Sad to report the passing of Whitby Pavilion co-promoter and Northern Soul legend

 

SNOWY RIP 😢

BILL SNOW Rest in Peace 😢😢😢😢😢

One of the hardest announcements I am likely to make in my lifetime……..the passing of Doncaster & Northern Soul legend ‘Snowy’
My sincerest condolences to his wife Lynn, sons William & Josh, stepchildren and grandchildren. 

Bill was a legend in South Yorkshire who promoted Soul & Motown nights throughout his life and of course his involvement with the success at Whitby Pavilion. 

I first came across this very handsome kid in December, 1972 at the Torch, Tunstall. I seem to think it was the Edwin Starr gig and we both had records for sale. That was the start of a lifelong connection and friendship. 
His early days were consumed in Soul while having to fight off the opposite sex with his David Essex/David Cassidy looks…….he had a very jealous DJ friend, who only had a record box as female company!

A very talented fella and great company……..hopefully my lighting the touch paper to ‘this boys life’ will deliver plenty of great stories from dear friends and colleagues. 

I will need consoling at Whitby this weekend. 

We all take bereavement very differently, my first outburst is yet to come…….best check out for now. 

A terrible loss to our family and heartbreaking for me.  Love you pal xxxxxx

Top man and a sad loss 🙏

 

Another sad Loss. RIP Snowy 🙏

RIP my old friend

So sad to hear this. He was a well loved and respected guy and a great character. 

R.I.P Snowy

A SAD LOSS R.I.P SNOWY

AWFUL SAD NEWS  R I P SNOWY

thanks for sharing Kev

RIP Snowy

 

site note

As said on the other post, we have moved this article across from the 'news' feature to 'all about the soul' forum as over the years we have found it works best all round if we try and use this forum for such sad news,

 

R I P Snowy. A great friend and great guy .

Hadn't Seen or Spoken to Snowy  for a number of years now, but a very Sad Loss Indeed.

A very nice Person to Know and a Credit to the Scene. He will be sadly missed by all those that came into contact with him. Condolences to his Family and Close Friends. RIP My Friend.

Very saddened to read this 

So sorry to read this bill was lovely to me and Kim whenever we at same gig event was very encouraging to other djs ...a huge loss for the soul scene  

Rip and respect to a fellow soulie 

Mark freeman 

Very sad news top lad and a fantastic dj and northern soul legend hold special memories of times in Chicago and new York at bills other love Horse racing brilliant times rest in peace Bill 

Yocky and mandy x

R.I.P. Snowy.

Very sad news about snowy will be sorely missed k.t.f.✊

R.I.P Snowy

R.I.P. Snowy; a top Donny soul guy has left the building ... 

 

 

I got to know Snowy when still in Donny in the late 60's. He used to visit my house in Hexthorpe with some of his mates who were soulies / skinheads. This was the period when the Attic Soul Club was transitioning into a skinhead haunt. His mates, mainly, wanted to plunder my ska / reggae collection but Snowy was always more interested in my soul stuff. I got a new (better paid) job, so was able to move to a bigger house in Balby and Snowy was still visiting me even then. He bought many of my 'better' NS 45's off me (having a young family, I no longer went to niters & going to the Torch, Casino was of no interest to me at all). He was a regular in Wigan and knew all the top current sounds. Thus things like my issue of Tobi Legend, my Artistics Okeh demo and many more singles changed hands. I left Donny and others (Paul Temple, etc.) were also soon plundering my collection, but (on & off) I stayed in touch with Snowy. I was living in Worksop when he had his (1st ?) record shop. I recall a tale he told me about an old guy who came into his shop to try to sell a bunch of classical albums. Snowy explained that they were of no value, but thumbed through the pile anyway. He happened on an LP that featured a violin on the cover ... WHY'D YOU GET THIS, IT'S NOT LIKE THE OTHER ALBUMS IN THE PILE ... Ohh, that was a mistake, I saw the violin & thought it was classical music, but it wasn't, I never played it after the 1st time ..      needless to say, Snowy bought just that one LP off the guy.

R.I.P. Snowy .. 

Another encounter with Snowy comes to mind. Early 70's -- the place to go to get SOUL SOUNDS 45's back then was Boylans in Conisboro. I went over to get some top Wheel sounds at a decent price & Snowy was in the shop too. He asked what my current 'new' top want was & I told him it was Marvin Smith's new Mayfield Records 45 (so it must have been early 71), he noted my comment and went about his way (I think he'd also bought a few 45's that morning). Snowy was an ever-present about town & on the scene as far back as then. 

R.I.P. Bill , sad news indeed and condolences to all friends and family.

1 hour ago, Roburt said:

R.I.P. Snowy; a top Donny soul guy has left the building ... 

I got to know Snowy when still in Donny in the late 60's. He used to visit my house in Hexthorpe with some of his mates who were soulies / skinheads. This was the period when the Attic Soul Club was transitioning into a skinhead haunt. His mates, mainly, wanted to plunder my ska / reggae collection but Snowy was always more interested in my soul stuff. I got a new (better paid) job, so was able to move to a bigger house in Balby and Snowy was still visiting me even then. He bought many of my 'better' NS 45's off me (having a young family, I no longer went to niters & going to the Torch, Casino was of no interest to me at all). He was a regular in Wigan and knew all the top current sounds. Thus things like my issue of Tobi Legend, my Artistics Okeh demo and many more singles changed hands. I left Donny and others (Paul Temple, etc.) were also soon plundering my collection, but (on & off) I stayed in touch with Snowy. I was living in Worksop when he had his (1st ?) record shop. I recall a tale he told me about an old guy who came into his shop to try to sell a bunch of classical albums. Snowy explained that they were of no value, but thumbed through the pile anyway. He happened on an LP that featured a violin on the cover ... WHY'D YOU GET THIS, IT'S NOT LIKE THE OTHER ALBUMS IN THE PILE ... Ohh, that was a mistake, I saw the violin & thought it was classical music, but it wasn't, I never played it after the 1st time ..      needless to say, Snowy bought just that one LP off the guy.

R.I.P. Snowy .. 

Another encounter with Snowy comes to mind. Early 70's -- the place to go to get SOUL SOUNDS 45's back then was Boylans in Conisboro. I went over to get some top Wheel sounds at a decent price & Snowy was in the shop too. He asked what my current 'new' top want was & I told him it was Marvin Smith's new Mayfield Records 45 (so it must have been early 71), he noted my comment and went about his way (I think he'd also bought a few 45's that morning). Snowy was an ever-present about town & on the scene as far back as then. 

the above two comments have just been moved across from the earlier post

So sorry to hear of Bill Snows passing.  Such a nice guy and an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to Northern Soul music.  A sad loss to the NS scene.  Left us far too soon.  Rest in peace Snowy.   Condolences to his family and friends.  

As a regular at the Whitby July weekender since 2014, I'm very sorry to read this. He seemed to radiate calm and good humour and wore his obviously deep knowledge of the music very lightly.

That guest appearance by Spyder Turner was hilarious as Spyder did various impersonations of other soul singers, including a very convincing Chuck Jackson.

Many thanks and much respect for making our summers so much more enjoyable for so many years. RIP.

So sad to read about the death of Snowy, was a good friend and Dj'ed for him many times as resident at various events he ran.

R.I.P. mate.

A huge loss the the NS music scene. Top DJ and a nice guy. 

RIP Snowy. 

A sad loss to the soul scene. Known Bill since the early 70s when he knocked about with Dave Ormsby & Bob Beasley. Later on he became a good friend of my older brother Steve Midgley . Remember the two record shops he had in Rotherham & Donny. A well known Soul DJ who’ll be sadly missed RIP Bill,

Sad news, I first came to know him during the back end of 1973 when I was going to some of the soul nights he was involved in around the Doncaster area along with his mate Paul Curzon.

I bumped into him quite a bit over the years, including when he had the record shops in Rotherham and Donny.

The last time I saw him was again in Doncaster, probably last summer. 

 

RIP Bill and condolences to his family & friends...

Does anyone know funeral arrangements yet please. Thanks 

https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/snow/5242590https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/snow/5242590

Today(10/4/25) we said Goodbye to Snowy. Doncaster legend and on the scene for more than 53 years. 
Thanks to all who attended. 

A wonderful send off and tribute to an original soul man. 

rip snowy - one of the scenes nice guys