Just seen the comments from Sooty and how his 1st real soul experience came in 1992, that would make him 31 going by his profile.... Interested to know of other folks who came onto the scene in later years... For me and most I would guess its was in our teens that we got hooked.... Always a joy to read the journey folk take into this thing called soul...

i didn't listen to soul at all until i was 25-26. 

 

i started buying hardcore records at the age of 13 (hardcore is the american version of punk - much less "poppy" than sex pistols, buzzcocks, etc) - black flag, SSD, minor threat, etc. a bit later started also listening to rockabilly, british punk/oi, old country, R&B/R&R (chuck berry, bo diddley, etc), kraut rock, jazz, dub (everything but the kitchen sink).

 

went to a friend's house in 1996 or so and heard "peaches 'n cream" by the ikettes. bought a double LP at the used record shop the next day called "Best of Chess Soul" and it's been all down hill ever since... haven't bought anything but soul 45s since 1997. 

i didn't listen to soul at all until i was 25-26. 

 

i started buying hardcore records at the age of 13 (hardcore is the american version of punk - much less "poppy" than sex pistols, buzzcocks, etc) - black flag, SSD, minor threat, etc. a bit later started also listening to rockabilly, british punk/oi, old country, R&B/R&R (chuck berry, bo diddley, etc), kraut rock, jazz, dub (everything but the kitchen sink).

 

went to a friend's house in 1996 or so and heard "peaches 'n cream" by the ikettes. bought a double LP at the used record shop the next day called "Best of Chess Soul" and it's been all down hill ever since... haven't bought anything but soul 45s since 1997.... Just the kind of story I was looking for.. Respect to you mate....

edited

Edited September 27, 201311 yr by charliew

Sometime around 1992/93, I wondered who "C.Mayfield" was who popped up on the credits of a lot of Jamaican rock steady 45s.  Bloke in Volume Records in Newcastle sold me a best of The Impressions album, then I got a best of Major Lance after that and that was me hooked.

As a yooth in the 70's i was into pop/youth club soul sounds, went to dayers TOP OF THE WORLD & nighters WIGAN etc late 70's early 80's, got lost in other stuff after that. Got back into listening to "northern" when it became easier to find via cds etc mid to late 90's & started to go to Stoke nighters plus Lifeline & a few others up until a couple of years ago,other things in life became more important. I still love to listen but ain't been 'on the scene' for a while. Going to catch up again soon i hope     

I started listening to my parents' Jazz, Swing and Blues and R & B 78s around 1952.  They started buying records for me in 1953.  I started buying for myself in 1955, from record shop bargain bins and thrift and junk stores.  I was still buying Black American artists' records in the early and early/mid '60s when R&B transitioned to Soul music.  So, I was in on its beginning. I was in my late teens when Soul was starting.  If Northern Soul started in 1970, I was 24 when the scene started.  I was about 30 when first contacted for records by a Brit.

Better to have found Soul Music at any time in your life rather than have missed out on it.  Can´t imagine my life without it. Began my discovery back in 1965 and have never stopped.  Still love the oldies ( how could you not?) but now listen to all the great recordings made in the 90s and upto press in 2013.  Still finding my way after all these years. Gues I always will.

I discovered soul music at age 35 seven years ago in 2007 trawling through a collection of 50,000 45s (sorry chaps, it's all gone, and not all soul).  I listened to a lot of the records and got hooked and started collecting original soul LPs and 45s in August 2009.  I still love my 80s/90s British indie records and CDs, but after listening to soul music all these years and going back and listening to the indie music, how much of it was influenced by soul.

I would"nt change anything from my past Casino & youth club memories.but looking back being introduced into Northern for the first time in 1992 and have the passion would have been a great time to start & i bet Sooty is still catching up ....

First purchase with my own cashm was motown chartbusters vol 3.   Which started a journey, from local clubs, to NS seedy local southern joint Sahdes of Green, Wigan/Cleethropes/Yate/St Ives, moving on (partly to escape nutters with guns at the Ritz) to Jazz/Funk Frenchies/Rio/Goldmine, all the whiile attending concerts, too many to mention, and buying across the board, then to odd nights out loved a little club in Windsor called the Old Trout, anywhere that plays Why Can't we Be Lovers as the closer is fine by me. Mainly armchair collector since then with very little new sounds temptng mw to buy since 2000.

Just seen the comments from Sooty and how his 1st real soul experience came in 1992, that would make him 31 going by his profile.... Interested to know of other folks who came onto the scene in later years... For me and most I would guess its was in our teens that we got hooked.... Always a joy to read the journey folk take into this thing called souI

I remeMber a couple of really good mates of mine getting into the all nighter scene at about eighteen ,nineteen and thinking bloody hell theyve come into it late(both though ended up making their mark)these days it doesnt seem to be something to give a second thought to,I know a couple who go  regular and both dance all night ,they started just over a year ago and are both turned sixty,previously into rock and roll but discovered soul and love it,now how would that have gone down when I first started,everyone would more than likely think"Squad",and gear would be getting swallowed and stashed all over the place and no matter how packed the nighter they would no doubt have loads of room around them to dance.Apart from all nighters before then soul was the music in our part of the world of the trendy ,lads and gorgeous girls around town,there were early all nighters at  kelmarsh,bletsoe,mkt harboro and of course loads of this music filtered through into local clubs,especially the north park in kettering,one of my pre nighter days haunts buying an extermely under age beer at the bar to the amusement of my older mates,to many now passed on bless them and r.i.p.Of course there was other music about,pop stuff etc,soul however took a big bite on me about fourteen though when it moved to be very much music of preference.The approved school I was in in and getting weekends from at this time also intoroduced me to another genre of soul,two of my best mates were these black lads who lived in London(battersea to be specific),they were into Issac Hayes,Temptations James Brown,funkier stuff than I was used to,also import reggae,a lot different to what I knew as soul but still to my ears good was thirteen when first started hearing this stuff.,of course there were also at the times called "progressive music",hippy types there who you had to argue with to get your records played.

Edited November 8, 201311 yr by manusf3a

I remeMber a couple of really good mates of mine getting into the all nighter scene at about eighteen ,nineteen and thinking bloody hell theyve come into it late(both though ended up making their mark)these days it doesnt seem to be something to give a second thought to,I know a couple who go  regular and both dance all night ,they started just over a year ago and are both turned sixty,previously into rock and roll but discovered soul and love it,now how would that have gone down when I first started,everyone would more than likely think"Squad",and gear would be getting swallowed and stashed all over the place and no matter how packed the nighter they would no doubt have loads of room around them to dance.Apart from all nighters before then soul was the music in our part of the world of the trendy ,lads and gorgeous girls around town,there were early all nighters at  kelmarsh,bletsoe,mkt harboro and of course loads of this music filtered through into local clubs,especially the north park in kettering,one of my pre nighter days haunts buying an extermely under age beer at the bar to the amusement of my older mates,to many now passed on bless them and r.i.p.Of course there was other music about,pop stuff etc,soul however took a big bite on me about fourteen though when it moved to be very much music of preference.The approved school I was in in and getting weekends from at this time also intoroduced me to another genre of soul,two of my best mates were these black lads who lived in London(battersea to be specific),they were into Issac Hayes,Temptations James Brown,funkier stuff than I was used to,also import reggae,a lot different to what I knew as soul but still to my ears good was thirteen when first started hearing this stuff.,of course there were also at the times called "progressive music",hippy types there who you had to argue with to get your records played.

Bloody hell ,you have confirmed it ,I am a Dynosaur   

 

Bazza  

Sometime around 1992/93, I wondered who "C.Mayfield" was who popped up on the credits of a lot of Jamaican rock steady 45s.  Bloke in Volume Records in Newcastle sold me a best of The Impressions album, then I got a best of Major Lance after that and that was me hooked.

Curtis Mayfield is King,first got his Superfly album after seeing the film when it was first released at Basildon civic theatre.Of course through the years due to nomadicic wanderings failed relationships,thieving bastards etc tend to take all you own when not around for any amount of time,this though is all very much in the past,what I am getting at is I have bought that lp so many times to have it go the way of all the rest but recently bought the cd again,just as fresh as when I first heard it,love all his political stuff,the man was a true genius and his words filled with truth wrapped in a magic voice,Curtis r.i.p your music lives forever.Same as when I first heard the impressions...Youve been cheating  hooked from the word go,still my favourite record. ps Talking of age s,I seem to be  getting more and more dyslexic as I get older as I look each time at what I have typed that needs altered!(sorry that should I believe be dysgraphia, as although typing it should still come under the classification heading"Writing disorders")

Edited November 8, 201311 yr by manusf3a

I started young and by the time I was 13 I was so heavily into soul music that I stopped paying much attention to most other forms of music.

 

It was an interesting time because the pop charts were full of soul and pop-reggae. And the music was changing but most UK tastes were slightly behind the tastes of Americans so in the early 1970s we still had the familiar sounds of Motown, Stax, Atlantic and Hot Wax/Invictus right alongside the fresh new sounds coming out of Philadelphia etc.

 

We also had our UK oldie hits but to the ears of a 13-year-old kid there wasn't that much difference between a new release such as 'Band Of Gold' by Freda Payne and a 1965 reissue such as 'I'm Gonna Run Away From You' by Tami Lynn. They were all new to me.

 

By 1974 I'd started to focus a bit more on what was happening in the US - buying LPs by Bobby Womack, Millie Jackson etc.

 

I'm glad I got into the music so young because I would have missed hearing the changes and developments as they happened, even the rise of disco which eventually damaged the potential for what I thought of as real soul music. At that point I dug further into deep soul and more obscure things but not for the sake of it because I still bought some mainstream things.

 

At one time I did start to look down a bit on some of the more lightweight stuff but that was wrong because music is diverse and I can enjoy some poppier sounds and I'm also a big fan of Van Morrison and Elvis Costello etc.
 

I was on the "soul scene" in the 1970s but the scene didn't dominate my tastes because I was a bit stubborn and focused most on what I liked, I had little interest in rarity or values etc. I find it hard to describe a soul record as "northern", "modern", "crossover" or whatever because these tags were applied long after the music had been made. But no disrespect whatsoever to the soul scene because there are many great tracks I wouldn't have otherwise heard. And by not being "on the scene" these days I know I miss out on some great obscure tracks.

 

Sorry for wandering a bit off-topic but the musical journeys are interesting.

 

Paul

I discovered soul music at age 35 seven years ago in 2007 trawling through a collection of 50,000 45s (sorry chaps, it's all gone, and not all soul).  I listened to a lot of the records and got hooked and started collecting original soul LPs and 45s in August 2009.  I still love my 80s/90s British indie records and CDs, but after listening to soul music all these years and going back and listening to the indie music, how much of it was influenced by soul.

Quality mate... Just the kind of story i like to hear....

 

I know guys who got into mod scene  later life too, well into later life when they had no hair left , as with the soul thing it was a youth club thing for many of us but no rules.. When it hits you it sticks at whatever age....

 

Respect x

My conversion started at a church disco around 68/69, amongst the usual pop fodder of the day the Dj played a string of Motown,Third FInger etc but what blew me away was 25 miles.It seems odd now but my best mate who was a couple of years older than me was already into soul and I never knew,it was his secret from his parents he'd been going out to local clubs for months.I'd go round to his early Saturday night as he was getting ready he'd have Mike Raven on the radio and there started my soul education.Never a big club goer I went to the Casino a couple of times and that was it until the mid 80's when I went to a number of small local nights and really discovered Northern, left the scene late eighties to return about 5 yrs ago,more active now than ever.

@Twoshoes, 25 Miles is one of my all-time favorites!  I get the same shiver up my spine every time I hear it.  

HI ALL.....To be honest the SOUL SCENE today is a healthy scene to be in, and still retains it's elite standing, that the original underground scene inherited from the 6ts MOD culture (later on SKINHEAD). 

It's still a very safe scene, that embraces new people to attend, although there are still members who attended the foundation or the roots of the scene (WHEEL, MECCA, TORCH early WIGAN), & hanker after the good old days of NORTHERN SOUL.

We have gone well past those days, and have become a scene that attracts many older people than the youth sub culture foundations,

It's a fact that the GAY scene took on board many traits of the soul scene, that made it more open to all,

Todays scene is welcoming to all, and is a place to meet new friends, who have a love for RARE SOUL MUSIC.

DAVE K

Hi. My name is Paul I found the soul scene about 8 years ago aged 38 and I'm an addict.

Being a soft southern shandy drinker and so young I had heard of the term Northern Soul when my older brother and his mates moved on from being mods on little PX 50s wearing parkas and listening to the Who etc to scooter boys wearing boxer boots and flight jackets listening to Northern Soul as they knew it back then. Me was always into anything that floated my boat but as I got a tad older and into all things wrong I was the perfect age for the rave scene and me and my mates went along that route and one of my mates is still at it and a top name dj in Kent/south east areas. That came and went and many other things happening to direct my life then a few more years on a few old mod mates bought scooters and nostalgia had me getting one too and then came the rallies etc etc and years more on totally avoiding soul rooms I one day thought let's see what all this is about and being totally off me tits I went in a northern room. Glad hour went by and not amused with me mates dragging me in there and then I see (through blurred wobbly vision) some smartly dressed skinheads dancing to northern soul and then BOOM out the Speakers came Jackie Wilson - Because of you. From then on I had a slight interest and the rest is short history.

This scene is about the music but its the characters that make it so special so long may it and you all continue ;-)

Well I never got into N/Soul it got into me, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time,I lived down the Meadows in Nottingham ,bit of a rough and ready area back then ,just round the corner from where I lived was a club called the Santa-Fe , walked in and wow ,Soul,Reggae.R&B,  must have been around 15 soon as I was able it was the Palais.Brit ,and some other places I can't remember ,and the rest is history as they say, by the way I'm a young chap of 58 

 

Bazza  

Just seen the comments from Sooty and how his 1st real soul experience came in 1992, that would make him 31 going by his profile.... Interested to know of other folks who came onto the scene in later years... For me and most I would guess its was in our teens that we got hooked.... Always a joy to read the journey folk take into this thing called soul...

 

i watched quadrophenia , bought 20 mod classics , met john evans in a record shop, went out  to allnighters  for a bit

 

carried on collecting

 

it all started in the early 80s

 

i dont go out much now

 

i still collect records like mad

 

i still have my lambretta

 

i  spend my spare cash on holidays

 

 

but thats just mehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANE9A5osUes

 

strickly vip

 

its a oldie

Edited November 12, 201311 yr by gaz thomas

Got into it during the early 90's also,  Finding those 2nd hand copies of Goldmine/Soul, Kent UK, Charly R&B compilation LP's at Reckless Records and other record stores. Those track lists eventually became my want lists! Also Books like "The illustrated encyclopedia of Black Music" "Nightshift by Pete McKenna" "Soul Survivors by Russ Winstanley & David Nowell" and years later, Dare I say...."Top 500 by Kev Roberts"

 

 

 

take care

 

Aret

Quality mate... Just the kind of story i like to hear....

 

I know guys who got into mod scene  later life too, well into later life when they had no hair left , as with the soul thing it was a youth club thing for many of us but no rules.. When it hits you it sticks at whatever age....

 

Respect x

some of us  stopped when we were 20

 

and if you believe that your mad

 

your gonna be into old things forever

Edited November 12, 201311 yr by gaz thomas