Northern Soul at the Proms

Fifty years ago this week I started work as a journalist on the Wigan Evening Post and Chronicle, the local evening newspaper in this northern town best known from George Orwell's 'The Road To Wigan Pier' as a classic example of working class poverty before World War 2. Unbeknown to me at the time, the town was playing host to a new music development - Northern Soul, which featured weekly all-nighters at the Casino Club in the town centre. Northern Soul quickly became a cult and its devotees went to great lengths to find obscure records, mostly recorded in the US in cities such as Detroit, which had been overlooked at their time of release, but had a certain danceable beat and style.It is still popular today and I've very much enjoyed the live acts that have appeared at the annual Blackpool Soul festival over the last few years, including Little Anthony, the Impressions, Eddie Holman, Brenda Holloway and Nolan Porter. This year, sadly, there are no live acts as the festival, which takes place later this month, is a celebration of 50 years of the Wigan Casino - and that was exclusively records, rather than live acts.

To mark this 50th anniversary the Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall featured an evening of Northern Soul, which was shown on BBC TV this weekend. Introduced by broadcaster Andi Oliver and including singer P P Arnold and producer Clarke Peters, the show was hosted by Stuart Maconie, who was a 12 year old living in Wigan at the time. Six artists sang a selection of Northern Soul favourites backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra. These included tracks originally recorded by Dobie Gray ('Out On The Floor'), Tony Clarke ('Landslide'), Ray Pollard ('The Drifter'), Gladys Knight ('No One Could Love You More'), Little Anthony and the Imperials ('Better Use Your Head') and R Dean Taylor ('There's A Ghost In My House'). Stuart Maconie came on stage to introduce the 'three before eight' - the records that were played just before the all-nighters finished at 8am. These were 'I'm On My Way by Dean Parrish, 'Time Will Pass You By' by Tobi Legend and 'Long After Tonight Is All Over' by Jimmy Radcliffe. The final songs of the Proms concert were Gloria Jones's 'Tainted Love' and Frank Wilson's 'Do I Love You'.

Six years ago the Proms deviated from its usual diet of classical music with a soul night to mark the 50th anniverary of the Stax/Volt tour of 1967, which I witnessed in all its splendour at the Fairfield Hall in Croydon. That show featured Booker T Jones and Steve Cropper among others with Jools Holland and was very enjoyable on the whole. The Northern Soul event was less successful I thought as there were no well known singers taking part. That's hardly surprising, as most of the biggest Northern Soul records were by artists who were hardly known, even at the time. And of course the whole Northern Soul scene is all about the records really. It's just live music fans like me who want, and expect, original live acts at Northern Soul shows. The BBC Concert Orchestra did its professional best to provide support for the artists doing cover versions of the original records, but I felt that the show lacked real 'soul'. Maybe that's just me and I have to admit it was a brave idea which seemed to be appreciated by the audience. But when all is said and done it was just a night of cover versions. Let's hope there are 'live' acts at Blackpool next year.

Latest music deaths

Here's a catch up on some of the music deaths that have occurred over the last few weeks. The latest is that of Texas born Ray Hildebrand (82), better known as Paul of Paul and Paula who, with his singing partner, Jill Jackson, had a number of couples related hits in the early sixties. Their first smash 'Hey Paula' was recorded under their real names of Ray and Jill, but Shelby Singleton of Philips Records decided the song made more sense if they were named Paul and Paula. The song reached number one in the US in 1962 and number eight in the UK but the follow ups - all in the same relationship theme - had decreasing success.These included 'Young Lovers', a top ten hit in the US and the UK, 'First Quarrel', 'Something Old Something New' and 'First Day Back At School'. They recorded three albums, included a Christmas themed one called 'Holiday For Teens' but Ray left the group in 1965, midway through one of Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars tours. He went on to record Christian music, with occasional reunions with Jill as Paul and Paula on oldies shows.

Another death is that of musician, songwriter and record producer Bobby Eli, aged 77. Bobby was a founding member and lead guitarist with Philadelphia studio band MFSB but was present on recordings by numerous artists - from Teddy Pendergrass to David Bowie and Elton John. He wrote several big hits including 'Just Don't Want To be Lonely' by the Main Ingedient and 'Sideshow' and 'Three Ring Circus' by Blue Magic. He also recorded tracks by the likes of Harold melvin and the Blue Notes, the Whispers and the Dells.

Another highly influential music figure who has died is Jerry Moss, aged 88. He was the 'M' of A and M Records, having teamed up with trumpeter and band leader Herb Alpert to form the influential label in 1962. The labels early releases by Herb's Tijuana Brass were quickly augmented by records by numerous pop, jazz and folk artists, including the Carpenters, Captain and Tenille and Gallagher and Lyle, and also British artists such as Joe Cocker, Humble Pie and Cat Stevens.

Another death is that is Sixto Rodriguez (81), who recorded a couple of albums in the early seventies ('Cold Fact' and 'Coming From Reality') but then faded from sight. He was unaware that his music had become popular in various countries, including South Africa and Australia, and gained much greater fame when he became the subject of an award winning documentary film 'Searching For Sugar Man'. which detailed the efforts of two South African fans to track him down. As a result of his new found fame he appeared on TV shows in the US and the UK and performed in the US, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and also at the Glastonbury and Montreux festivals in 2013. The film suggested that he had been cheated out of royalties by music executive and producer Clarence Avant who, by coincidence, has also died, aged 92. Known as the 'Black Godfather' Clarence managed several acts including Little Willie John and Kim Weston and became a leading West Coast music man. He helped to form Venture Records, run by former Motown producer Mickey Stevenson, and Sussex, the label that Sixto Rodriguez recorded for. He moved into broadcasting buying the first African American radio station in LA and was involved, with Al Bell, in the sale of Stax to Gulf and Western.

Toussaint McCall RIP and others Updated

Time to catch up on a few music deaths. One which hasn't attracted much coverage is that of Toussaint McCall, a Louisiana artist who has died aged 89. He is remembered as a one hit wonder for his 1967 recording, 'Nothing Takes The Place Of You'. But what a great record it was - an atmospheric and very soulful organ led deep soul ballad. The record reached number five in the US R and B chart and even got a UK release and the album, released shortly afterwards, include ten songs written by McCall. It proved to be his only hit but he did go on to make a cameo appearance in the John Walters film 'Hairspray' when he lip synced his hit. This was somewhat anachronistic as the film was set in 1962 - five years before the song was recorded.

Another recent death is that of UK singer/songwriter Raymond Froggatt at the age of 81. Froggatt was quite a successful country singer in later years, but in the sixties he had several records released in the UK on Polydor, three of which I acquired when I was reviewing records for the Croydon Advertiser. The best known of these was 'The Red Balloon' which became a hit for the Dave Clark Five but which was also a success for him in the Netherlands under the name 'Callow La Vita'. He also wrote a top ten hit for Cliff Richard with 'Big Ship'.

A genuine superstar who died on July 21 was Tony Bennett at the age of 96. His career spanned over 70 years and he is perhaps best known for his early sixties hits 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and 'I Wanna Be Around'.But a major claim to fame was his participation in the Civil Rights movement and the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. I only saw him perform live once. That was at the concert in 1990 in honour of Nelson Mandela at the Royal Albert Hall attended by the Queen and Prince Charles. This featured performances by Phil Collins, Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I was with a group of banking executives and journalists in a box and the royal party with Mandela was in a neighbouring box. Nelson got up and danced as the show went on, showing great rhythm and style. Prince Charles must have felt that it was his duty to join in and tried to emulate him by standing up and attempting to dance, but with rather less grace and quite a bit of stiffness. At least he tried. And now he's king!

RIP also to Sinead O'Connor, who died far too young and whose 'Nothing Compares To You' is an undoubted classic. Also to Randy Mesiner, who was a member of Poco and Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band before becoming a founder member of the Eagles, with whom he sang lead on 'Take Me To The Limit'.

Since writing this yesterday I've heard of two more deaths. One is Canadian guitarist Robbie Robertson, aged 80, who worked with Bob Dylan in the sixties and was lead guitarist with The Band until 1978. He wrote many of their greatest hits, including 'The Weight', 'Up On Cripple Creek' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down'. After leaving The Band he had solo hits including 'Somewhere Down The Crazy River' and worked with Martin Scorsese on films including 'The Last Waltz', 'Raging Bull' and 'The King Of Comedy'.

The other death, according to Detroit A Go Go organiser Phil Dick, is of Rose Battiste. a Detroit singer who became a Northern Soul favourite. She made a surprise appearance at the 2019 Detroit A Go Go (see above photo with me).