I met James in 1979 - at the height of the DISCO boom - on a market stall I used to frequent in Bawtry, south of Doncaster.
The guy running the record stall was called Chris (from Leeds, as I recall - he later opened up a shop in Leeds, but that's another 'amazing' story).
I was going through the boxes, when this tall, suited, distinguished looking gentleman peers over my shoulder and started making comments about the stuff I was picking out.... 'ah, that's a good one'... 'mmm... that brings back a few memory's' etc...
I thought he must have been having me on - he didn't look like anything like a Soulboy so I struck up a conversation to see if he was for real.
Could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me who he was. We talked for over an hour. He told me about the time he saw the Spellbinders live in New York and how great they were, all about when he had dinner with Van McCoy and so on... a mine of detailed information... all bloody mindblowing stuff.
As a Soul DJ I always considered his column essential reading - even though I could never get fully to grips with BPM's and all that mullarky - his descriptions were always superbly crafted.
Sadly, he passed away in 1996, but I'm glad to have had that one 'chance' meeting with him.
Sean