double O Soul
Tommy Neal - Goin' to a happening
Jamo Thomas - I spy for the FBI

Scans/Rams

Bernie bought many of these records and still has hundreds of them today, it was all about the atmosphere created by the music recalls Bernie, the dancing, the back drops, every one creating a thunderous crack when they clapped in unison at just the right the moment. It was about the clothes you wore, Ben Sherman shirts, Stay Press trousers, baratheas, crombies, brogues. Bernie recalls you  had to "be" and not just look sharp as there was always a rogue or two willing to relieve you of your "gear" or some cash if you weren't on the ball. Magical moments for Bernie were not just about dancing to the records played at the Wheel, but also being privileged to see live many now legendary soul artists including:

Edwin Starr

Arthur Conley      

Inez & Charlie Foxx
 

The Shirelles
 

Marv Johnson  

Jamo Thomas

   

 to name just a few. Bernie recalls Ike & Tina Turner had a cast of thousands who were so many they could hardly get on and off the stage, how Edwin Starr was a lot shorter than he had imagined and unbelievably modest during his introduction and who then put on one of the best live acts ever seen and afterwards hung around like one of the regular crowd, willing to sign any amount of autographs or records that people had brought in. Bernie also recalls how he did not really expect much from the live appearance of Marv  Johnson but was then blown away by one of the best performance he was ever to see at the Wheel.

A significant event in the Wheel's history and one which further changed the type of music played was when the whole record collection owned by the Wheel and used by the DJ's was stolen in 1968. Unknown to everyone at the time, this was to be the last era of the Wheel and so perhaps the change in musical direction was appropriate. The fact was however that the Wheel had no records and so it had to quickly buy up what was available locally, but these were simply not going to be sufficient. There was therefore no choice but to rely on the records brought in by the DJ's and the clubs members, many who had better record collections than some of the DJ's. This was a new tradition and so many new sounds were heard in a short period being brought in from places such as Liverpool, Wolverhampton and Sheffield. The tradition of members bringing in records continued on and the range and depth of records played got better and better, near the end in late 1970 a very young Ian Levine brought in many imported tracks from the USA that had never previously been heard, let alone played in the UK, a tradition he would continue at other venues and one that would see him become known as perhaps the finest and most innovative DJ the Northern Soul scene has ever seen and will ever see.    
 

THE ENEMIES
There was however a growing resistance to the Wheel and the Soul culture in Manchester, it was still the 1960s' and old fashioned values prevailed, the idea of teenagers staying out all night and popping pills was frowned upon. There were regular raids in and outside the Wheel and the penalties for carrying "gear" were draconian with an almost certain six-month prison sentence for even first offenders. This may now seem unbelievable, but there were several Wheel goers who did a six-month stretch for possession of only a handful of amphetamines. Yet the many attempts to secure a licence to sell booze on the premises and so perhaps alleviate the requirement for pills were rejected by the Manchester Corporation due to objections from of all people the Police. Yet the Wheel was directly over the Road from Manchester's Police Headquarters, it couldn't have been hard to keep an eye on the place from there. The pressure was now on the owners of the Wheel to keep the drugs out or be closed, an almost impossible task for a place that couldn't sell booze and which stayed open as an allnighter, the Wheel goers wanted something to get them through the night and early morning.

                                              
                         First notice of last allnighter (1967)                     Back on again !

It was late 1969 when I first went to the Wheel and by then rumours of it's impending closure were rife and I was told it would never happen because they had been talking about it for years (see scans above). Whatever one might hear about the camaraderie at the Wheel, the truth was that like any nightclub in a big industrial town it had its fair share of scallywags, rogues and villains and newcomers needed to be very wary or they would be seen as easy pickings. Fortunately for me and the scooter gang I went with there were a lot of the first generation scooter boys and Droylsdener's that we knew quite well inside and in places it was a bit like a Littlemoss Boys Secondary Modern School reunion. We were soon given the run down and told who to watch out for, who to stay well away from, who were those in the know and where not to go alone, but that information was provided on the quiet, only once and after that you were on your own. After a few weeks as long as you stayed on your toes you were all right and watching great performers such as Marv Johnson, Ben E King, The Drifters, Percy Sledge, Innez and Charlie Foxx, Arthur Conley, The Shirelles et al, which left me and many others wondering why anyone could possibly want to shut the Wheel down when they should be opening more places like it. When being told "we're soon to be closed you know" it was hard to believe it would ever actually happen, but by 1970 rumours were circulating that the next allnighter really would be the last.  Then the Manchester Corporation (Council) made out an order that the allnighters be stopped forthwith and that the Wheel must close by the end of 1970. In response Ivor Abadi sent out letters to all Wheel Members asking for support to keep it open, the appeal even went out to members parents.  The club was able to stay open "under appeal" and so the allnighters were given a reprieve, but the Manchester Corporation and the Police were determined and kept up the pressure with regular raids and "line ups" outside the Club. A good friend of mine was in one of the lineups when a bag mysteriously appeared at his feet, fortunately he had nouse and quickly kicked the bag further down the line knowing what would be in it. The person at the end of the line was held responsible for dropping the bag and was frog marched off to the cells and we later heard he received 6 months for possession, the bag of course did not belong to him, but the officials didn't care much so long as they could hang someone out to dry, that's just how it was in those days. There is some opinion that perhaps even the Abadi's by this time had been pressured far too much and so were becoming increasingly inclined to accept the Wheel should be closed so they could move on to pastures new. There was at the time an emerging trend in Manchester for licensed "supper clubs" and these were providing owners with far greater return on investment than clubs like the Wheel. The deal was if you only stayed open until 1.00am you could usually obtain a liquor licence without objection from either the Manchester Corporation or the Police and so could sell booze at an outrageous profit. It had to be easier than staying open till 6.00am and trying to make money from the door takings when promoting soul artists.  

                            
                          Twisted Wheel acts 1970           Twisted Wheel Membership Card 1970/71

It was eventually officially announced that the last allnighter at the Wheel would be January 1971 and the Wheel would go out with a big bang due to a live appearance of the No 1 Soul Brother Edwin Starr. The night turned out to be something of an anti climax though, not because of Edwin Starr who was as always utterly brilliant, but because no-one would actually believe this was going to be the very last allnighter at the Wheel. All too soon though it was time to play Jimmy Radcliffe for the very last time and the Wheel unbelievably was gone....... leaving a void in the Northern Soul scene that would never be filled. The closure of the Wheel would imminently see a change in the direction of the soul scene, but the type of music played at the Wheel had become known as and will always be known as "Northern Soul", it was then due to the influence of Manchester's Twisted Wheel that we today have Northern Soul.

As it happened, there was another gig at the Wheel after the 30th January 1971, but it was not an allnighter, for even though the appeal to save the Club had failed, it could have actually remained open, because only the all-nighter license was revoked.  There was no magic in a 1.00am finish though and soon the Wheel had succumbed to the trend for licensed supper clubs, was given a makeover and became known as "Placemate 45" and there was not a member of the Wheel who would be seen in a club like that, and to be fair, that was probably the intention. Ironically Placemate much later held its own Northern Soul revival nights. Northern Soul however was not about to stop when the Wheel closed, the closure in fact spawned a new era of Northern Soul that would see it be further embraced throughout the UK and the World. The story might be said as only just having begun, it continues on the next page "AFTER THE WHEEL".