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WHAT IS NORTHERN SOUL ?
 | " I am sure that a great many US artists would pay homage to the UK Northern Soul Scene. It has allowed us to still have some place to be."
- The Late Edwin Starr
Northern Soul is as British as fish & chips - at least the name is. The music itself was produced in the USA between 1960 and 1975, although most of the classic stuff dates from the mid to late 60s. The phrase Northern Soul was coined in the early seventies by a journalist to describe the popularity of 1960s American soul music in the North of England at the time. The roots of the music can be traced back to the 1960s mod scene and the blues explosion of that period.
The music known as Northern Soul is black soul music from the period with a distinctive four/four dance beat, not unlike modern dance music in that respect. The Motown sound, or more accurately, the Detroit sound, is the main influence and much of the music played on the Northern scene in heavily influenced by more famous groups like the Temptations or Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. Because of the success of Motown commercially, thousands of imitators sprang up across the USA, and the Northern Soul sound was born. Think of a classic dance record like "Nowhere to Run" by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. Now imagine it was never a million seller and that just 100 copies of the original 45 survive today. That's Northern Soul.
By the early 70s many popular clubs in the North were exclusively soul venues and held all-night dances where superb acts from America would perform live, accompanied by DJs playing rare soul and R&B. Although between five and ten years old, many of the records they played were only ever released in the USA so were 'new' to the crowds in Manchester, Blackpool and Leeds. Not only were these records unheard in the UK, they were also rare and copies were hard to find.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s the scene continued to grow. It peaked in the mid-seventies in terms of numbers of people, but in some respects the early 80s saw a real coming of age. It was then that the scene settled down for the long term, lost the faddish fashion of the 70s and set about creating a cult of soul music that endures today. New 'old' records were 'discovered' regularly and venues like the Wigan Casino and Torch passed into legend as they closed down and others took their place.
Today, the Northern Soul scene is strong and is much loved by those who have grown up with it. Importantly, it's revered and acknowledged by people who are serious about music as the ultimate 'underground' music scene. Check out the links page on this site for details of what's happening today on the Northern Soul scene.
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