Northern Soul Time - Simon Soussan - The Soul Fox Chapter 1 - Charly Podcast

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quite a build up to this current series of podcasts featuring Mr Soussan

so what's the members take on this the first episode then?

I was hoping for more revelations as to finding/discovering some of these Northern Classics.

Enjoyed it but no news really. Maybe in Pt 2 ?

Cheers Paul

Tales of his early days in Morocco was fascinating and how he heard soul records and then DJ'd was revealing. After a brief mention of his time in the UK he then skipped a few years to concentrate on his recordings. As with Paul, I'd like to hear more about his exploits finding so many rare records to send over here. Kev tried to get him to talk about this but we got more about Shalamar etc. Hopefully in part two we'll hear more.

There’s plenty more to come. He spoke for 1hr 45 mins. The editor is busy working on part 2.

All of the interviews have been great Kev keep up the good work.

Gotta love this SS was hated in the mid 70ts he got the blame rightly or wrongly for pressing everything that was discovered - a new sound would hit the turntables on a Sat at the Casino packed the floor - within a few weeks it was pressed and sold £5 a piece as well as booting and pressing every thing else in between.

Guess you had to be there, to know 🤔

😂🤣

Surprised not more reaction on here after all the build up as Mike said

Thought it was really interesting - obviously has strong and fond memories of the time and comes over as a real character

My only minor gripe is I would have liked to have seen him, even on a Zoom call - why audio only?

I found it an interesting listen even though there wasn’t much we didn’t already know. Hopefully the next two episodes will be a bit juicier.

6 hours ago, Chris Turnbull said:

Surprised not more reaction on here after all the build up as Mike said

Thought it was really interesting - obviously has strong and fond memories of the time and comes over as a real character

My only minor gripe is I would have liked to have seen him, even on a Zoom call - why audio only?

He didn’t want to be in vision as a 81 yr old

10 hours ago, Chris Turnbull said:

Surprised not more reaction on here after all the build up as Mike said

Thought it was really interesting - obviously has strong and fond memories of the time and comes over as a real character

My only minor gripe is I would have liked to have seen him, even on a Zoom call - why audio only?

He declined the ‘in vision’ footage. Although I could see him via a studio monitor.

Part 2 is indeed better.

On 13/06/2025 at 10:16, Zoomsoulblue said:

Gotta love this SS was hated in the mid 70ts he got the blame rightly or wrongly for pressing everything that was discovered - a new sound would hit the turntables on a Sat at the Casino packed the floor - within a few weeks it was pressed and sold £5 a piece as well as booting and pressing every thing else in between.

Guess you had to be there, to know 🤔

😂🤣

How many of those pressings were from things he discovered ? You could forgive him to a certain degree if that was the case…

Hi Kev ,

Does SS from what you've heard during the interview, show any remorse in the damage his bootlegging , wether cover versions or original recordings did in popularising the Northern Soul scene ? And almost turning it into pop scene , which it almost became and the reason a lot of die hards looked for other venues than Wigan.

Did any of the artists like Herb Ward , for instance make any money ( I doubt it )

I know it's an awful long time ago but 3 people gave up on the multitude of records , that where still at the time to be discovered, SS , IL, & RW , & believing for whatever reason (profit probably) that was the way forward . To attempt to make Northern Soul records and deceive the punters into believing they where genuine discoveries , thank the Lord AI wasn't around then .

My gripe back then was like a lot of other Collectors & DJs (remember we had no Internet back then ) was not just Rare 45s being booted as fast as we could play them but very good look-a-like boots sold as Originals even to the extent that they were deliberately lightly Scuffed and marked to appear Authentic, happened to me quite often until i was able to compare with a real Original and tried to be a bit more savvy before parting with my cash but we could only do so much at that time.

1 hour ago, Rick Scott said:

My gripe back then was like a lot of other Collectors & DJs (remember we had no Internet back then ) was not just Rare 45s being booted as fast as we could play them but very good look-a-like boots sold as Originals even to the extent that they were deliberately lightly Scuffed and marked to appear Authentic, happened to me quite often until i was able to compare with a real Original and tried to be a bit more savvy before parting with my cash but we could only do so much at that time.

Completely agree, two sides to 'most' coins. Would love to know how he managed to persuade the companies to press the dodgy ones and how he pulled the wool. It's no good to only praise and not question the bad things.

14 hours ago, Happy Feet said:

Hi Kev ,

Does SS from what you've heard during the interview, show any remorse in the damage his bootlegging , wether cover versions or original recordings did in popularising the Northern Soul scene ? And almost turning it into pop scene , which it almost became and the reason a lot of die hards looked for other venues than Wigan.

Did any of the artists like Herb Ward , for instance make any money ( I doubt it )

I know it's an awful long time ago but 3 people gave up on the multitude of records , that where still at the time to be discovered, SS , IL, & RW , & believing for whatever reason (profit probably) that was the way forward . To attempt to make Northern Soul records and deceive the punters into believing they where genuine discoveries , thank the Lord AI wasn't around then .

It’s a bit like saying do certain Northern Soul fans show any remorse for copious amounts of illegal drug taking or breaking into a chemist.

My brief from the producers of the show, was to look at the influence of Simon Soussan at the time, generally 1973-79.

There will always be a debate surrounding his overall character, generally without any real scientific evidence as to his activities during a very brief period.

I understand where you want to go with your questions………

Hopefully by parts 2 & 3 you will read more into him and get a clearer picture of the man & the myth.

Probably a more sensible debate would be…..

1. Was he good for the scene?

1 hour ago, Goldsoul said:

I understand where you want to go with your questions………

Hopefully by parts 2 & 3 you will read more into him and get a clearer picture of the man & the myth.

Probably a more sensible debate would be…..

1. Was he good for the scene?

No I don't think he was , & he only encouraged others to do the same .

I look forward to parts 2 & 3 to get a clearer picture of the man & the myth .......

I think that just for the amount of sound s he discovered that he probably was good for the scene.

Cheers Paul

Bootlegging was about before SS and if he hadn’t done it then others would have. He was good and bad for the scene. some of the records he discovered second to none, but they would have probably have been found by someone else in time. The taylor made drivel he was behind though and the deceit (selling boots as originals) tainted his reputation.

Edited June 15Jun 15 by Chalky

41 minutes ago, Chalky said:

Bootlegging was about before SS and if he hadn’t done it then others would have. He was good and bad for the scene. some of the records he discovered second to none, but they would have probably have been found by someone else in time. The taylor made drivel he was behind though and the deceit (selling boots as originals) tainted his reputation.

I'm fully aware that Bootlegging was rife prior to SS , & some lookalikes , O.O.T.P. white labels & coloured ,Soul Sounds Jeff King , The Detroit labels Inferno & Ric Tic , but where they done in the same quantities ?

i luckily collected BRITISH back then so it didnt matter however soul bowl was around if you wanted an original,I Just stop watching the video nothing interesting

Thought it was a great interview, his charm came through, even as an 81 year old he sounded sharp, and very with it. I loved the anecdote about meeting Ike Turner and saying he was there to elope with Tina, then being told he was too short.

Only gripe I have would be around the editing of the ending, these things can be hard to edit down, I’ve tried it a few times. The endings come too quickly, best way I found to do that was to script the endings, know where you want to finish, that way they wind down to a close naturally.... if that makes sense.