First Taste Of Soul

[scunnyjack]

About 1967 at local youth club some older teenagers left me a bunch of albums to look after and play whilst they played table tennis and chatted the girls up.Mostly stuff i had not heard of Arthur Conley,Sam & Dave,Drifters to name a few.Started to search local shops for soul records to play at the club and a year later was taken to Riddings Soul Scene in Scunthorpe where the Contours,Elgins,Spinners and

records spun at the Mojo and Twisted Wheel were also played by a guy called Fred Benson.I Got friendly with Terry Samson and he asked me to DJ a soul night at the Winterton Rangers which managed to clash with Edwin Starr appearing at the Oswald in Scunthorpe.

As i got older the same guys who introduced me to the music started to take me to the Attic and Top Rank in Doncaster where i heard records i had never heard before and saw the Drifters(Actually the Invitations) and Junior Walker.

As my older mates left this scene ,younger ones having heard my records at the Youth Club ,came on board and with the help of Rick Scott's knowledge of the scene,his local soul nights and fantastic record collection,the rare sounds and travelling to venues further a field continued. A lot of great singers and friends have died over the years, but one thing never has and that is the music ,and to those guys who asked me to look after their records, i am eternally grateful to for starting me off on the best journey of my life.

[Guest charnley]

About 1967 at local youth club some older teenagers left me a bunch of albums to look after and play whilst they played table tennis and chatted the girls up.Mostly stuff i had not heard of Arthur Conley,Sam & Dave,Drifters to name a few.Started to search local shops for soul records to play at the club and a year later was taken to Riddings Soul Scene in Scunthorpe where the Contours,Elgins,Spinners and

records spun at the Mojo and Twisted Wheel were also played by a guy called Fred Benson.I Got friendly with Terry Samson and he asked me to DJ a soul night at the Winterton Rangers which managed to clash with Edwin Starr appearing at the Oswald in Scunthorpe.

As i got older the same guys who introduced me to the music started to take me to the Attic and Top Rank in Doncaster where i heard records i had never heard before and saw the Drifters(Actually the Invitations) and Junior Walker.

As my older mates left this scene ,younger ones having heard my records at the Youth Club ,came on board and with the help of Rick Scott's knowledge of the scene,his local soul nights and fantastic record collection,the rare sounds and travelling to venues further a field continued. A lot of great singers and friends have died over the years, but one thing never has and that is the music ,and to those guys who asked me to look after their records, i am eternally grateful to for starting me off on the best journey of my life.

[Guest charnley]

first record was wade in the water about 197? i was about 14/15 years old. I was in the balli hi, In nottingham, A lad who knew my older brother was on the door he used to let me in but no drinking as you had to be 18. made up for that since. not to sure of the year seems so long ago. went and got the record the following saturday first one i ever got. then after that it was up to record heaven to see kev rorberts, rob smith, or off to nighters to spend what ever money i had. but some times i wise i hadnt still buying to this day, good times a lot forgotten. andy c

[Guest]

WHEY HEY 2 PAGES lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[bri phill]

About 1967 at local youth club some older teenagers left me a bunch of albums to look after and play whilst they played table tennis and chatted the girls up.Mostly stuff i had not heard of Arthur Conley,Sam & Dave,Drifters to name a few.Started to search local shops for soul records to play at the club and a year later was taken to Riddings Soul Scene in Scunthorpe where the Contours,Elgins,Spinners and

records spun at the Mojo and Twisted Wheel were also played by a guy called Fred Benson.I Got friendly with Terry Samson and he asked me to DJ a soul night at the Winterton Rangers which managed to clash with Edwin Starr appearing at the Oswald in Scunthorpe.

As i got older the same guys who introduced me to the music started to take me to the Attic and Top Rank in Doncaster where i heard records i had never heard before and saw the Drifters(Actually the Invitations) and Junior Walker.

As my older mates left this scene ,younger ones having heard my records at the Youth Club ,came on board and with the help of Rick Scott's knowledge of the scene,his local soul nights and fantastic record collection,the rare sounds and travelling to venues further a field continued. A lot of great singers and friends have died over the years, but one thing never has and that is the music ,and to those guys who asked me to look after their records, i am eternally grateful to for starting me off on the best journey of my life.

Fre BEnson theier's a name from the past I did a gig in 1970 with him in cleethorpes,Tony Brown asked me to come up he was trying to get an allniter going back then, so I had a night of the Wheel to do that.

regards Brian

[scunnyjack]

Fre BEnson theier's a name from the past I did a gig in 1970 with him in cleethorpes,Tony Brown asked me to come up he was trying to get an allniter going back then, so I had a night of the Wheel to do that.

regards Brian

Whenever I see him, which is more often at football then local soul nights we have a good chat about the scene and the music.If you can remember ,his sister Lorraine used to DJ as well.If i see him at Sheffield on saturday i will mention your post and pass on your regards.

Steve(Jack)Thompson

[bri phill]

Whenever I see him, which is more often at football then local soul nights we have a good chat about the scene and the music.If you can remember ,his sister Lorraine used to DJ as well.If i see him at Sheffield on saturday i will mention your post and pass on your regards.

Steve(Jack)Thompson

Hi Steve, Do you know what happened to Tony Brown I was told he went to Holland,Fred may know,I'll appreciate you passing my regards to Fred.

regards Brian

[scunnyjack]

Hi Steve, Do you know what happened to Tony Brown I was told he went to Holland,Fred may know,I'll appreciate you passing my regards to Fred.

regards Brian

Hi Brian,

Tony is not a name familiar to me, the furthest I ventured in the late sixties,early sevenies was Attic/Top Rank at Doncaster ,where if i remember correct a guy called Tony Clarke dee-jayed at the Attic.

When I look back at my own record collection a lot were bought from FL Moore at Leighton Buzzard, Doncaster market and Jacksons in Scunthorpe, but an awful lot more were purchased during visits to Fred's house ,and the only one of these I ever parted with was to swop the Fascinations on Sue for the Dynatones-Fife Piper which was big at that time.

I have the book the In Crowd and Fred has his name somewhere in there i think from first reading.

Steve

[Bigsoulman]

The Top Storey Club in Leith Street Edinburgh (long gone ) circa 65 first soul sounds heard played out were Supremes Baby Love and Come See About Me, then as they say the rest is history

Lenny

[Guest stu kent]

Must have been something about uptempo records in my blood. The first record i ever bought was dave clarke`s bits n pieces aged 6 my mam tells me i used to play cardboard boxes as drums to it in our living room, grew up listening to the ronnettes, crystals, righteous brothers etc, my brother could only i suppose be described as a ROCKER with his BSA roadrocket n his pisspot helmet with two stick on eyes on the front, so imagine his horror when in the seventees, i arrived home on my shiny LAMBRETTA LI 150 SERIES 3, sent to coventry or what, anyway at that time i thought soul was either a fish or something on the bottom of yer shoe,my best friend at the time was into motown, and dragged me to our local soul night to say i was hooked is an understatement this was a thursday night, took all my beloved fishing tackle to the second hand shop on the friday, saturday 6.15 platform 8a york station boarded a train to wigan, AND A SOULIE WAS BORN

Harry, f*** me ! same scenario, lived in a small village in Leicester (stapleton) got into northern soul (aged 14)near the big town called hinckley (any one remember the leisure center or reign club ?) sold my fishing kit to fund my trips to wigan (aged 14) gave the finger to normality and ended up a regular at wigan at the age of 14 ! Pills fucked my life up at that age till about 30 years old but what memories !!! p.s. regained my confidence love the gym and boxing f*** the paranoia ill fight any c*** in the house ! wigan rules !!!

[Guest dawsons]

when i was 14/15 i used to be in st john ambulance in st helens they used to have a sat nite disco fot those weren't old enough to try and get into the pub. wasn't into northern soul at that point but the officer had a great collection of records and he asked me if i wanted a go. so i was there playing the olympics 'baby do the philly dog ', johnny taylor 'who's making love' the flamingoes 'boogaloo party', i didnt know it was soul at the time. i ended up playing all kinds because it wasn't just a soul venue, i played to keep the dance floor full.

in 1975 a neighbours boyfriend, who was from nr liverpool, starting playing all this northern soul stuff in my neighbours house plus it was all in the national press at the time. so we ended up going to wigan on the last train from st helens shaw street. the rest is history.

still deejaying in st helens town centre every friday @ the royal, westfield street. free admission 0830 - 1300.

dj gazza

[Sharon Cooper]

I was 11/12 in 1970 and used to go across the road from where I lived to Cinderhill church hall where there was a youth club and disco. Remember dancing to `Stoned Love` (Had a tweed `midi skirt` which I thought looked the bees knees) went to various local school disco`s at Padstow (Bestwood) and William Crane (Strelley) where there were some lads who danced `northern`: Progressed on to Basford Hall Miners Welfare (Creepers) where Rob Smith DJ`d and got to know him, his brother and his mates Phil Jones and Ian Walker (Can remember Reparata and the Delrons `Panic` being played and Phil spinning so fast his watched flew off and across the dance hall) Ian had an old Bedford van painted purple with various slogans daubed on it ( )and he asked if we wanted to go up to Wigan with him one Saturday (That would have been summer 74) we went and then went to some soul do`s he DJ`d at at The Carlton Hotel (Again Summer 74) Went our own way then (Me and my mate Janet) to the Brit, up to Cleethorpes, Wigan etc and used to cadge lifts with a lad called Gary who was the mate of Chris Cooper (who is Mr Bridget).....The rest is history or so they say.

Sharon

Edited February 19, 2008 by bridget

[Guest Mrs Simsy]

for me it all started in the mid to late 1940,s i was probably not much more than a sperm at the time.i was working as a midwife in detroit at the time .on this particular day i was helping with the birth of a young african american girl from the ghetto it was an, unusual day for me and the start of something beautiful much better than the rest of you humps on here could ever comprihend .the contractions, and a stange muffeld noise started so faint at first i thought i must be hearing things from over use of snuff. but no the first thing to appear was not the head but a hand,a left hand followed by another and another and another all moving in unison then another four little hands all holding tiny microphones.then the once muffeld sounds became clearer ,faint but clearer.your sweet as a honey bee,,,one by one i witnessed the birth of the now four tops and its somthing that will stay with me for ever

[Harry Crosby]

When i was about 10yrs old having it fried in breadcrumbs with lemon wedges in a chippie in bridlington, that was my first taste of sole

[Guest]

All started for me a t a tender age, once Id got over the fact that David Cassidy was never going to marry me

Started going to Water Lane youth club where Bri Richmond was a DJ in them days, playing mostly Motown and loving it...we then heard that on a Monday night there was a night called "northern soul" on at the Cats Whiskers, so off we goes one Monday after going to a Bay City Roller concert (you think Im joking ....and wow coudnt get over the music and the dancing Sue Holmes was for me my icon bless her who realy got my feet going and itching to be able to dance like that was a touch task in my book

So we started practising at each others house's trying the moves, spinning and most of the time falling over in histerics but having a ball..

We then heard about Wigan and that was it we had to go..so it was a "Mum Im staying at Sue's house on Sat and off the 3 of us went...magic, no good asking or me even trying to remember what was played think it was " the wolf" remember standing in the middle of the dance floor and it was bouncing.

The rest is history, loved every minute of it and still love it as much today. Made loads of good precious friends along the way and woudnt change it for all the "tea in china"

Amen

[Harry Crosby]

All started for me a t a tender age, once Id got over the fact that David Cassidy was never going to marry me

Started going to Water Lane youth club where Bri Richmond was a DJ in them days, playing mostly Motown and loving it...we then heard that on a Monday night there was a night called "northern soul" on at the Cats Whiskers, so off we goes one Monday after going to a Bay City Roller concert (you think Im joking ....and wow coudnt get over the music and the dancing Sue Holmes was for me my icon bless her who realy got my feet going and itching to be able to dance like that was a touch task in my book

So we started practising at each others house's trying the moves, spinning and most of the time falling over in histerics but having a ball..

We then heard about Wigan and that was it we had to go..so it was a "Mum Im staying at Sue's house on Sat and off the 3 of us went...magic, no good asking or me even trying to remember what was played think it was " the wolf" remember standing in the middle of the dance floor and it was bouncing.

The rest is history, loved every minute of it and still love it as much today. Made loads of good precious friends along the way and woudnt change it for all the "tea in china"

Amen

OOH get you getting all nostalgic sue

[Guest]

OOH get you getting all nostalgic sue

What about David Cassidy and the Bay city Rollers

[Harry Crosby]

What about David Cassidy and the Bay city Rollers

Nah it was slade n sweet for me, complete with three starred jumpers,side pocket trousers,n them flourescent green socks with black hoops

[Guest]

When i was about 10yrs old having it fried in breadcrumbs with lemon wedges in a chippie in bridlington, that was my first taste of sole

Lemon wedges fried in breadcrumbs .......

You were some boy , H ..........

Malc Burton

[Guest]

In the early 70s I went to Holbeach youth club it was a fantastic place run by Eggy Molen (he was a legend to us ). I can still hear the Tams and see us dancing in the lines, hopping from foot to foot. I was facinated and wanted to know more. The rest they say is history still going now but not doing the hopping. ha ha.

Hi,

I seem to vaguely remember Eggy Molen playing at the back of a Spalding pub on a Sunday night circa 1974. Is Eggy still with us?

Paul

[Madmandy]

Where do I start?

My mother ( noticed not many dads get mentioned as influencing their kids in this thread) and yet Djs are in a male majority

Oh yeah my mother looked like a mod in the 60s (as was the fashion)in the photos we have of her.

She went out with a chap called Hilton Valentine, he was a member of The Animals they practiced in The Hut in Holy cross wallsend Newcastle across the road from her house.

These guys were heavily into their RnB and black soul music So I suspect she was influenced by them and what they sang ..She had in her record collection

This is Soul /Otis redding LP( Mine now) also Al Green Desmond Dekker Sly and the family stone The Animals I love bright lights big city ( gone to my babys head)

dusty springfield the foundations ..and so begins my journey

I remember my first PE lesson at secondary school september 1975 we all had them cheesy lessons where you had to interpret the music ...first tune Build me up buttercup the foundations I loved that tune still do

theres me enjoying every minute and the rest of the group tramping about like depressed elephants LOLOL

I was 11.

At the same time I joined the gymnastics club and both local youth clubs

this is where the older kids come in, they did the djaying mainly so they played what they liked Kev Burke who kevH pointed out in my youth club pic did the vast majority of the djing at one of the youth clubs I attended.

He worked in sid booths then HMV mansfield part time when he was young so got his hands on imports and also attended mecca an wigan

I cant name one record that got me hooked really altho i remember

Rita and the tiaras gone with the wind

Reparata and the delrons Panic

Dobie gray out on the floor

Julien Covey A little bit hurt

ine times out of ten (Always hated this )

to name but a few

I had a large break when the palais packed up til 2002 when I noticed the TV ads playing stuff that was "familiar" and the dawning of OMG its northern soul

Early 2003 we returned to the first "do" and since then have been attending nights all over regularly ever since

Im still on a voyage of discovery as being quite young at the start of the scene missed out on all the taken for granted, played out oldies, a lot of you are now sick of hearing

Im still dancing to them I love having a social life that revolves round this music again as it was short lived the first time around for me.

hope you didnt fall asleep reading this

Mand the happy soulie

Edited April 24, 2008 by Madmandy

[Guest]

I'm struck by the similarities in terms of how people got hooked. Myself, I was a Radio Luxembourg listener and one night probably 71/72, I heard this thumping tune which I initially thought was Stevie Wonder's Unptight but was actually Bill Cosby's, Lil Ole Man. I was hooked. Unbelievably, I've never heard that tune played anywhere since that moment! However, my soul music education really took an upturn when this lady began selling records every Saturday in Boston market; circa 73/74. Unable to afford records at that time I could be found most Saturdays standing listening to Otis and an assortment of soul artists on Mary's stall. (Yes, it was Mary Chapman, Linclonhire's iconic contribution to the rare soul music scene!!) In fact many friends thought I actually worked on that stall! I quickly became a soul music elitist, travelling to Blackpool's Mecca and staying in b&b for the whole weekend (it was a 140 mile+ journey), no mean feat for a 15 year od. A few months later I made the journey to Wigan Casino but as noted in my diary, my musical experience didn't surpass that monumental night rubbing shoulders with the Mecca's fascinating and eclectic dancers. With regular excursions to Notts Palais, Samantha's Sheffield, Peterborough's Wirrina, Birmingham's All dayers at the Locarno, the Cleethorpes All Day and Night scene (+ Eggy Molen playing behind a pub in Spalding on Sunday evening); not to mention my love affair with Manchester's Ritz, I'd like to think I attained a well rounded soul music education in the early 70's. However, it didn't stop there and probably the watershed for me was the now legendary Roy Ayer's gig at the California Ballroom, circa 78. Moving to London in 79 I became a regular at the legenary 'Crackers' in Wardour St and thereafter moved through a whole new spectrum of black music which unfortunately, in my view, many of my northern peers missed out upon. Having gravitated along the soul music continuum I am able to appreciate not only northern soul but the very best that the 70's, 80's and 90's black music had to offer. In hindsight I also feel that the racial dynamics, which in my view were very present in both the northern and southern clubs, tends to be an area of soul music socialisation that is given very little attention by music commentators. But if I could have changed my own personal experiences would I........? Not a thing!

Paul

[Guest]

Kinks, Stones, Beatles then I start vwork, go on first holiday WITHOUT the old man and old lady...were talking 1966 here , Torquay is the destination.

First night we, 6 of us, end up in Torquays Scotch Club.....the sounds blow me away.....Dance to the Music-Sly and the Stone, Another Saturday Night/Twisting the Night Away - Sam Cooke are the ones I can still hear and picture the venue in my head but included were Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Major Lance......

The rest, as others have said, is history......came back home to Luton and IMMIDIATLEY bought ALL the Sam Cookes releases, which I still have and and 42 years on am still an avid collector of vinyl...amazing what you find in Oxfam/Help the aged etc etc , and along the way we did The Torch, Wilby, Kelmarsh, Market Harbourgh, The Cats, The Mecca, Wigan,Crewe although the last time I did a nighter was June 1976.