Northern soul

Northern soul is a style of music with associated dance styles and fashions that developed in the north of England in the late 1960s. In the beginning the dancing was athletic, featuring spins, flips, and drops. The music originally consisted of obscure American soul recordings with an uptempo beat, very similar to and including Tamla Motown, plus more obscure labels (e.g. Okeh) from cities like Detroit and Chicago. By 1970 British performers were recording numbers for this market, and the scarcity of soul records with the required beat led to the playing of stompers, or records by any artist which featured the right beat. The phrase 'Northern Soul' was coined by journalist Dave Godin sometime around 1971 when writing his column in Blues and Soul magazine.

Related Topics:
England - 1960s - American - Soul - Tamla Motown - Okeh - Detroit - Chicago - 1970

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A large proportion of Northern Soul's original audience came from the mod movement with their love of obscure soul. As some mods turned away from these sounds to embrace the psychedelic movement of the late sixties, many mods - especially those in northern England - elected to keep faith with the original soundtrack of soul and ska; some becoming what would eventually be known as skinheads and others forming the basis of what would be known as northern soul.

Related Topics:
Mod - Psychedelic - Ska

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Early Northern Soul fashion included bowling shirts, button-down collar shirts, blazers with centre vents and unusual numbers of buttons, and baggy trousers. Many dancers belonged to clubs organized by dance halls and wore club badges issued at each dance.

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Foremost among the original clubs were those at the Torch in Stoke, Wigan Casino, the Blackpool Mecca, the Mojo in Sheffield, the Winter Gardens in Cleethorpes, and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester.

Related Topics:
Stoke - Wigan Casino - Blackpool - Sheffield - Manchester

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In later years, Northern Soul became synonymous with the Motown Sound.

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Songs by the Facinations and the Velvelettes that were previously released in the 60's...became top 40 UK hits in 1970. The Fascinations made #30 with "Girls Are Out to Getcha" and the Velvelettes made #35 with "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You."

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The rarest Northern Soul 45s change hands for enormous amounts of money. A copy of "Do I Love You?" - an unreleased Motown 45 by Frank Wilson sold for $27000.00

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