From a young age I love music .my oldest brother was in a band and I looked up to him .From the age of 7 or 8 I knew bands like the small faces ,the who and of course the Beatles .Influenced by my school mates by the age of 11 or 12 I was listening to T. rex , Bowie , Slade and Elton john etc and bought records whenever I could afford them .
My brother turned up one day with a bunch of beat up singles .Rather than do my homework I spent the evening listening to the 45s but the stand out record of the bunch was "sweet soul music " by Arthur Conley and that was it .I needed more tunes like this and set about finding as many soul singles as possible .By 1974 (I was 14) I had started to venture to the local village hall disco and birchley close to Billinge on a Monday .The older guys were dancing to soul and Catching admiring glances from the girls .Early favourite tunes were the snake (oh yes ) tainted love Gloria jones and a bunch of Motown as well as tunes like al Capone by prince buster . I was obsessed with finding soul 45s .I also wanted to look and dress like these guys with their smooth looks , leather shoes and smart attire
junk shops ,ex juke box 45s sold in newsagents , friends parents collections all sources were raided .Best of all a friend put me on to his cousin Ronnie who had been to the torch and early Wigan but by despite his keep the faith tattoos now preferred beer money to soul records .Any money I gathered would swiftly be spent with Ronnie .He would play the tunes and mock me "you don't know this " (Sandy Sheldon) ." You need this " ((Williams and Watson ) etc etc etc .By the time I was almost 15 I was ready .Despite looking 12 I made my first trip to Wigan .I told my parents I was staying at my mates
i left from St Helens railway station .Sthelens was a rough town back then and the St Helens lot were also a rough bunch .I kept quiet and hung around the back of the crowd and my biggest concern was if I would I be allowed in .I had borrowed a membership so at least had that part covered . We reached Wigan station and strode through the town ignoring the drunks being turfed out of the pubs at closing time .
The rock night threw out the gimps and a short time later after some pushing and shoving we were in .I spent most of the night on the balcony .i only knew about half a dozen records all night .How was I ever going to find out what all these spectacular tunes were ? How dare I perform my bedroom dance moves which went down fine at the local tin hut disco but paled into insignificance compared to the moves that were going down here . I looked through boxes in the record bar but hardly knew any of them .i had so much to learn . I am still learning .
Northern soul led me on to funk , gospel , Latin ,Blues r and b etc .thank you Arthur Conley for the sweet soul music .