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.

Early Northern Soul fashion included bowling shirts, button-down collar shirts, blazers with centre vents and unusual numbers of buttons, and baggie trousers. Many dancers belonged to clubs organized by dance halls and wore club badges issued at each dance. Foremost among the original clubs were those at the Torch in Stoke, Wigan Casino, the Blackpool Mecca, the Mojo in Sheffield, and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. In later years, Northern Soul became synonymous with the Motown Sound. -- [link] [Apr 2005].

Did you know?
The Soul record guru Dave Godin first coined the phrase 'Northern Soul' sometime around 1971 when writing his column in Blues and Soul magazine.

Did you know?
To date Northern Soul and it's culture has had around 20 books published and well over 5000 compilation CD's.

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Ebay's web site has an entire Auction section specifically for Northern Soul.

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Billboard magazine voted the infamous Wigan Casino (1973 - 1981) "Best Disco In the World"

Did you know?
One of the highest prices paid for a 45 rpm vinyl was £15,000 (around NZ$35,000). The record a copy of Frank Wilson's 'Do I Love You?' was bought in 1999 by a Scottish collector. This extremely rare and coveted disc was pressed in the mid-1960's but never released for public listening. In May 2009 however another copy of the same single sold for a staggering £25,742.

Listen to "Soul Self Satisfaction" an audio file describing exactly what Northern Soul was & still is, feel people's passion for the music, learn about the dancing, the scene, the fashion & the infamous Wigan Casino..