Will The Real Simon Soussan Stand Up

[Drew3]

Not sure if I once posted a question about Simon Soussan on here before or maybe I intended to.

Anyway here goes:

As a teenager in the 70's I was aware of this man's involvement with the NS scene.

I knew he was an importer/dealer of soul records (weren't many of those record bundles from his company?).

I think I was aware then that his name was linked with the 'booting' of records.

I now know that he was a record producer as well or maybe even first.

Whatever his 'profession' was there does seem to be some mystique about this character.

I guess many on here actually knew him but to me his is a mysterious name from my youth.

I've trawled some old postings on here and when Simon Soussan's name crops up it is generally a negative comment.

Was he such a villain?

One thread from 05 which was looking for the 'Gurus of Soul' has someone placing Simon Sousan in the top ten list!

Others were astounded at this!

So:

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

What contributions did he make to the scene, good or bad?

Where did he go and what finished his involvement with the NS scene?

Is he still involved in music production?

Is he still alive?

Seems to me that the man has his place in the NS Hall of Fame one way or another.

Anyone willing to share their knowledge of this clearly controversial figure and stories of their involvement with him?

KTF.

Drew.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Drew3

[arnie j]

Not sure if I once posted a question about Simon Soussan on here before or maybe I intended to.

Anyway here goes:

As a teenager in the 70's I was aware of this man's involvement with the NS scene.

I knew he was an importer/dealer of soul records (weren't many of those record bundles from his company?).

I think I was aware then that his name was linked with the 'booting' of records.

I now know that he was a record producer as well or maybe even first.

Whatever his 'profession' was there does seem to be some mystique about this character.

I guess many on here actually knew him but to me his is a mysterious name from my youth.

I've trawled some old postings on here and when Simon Soussan's name crops up it is generally a negative comment.

Was he such a villain?

One thread from 05 which was looking for the 'Gurus of Soul' has someone placing Simon Sousan in the top ten list!

Others were astounded at this!

So:

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

What contributions did he make to the scene, good or bad?

Where did he go and what finished his involvement with the NS scene?

Is he still involved in music production?

Is he still alive?

Seems to me that the man has his place in the NS Hall of Fame one way or another.

Anyone willing to share their knowledge of this clearly controversial figure and stories of their involvement with him?

KTF.

Drew.

good questions there mate, thought id bump this up cos im also very inquisitive about this mysterious charactor too, someone on here has the answers !!

[Soul Shrews]

Wheres Ian Dewhirst ?

Cheers Paul

[Simsy]

Tim Brown has some fantastic stories about Soussan. Think he was half Moroccan or sommat. I noticed in pics from the mid seventies he always looked quite sharp in terms of hair/clothing etc whereas others in the pics, erm didn't.

On balance, a chancer from what I've read and heard.

[max millward]

Tim Brown has some fantastic stories about Soussan. Think he was half Moroccan or sommat. I noticed in pics from the mid seventies he always looked quite sharp in terms of hair/clothing etc whereas others in the pics, erm didn't.

On balance, a chancer from what I've read and heard.

MET THE GUY I THINK ON 4 OCCASIONS!! ALWAYS FULL OF HIS OWN SELF IMPORTANCE! HARD TO GET TO REALLY KNOW! COULD HAVE MORE THAN LIKELY BECOME THE RICHEST SOUL PERSON IN THE WORLD!! BUT FOR NOT PLAYING FAIR WITH CUSTOMERS! I TRIED TO GET HIM TO HAVE A UK ADDRESS FOR ALL HIS RECORD SALES & I THINK IF HE HAD FOLLOWED THAT ROUTE HE WOULD HAVE MOST CERTAINLY MADE A FORTUNE!! I REMEMBER ONE DAY WHILE HE WAS AT MY SHOP "PEP" CAME IN! SOUSSAN SAID F--- OFF YOU MOROCCAN BAST---TO WHICH "PEP" POLITELY LEFT THE BUILDING!! THAT WAS FUNNY AT THE TIME!!

MAX..

INCIDENTLY NOT ALL HIS RECORDS WERE BOOTS I HAD SOME CRACKERS OFF HIM!!

[Ady Croasdell]

I met him a couple of times and he traded me a load of his dodgy lookalike boots virtually the day they came off the presses. I was staying at the YMCA in downtown LA (near Pershing Square that Jackie Lee sang about) and he came to see me. They were good but looked too new so I said i didn't want them but he was desperate for a 'Broadway Sissy' I had (I had a few but he thought I only had one) so showered me with these new boots for them.

I told Clarkie to tell everyone they were boots but people (including Ian) bought them anyway and then complained when they got them that they were boots!

The second time he was in one of the Flash record shops on his knees searching for records. I still found plenty after he'd gone, being away from the scene there were a lot of titles he didn't know about.

One of those people , like several on the Northern scene who would rather earn a tenner dishonestly than the often simpler straight way. He had a big ego and opinion of himself too of course. He just couldn't help himself.

[Simsy]

The Soussan's.

Simon Soussan rumoured to have borrowed one of the two copies of Frank Wilson from Tom dePierro and never quite actually got round to giving it back.

[Sean Hampsey]

I TRIED TO GET HIM TO HAVE A UK ADDRESS FOR ALL HIS RECORD SALES & I THINK IF HE HAD FOLLOWED THAT ROUTE HE WOULD HAVE MOST CERTAINLY MADE A FORTUNE!!

MAX..

Seem to recall that 'Canal Street' in Nottingham was the nearest he had to that, Max.

He was a wrong 'un alright... but the masses here bought his stuff by the pallett load.

BTW Anybody see or got his "Rare Soul & Motown Guide"? (produced in the late 80's?)

Incredible stuff with amazing label pics.

Sean

[Ian Dewhirst]

Wheres Ian Dewhirst ?

Cheers Paul

I'm here!

Oh boy, there's enough material about Simon Soussan for another monster thread.

Drew came up with a blinder here LOL.......

I will write at length about Simon because he does have a place on the scene without a shadow of a doubt. There's no doubt that he was a serious hustler and chancer - that was the nature of the guy. He couldn't help himself as Ady rightfully pointed out.

These days they'd put it down to an ego disorder or just bad genes but Simon was basically a very slick French-Morroccan confidence trickster - if you've ever been in a Morroccan street market you'll know the type.

But he was also blessed with a lot of intelligence, confidence and passion so it was hard not to like him, even though you knew that the guy would screw you at some point 'cos he screwed everyone.

Even though he ripped myself and Neil Rushton off on the Shalamar record, we kinda both saw it coming so we only had ourselves to blame LOL.

But there was a weird upside to knowing him. I had a stack of adventures with the guy and hung around with him in L.A. for a few months. I also had a million-selling record with the guy - "Uptown Festival" by Shalamar (where do you think THAT name came from) and packed a wealth of experiences into a few months in L.A. He got me into the Dramatics, all the best clubs in L.A., he hooked me up with Don Cornelius, Ike Turner, El Coco, Jack Ashford, Solomon Burke etc, etc and got me laid a few times. I liked him.

Anyway, I'll expand on this thread, but in short and in answer to Drew's original points:-

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

A French-Morroccan who moved to Leeds, Yorkshire and worked designing suits for Burtons. He discovered Northern Soul in Leeds and became quite passionate about it very quickly.

What contributions did he make to the scene, good or bad?

Where do I start? He discovered literally hundreds of Northern Soul records and his knowledge and memory retention was phenomenal. But he ripped-off a lot of people and didn't give a shit about it as long as he was OK.

Where did he go and what finished his involvement with the NS scene?

Still in L.A. with new wife and new kid when I last saw him in 1990, but in vastly different circumstances to when he was flying high in the mid 70's. I think he'd burned all his bridges and there was no one to call anymore. On the skids basically. I couldn't get out fast enough. But there again, I was on my way to Vegas to get wed at the time......

A star who burned bright, but burned out quickly.

Is he still involved in music production?

Nope. He's probably somewhere in vastly diminished circumstances. I think he sold his music catalogue to Unidisc at some point.

Is he still alive?

Good question Drew. Dunno. Does anyone else know?

I actually have some phenomenal Soussan stories. They're just incredible really.

Here's a quicky.......

When I arrived at L.A.X., Simon came to meet me and this is what happened within the first 2 minutes of meeting him.....

I passed customs and walked through arrivals and immediately spotted Simon. I vaguely knew what he looked like - smooth, chiselled Middle-Eastern hustler and there he was right in front of me.

We greeted each other and sort of embraced. The last time I saw Simon @ Blackpool Mecca I got glassed and had my nose broken. No big deal and I kind of peaked the situation and gave Simon the chance to slip away. Which he did. Totally vanished LOL...

So he believed that I'd saved his life.

So we kind of embraced, weird though it was and he said "welcome to L.A. baby boy. We're gonna have fun"!

And with that he starting leading me through the airport telling me that America was 'the land of opportunity' and that there was 'pussy everywhere' and he was 'going to get me laid' etc, etc...

I mean I was jet-lagged, knackered and still getting adjusted to things and I have this silver fox like cartoon character speaking ten to the dozen and I'm just trying to keep up with the whirlwind.........

And, all of sudden, he smashes me in the ribs and says, "hey baby boy....look at THAT"!

And the greatest looking female I had ever seen in my entire life was approaching us...

And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"

And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?

By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......

So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"

She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?

And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.

Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!

THAT was within the first 2 minutes of being with Simon in L.A.

It was hard not to be impressed by the pure bullshit approach. He was the grandmaster of bullshit. On the other hand, if I was going to be honest, the thought of f&%king a million women at that point was pretty appealing.

So he suckered me into the bullshit.

Welcome to Hollywood.

Ian D

Edited March 29, 2008 by Ian Dewhirst

[Guest garv]

I'm here!

Oh boy, there's enough material about Simon Soussan for another monster thread.

Drew came up with a blinder here LOL.......

I will write at length about Simon because he does have a place on the scene without a shadow of a doubt. There's no doubt that he was a serious hustler and chancer - that was the nature of the guy. He couldn't help himself as Ady rightfully pointed out.

These days they'd put it down to an ego disorder or just bad genes but Simon was basically a very slick French-Morroccan confidence trickster - if you've ever been in a Morroccan street market you'll know the type.

But he was also blessed with a lot of intelligence, confidence and passion so it was hard not to like him, even though you knew that the guy would screw you at some point 'cos he screwed everyone.

Even though he ripped myself and Neil Rushton off on the Shalamar record, we kinda both saw it coming so we only had ourselves to blame LOL.

But there was a weird upside to knowing him. I had a stack of adventures with the guy and hung around with him in L.A. for a few months. I also had a million-selling record with the guy - "Uptown Festival" by Shalamar (where do you think THAT name came from) and packed a wealth of experiences into a few months in L.A. He got me into the Dramatics, all the best clubs in L.A., he hooked me up with Don Cornelius, Ike Turner, El Coco, Jack Ashford, Solomon Burke etc, etc and got me laid a few times. I liked him.

Anyway, I'll expand on this thread, but in short and in answer to Drew's original points:-

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

A French-Morroccan who moved to Leeds, Yorkshire and worked designing suits for Burtons. He discovered Northern Soul in Leeds and became quite passionate about it very quickly.

What contributions did he make to the scene, good or bad?

Where do I start? He discovered literally hundreds of Northern Soul records and his knowledge and memory retention was phenomenal. But he ripped-off a lot of people and didn't give a shit about it as long as he was OK.

Where did he go and what finished his involvement with the NS scene?

Still in L.A. with new wife and new kid when I last saw him in 1990, but in vastly different circumstances to when he was flying high in the mid 70's. I think he'd burned all his bridges and there was no one to call anymore. On the skids basically. I couldn't get out fast enough. But there again, I was on my way to Vegas to get wed at the time......

A star who burned bright, but burned out quickly.

Is he still involved in music production?

Nope. He's probably somewhere in vastly diminished circumstances. I think he sold his music catalogue to Unidisc at some point.

Is he still alive?

Good question Drew. Dunno. Does anyone else know?

I actually have some phenomenal Soussan stories. They're just incredible really.

Here's a quicky.......

When I arrived at L.A.X., Simon came to meet me and this is what happened within the first 2 minutes of meeting him.....

I passed customs and walked through arrivals and immediately spotted Simon. I vaguely knew what he looked like - smooth, chiselled Middle-Eastern hustler and there he was right in front of me.

We greeted each other and sort of embraced. The last time I saw Simon @ Blackpool Mecca I got glassed and had my nose broken. No big deal and I kind of peaked the situation and gave Simon the chance to slip away. Which he did. Totally vanished LOL...

So he believed that I'd saved his life.

So we kind of embraced, weird though it was and he said "welcome to L.A. baby boy. We're gonna have fun"!

And with that he starting leading me through the airport telling me that America was 'the land of opportunity' and that there was 'pussy everywhere' and he was 'going to get me laid' etc, etc...

I mean I was jet-lagged, knackered and still getting adjusted to things and I have this silver fox like cartoon character speaking ten to the dozen and I'm just trying to keep up with the whirlwind.........

And, all of sudden, he smashes me in the ribs and says, "hey baby boy....look at THAT"!

And the greatest looking female I had ever seen in my entire life was approaching us...

And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"

And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?

By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......

So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"

She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?

And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.

Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!

THAT was within the first 2 minutes of being with Simon in L.A.

It was hard not to be impressed by the pure bullshit approach. He was the grandmaster of bullshit. On the other hand, if I was going to be honest, the thought of f&%king a million women at that point was pretty appealing.

So he suckered me into the bullshit.

Welcome to Hollywood.

Ian D

Ian

You really should put pen to paper sir go on you know it makes sense. I can see it now..... book, then a film based on the book, why soon you could be opening a new Waterstones & doing a signing session

Seriously .... I love your record searching thread & with the Soussan type stuff & your recording career ......... its got to be documented, this stuff is what life is all about & people want to read about it

Edited March 29, 2008 by garv

[Pauldonnelly]

Seem to recall that 'Canal Street' in Nottingham was the nearest he had to that, Max.

He was a wrong 'un alright... but the masses here bought his stuff by the pallett load.

BTW Anybody see or got his "Rare Soul & Motown Guide"? (produced in the late 80's?)

Incredible stuff with amazing label pics.

Sean

wasn't it Arkwright St?

btw isn;t there some audio of Soussan djing at The Casino playing all his hammond organ instrumentals

[Guest]

The very greatest and Simons final act of sculduggery, is why he disappeared, can't really put it to print for obvious reasons.

But just to put Simon into perspective. In the late 80s I was in L.A. with Mick Godfrey. Simon had just had a MONSTER Hit and had really good records all over his appartment + Tom's Motown Acetates.

We agreed a price of $9000 a lot of dosh in the 80s. The deal included 4 tracks, Johnny Hunnicut, Hayes Cotton, etc etc. along with 69 Motown unissued acetates that inc: Suspicion, Four Top Workshop Jazz LP etc etc. We shook on the deal and I'm off with the records and very happy chappy.

Get back to the UK to discover Simon had sold the very same load to Martin Koppel got the money off him already, but then sold them to me??

Simon was a very naughty boy all the time, and gave me the impression he enjoyed it.

But the above snippet I can tell you is a minor "error" compared to his final and greatest vinyl scam before his disappearence.

Edited March 29, 2008 by john manship

[kevinsoulman]

The very greatest and Simons final act of sculduggery, is why he disappeared, can't really put it to print for obvious reasons.

But just to put Simon into perspective. In the late 80s I was in L.A. with Mick Godfrey. Simon had just had a MONSTER Hit and had really good records all over his appartment + Tom's Motown Acetates.

We agreed a price of $9000 a lot of dosh in the 80s. The deal included 4 tracks, Johnny Hunnicut, Hayes Cotton, etc etc. along with 69 Motown unissued acetates that inc: Suspicion, Four Top Workshop Jazz LP etc etc. We shook on the deal and I'm off with the records and very happy chappy.

Get back to the UK to discover Simon had sold the very same load to Martin Koppel got the money off him already, but then sold them to me??

Simon was a very naughty boy all the time, and gave me the impression he enjoyed it.

But the above snippet I can tell you is a minor "error" compared to his final and greatest vinyl scam before his disappearence.

don't leave us hangin on please tell

kev

[Raresoul45s]

The very greatest and Simons final act of sculduggery, is why he disappeared, can't really put it to print for obvious reasons.

But just to put Simon into perspective. In the late 80s I was in L.A. with Mick Godfrey. Simon had just had a MONSTER Hit and had really good records all over his appartment + Tom's Motown Acetates.

We agreed a price of $9000 a lot of dosh in the 80s. The deal included 4 tracks, Johnny Hunnicut, Hayes Cotton, etc etc. along with 69 Motown unissued acetates that inc: Suspicion, Four Top Workshop Jazz LP etc etc. We shook on the deal and I'm off with the records and very happy chappy.

Get back to the UK to discover Simon had sold the very same load to Martin Koppel got the money off him already, but then sold them to me??

Simon was a very naughty boy all the time, and gave me the impression he enjoyed it.

But the above snippet I can tell you is a minor "error" compared to his final and greatest vinyl scam before his disappearence.

Come on you cant do that to us. At least give us a few clues.

[Raresoul45s]

Come on you cant do that to us. At least give us a few clues.

[Missing Link]

I'm here!

And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"

And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?

By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......

So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"

She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?

And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.

Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!

Priceless!

[Phil]

wow what a story about the man S.S. great feature "Frank"those were the days circa "Wigan" 1975

Phil

I'm here!

Oh boy, there's enough material about Simon Soussan for another monster thread.

Drew came up with a blinder here LOL.......

I will write at length about Simon because he does have a place on the scene without a shadow of a doubt. There's no doubt that he was a serious hustler and chancer - that was the nature of the guy. He couldn't help himself as Ady rightfully pointed out.

These days they'd put it down to an ego disorder or just bad genes but Simon was basically a very slick French-Morroccan confidence trickster - if you've ever been in a Morroccan street market you'll know the type.

But he was also blessed with a lot of intelligence, confidence and passion so it was hard not to like him, even though you knew that the guy would screw you at some point 'cos he screwed everyone.

Even though he ripped myself and Neil Rushton off on the Shalamar record, we kinda both saw it coming so we only had ourselves to blame LOL.

But there was a weird upside to knowing him. I had a stack of adventures with the guy and hung around with him in L.A. for a few months. I also had a million-selling record with the guy - "Uptown Festival" by Shalamar (where do you think THAT name came from) and packed a wealth of experiences into a few months in L.A. He got me into the Dramatics, all the best clubs in L.A., he hooked me up with Don Cornelius, Ike Turner, El Coco, Jack Ashford, Solomon Burke etc, etc and got me laid a few times. I liked him.

Anyway, I'll expand on this thread, but in short and in answer to Drew's original points:-

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

A French-Morroccan who moved to Leeds, Yorkshire and worked designing suits for Burtons. He discovered Northern Soul in Leeds and became quite passionate about it very quickly.

What contributions did he make to the scene, good or bad?

Where do I start? He discovered literally hundreds of Northern Soul records and his knowledge and memory retention was phenomenal. But he ripped-off a lot of people and didn't give a shit about it as long as he was OK.

Where did he go and what finished his involvement with the NS scene?

Still in L.A. with new wife and new kid when I last saw him in 1990, but in vastly different circumstances to when he was flying high in the mid 70's. I think he'd burned all his bridges and there was no one to call anymore. On the skids basically. I couldn't get out fast enough. But there again, I was on my way to Vegas to get wed at the time......

A star who burned bright, but burned out quickly.

Is he still involved in music production?

Nope. He's probably somewhere in vastly diminished circumstances. I think he sold his music catalogue to Unidisc at some point.

Is he still alive?

Good question Drew. Dunno. Does anyone else know?

I actually have some phenomenal Soussan stories. They're just incredible really.

Here's a quicky.......

When I arrived at L.A.X., Simon came to meet me and this is what happened within the first 2 minutes of meeting him.....

I passed customs and walked through arrivals and immediately spotted Simon. I vaguely knew what he looked like - smooth, chiselled Middle-Eastern hustler and there he was right in front of me.

We greeted each other and sort of embraced. The last time I saw Simon @ Blackpool Mecca I got glassed and had my nose broken. No big deal and I kind of peaked the situation and gave Simon the chance to slip away. Which he did. Totally vanished LOL...

So he believed that I'd saved his life.

So we kind of embraced, weird though it was and he said "welcome to L.A. baby boy. We're gonna have fun"!

And with that he starting leading me through the airport telling me that America was 'the land of opportunity' and that there was 'pussy everywhere' and he was 'going to get me laid' etc, etc...

I mean I was jet-lagged, knackered and still getting adjusted to things and I have this silver fox like cartoon character speaking ten to the dozen and I'm just trying to keep up with the whirlwind.........

And, all of sudden, he smashes me in the ribs and says, "hey baby boy....look at THAT"!

And the greatest looking female I had ever seen in my entire life was approaching us...

And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"

And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?

By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......

So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"

She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?

And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.

Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!

THAT was within the first 2 minutes of being with Simon in L.A.

It was hard not to be impressed by the pure bullshit approach. He was the grandmaster of bullshit. On the other hand, if I was going to be honest, the thought of f&%king a million women at that point was pretty appealing.

So he suckered me into the bullshit.

Welcome to Hollywood.

Ian D

[Pete S]

He was certainly alive circa 2002 because he emailed me to put me right about something I'd said concerning him on Ian levine's ANS forum!

[bri phill]

Great story Ian as usual.Simon Sousann,the first dealings I had with him must have been 1972, he use to buy some stuff of me via mail order and wanted to meet up to do some trading.I went to his flat in Leeds and after a couple of hours of swaps etc. I give him a cheque for about £30,on my way home got lost and finished up on the moors with fog like soup thought I was never going to get home.When I eventually made it around 3am couldn't find my cheque book and cancelled the cheque book next morning,tried to explain to him why his cheque had bounced but he wasn't a happy bunnie.

The next time I heard from him he was in Mexico,he use to send me stuff and I use to send him cash in between a couple crap records.

He then turned up in Holywood and wanted me to go over and set up business with him because I had a great customer base and was trusted which he obviously wasn't.I was having such a great time in the Uk so I didn't want to swap the council estate for Hollywood.

I saw him again when he turned up to meet me in the Hotel Picadilly in Manchester he bought some stuff of me,and I bought some of him.

The last time I saw him he was staying at The Cumberland Hotel in London around 1974 he told me he could get the most incredible stuff and needed a minimum of a grand upfront.I never really ever trusted him told him to send me the stuff first but he wasn't having that so that was that.

Thw scenes all about character and he was certainly one of them.

Regards Brian

[Ian Dewhirst]

The very greatest and Simons final act of sculduggery, is why he disappeared, can't really put it to print for obvious reasons.

But just to put Simon into perspective. In the late 80s I was in L.A. with Mick Godfrey. Simon had just had a MONSTER Hit and had really good records all over his appartment + Tom's Motown Acetates.

We agreed a price of $9000 a lot of dosh in the 80s. The deal included 4 tracks, Johnny Hunnicut, Hayes Cotton, etc etc. along with 69 Motown unissued acetates that inc: Suspicion, Four Top Workshop Jazz LP etc etc. We shook on the deal and I'm off with the records and very happy chappy.

Get back to the UK to discover Simon had sold the very same load to Martin Koppel got the money off him already, but then sold them to me??

Simon was a very naughty boy all the time, and gave me the impression he enjoyed it.

But the above snippet I can tell you is a minor "error" compared to his final and greatest vinyl scam before his disappearence.

LOL. Great stuff Johnny but can you at least PM me with who he pissed off? It was probably the mob in one form or other.......

Sounds like he cheesed off the wrong people.....again!

Simon sailed close to the wind. I got his ass out of the jammer on a few occasions.

He was also banned from just about everywhere - Reddington's Rare Records in Glendale being just one of many places he couldn't go along with Major Bill's warehouse in Texas and a heap of other warehouses up and down the West Coast. He had to send his wife Sabrina down to Reddingtons with lists of records to buy everytime new titles popped up in England.

One of the reasons he kept getting banned was because of his legendary arrogance and impatience when going through thousands of records. There are stories of him flinging priceless Rock/Pop rarities across warehouses because 'they weren't Northern'. I seem to remember rescuing a Primettes Lu-Pine actetate which he'd thrown across a warehouse because he said it was '50's garbage'. It may have been 50's but it was an acetate I later sold to a serious Motown collector who considered it priceless.

There's also a great Kev Roberts tale of when Simon broke into the Reddingtons Warehouse through a skylight in the roof - are you reading this Kev - we need this for the archives mate! I think that was the time when Kev had found around 30 copies of the Casualeers "Dance Dance Dance" BEFORE it was known and Simon took all of them claiming that he had to go through all of them 'in order to find the cleanest copy'. Naturally Kev never saw any of those copies again.

Also his hatred of funk was legendary. If he hit a load of funk in a place, he'd start snapping copies of the records in half! I'd say 'oh c'mon Simon, you don't have to break the bloody records do ya"? And he just keep snapping 'em and say "it's repetetive garbage (pronounced REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE) baby boy, they just get in the way"!

One time he was in real snit - I think he'd had a bust up with Sabrina and he was really pissed-off. We were driving along Sunset Boulevard in his car and he switched the radio on and the Isley Brother's "Fight The Power" came on and he went "F*&king FUNK! I HATE "f*&king FUNK"! and he jabbed the car radio's pre-set buttons to another station and the Ohio Player's "Love Rollercoaster" came on - steam started coming out of his ears and he screamed " "F*&king FUNK! What ees wrong with zees people? F*&king FUNK Motherf*&kers! Why can't zey play some Northern instead of this motherf*&king FUNK all ze time"!!! He then furiously jabbed the pre-sets again only for the Brothers Johnson "Get The Funk Out Of My Face" to come blasting out of the speakers. He looked at me, "OK, that's it now"!

He then just jerked the car to a complete hault right in the middle of Sunset Strip and started smashing the car radio with his fists. When his hand started bleeding, he got out of the car, took off one of his shoes and continued smashing the radio until parts of the radio were all over the floor of the car. He then physically tore the radio out of the car and threw what was left of it onto the road and then started stamping on it with his other shoe-clad foot.

By this point there was a half-mile tailback on Sunset and the horns going off were almost deafening and the driver of the car behind us was just watching all this with her mouth wide open in shock......

I said "err, Simon, maybe we'd better go......"

He just got back in the car, slammed it into gear and said "well, at least we won't have to listen to that REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE anymore!"

Ian D

Edited March 29, 2008 by Ian Dewhirst

[Guest]

LOL. Great stuff Johnny but can you at least PM me with who he pissed off? It was probably the mob in one form or other.......

Sounds like he cheesed off the wrong people.....again!

Simon sailed close to the wind. I got his ass out of the jammer on a few occasions.

He was also banned from just about everywhere - Reddington's Rare Records in Glendale being just one of many places he couldn't go along with Major Bill's warehouse in Texas and a heap of other warehouses up and down the West Coast. He had to send his wife Sabrina down to Reddingtons with lists of records to buy everytime new titles popped up in England.

One of the reasons he kept getting banned was because of his legendary arrogance and impatience when going through thousands of records. There are stories of him flinging priceless Rock/Pop rarities across warehouses because 'they weren't Northern'. I seem to remember rescuing a Primettes Lu-Pine actetate which he'd thrown across a warehouse because he said it was '50's garbage'. It may have been 50's but it was an acetate I later sold to a serious Motown collector who considered it priceless.

There's also a great Kev Roberts tale of when Simon broke into the Reddingtons Warehouse through a skylight in the roof - are you reading this Kev - we need this for the archives mate! I think that was the time when Kev had found around 30 copies of the Casualeers "Dance Dance Dance" BEFORE it was known and Simon took all of them claiming that he had to go through all of them 'in order to find the cleanest copy'. Naturally Kev never saw any of those copies again.

Also his hatred of funk was legendary. If he hit a load of funk in a place, he'd start snapping copies of the records in half! I'd say 'oh c'mon Simon, you don't have to break the bloody records do ya"? And he just keep snapping 'em and say "it's repetetive garbage (pronounced REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE) baby boy, they just get in the way"!

One time he was in real snit - I think he'd had a bust up with Sabrina and he was really pissed-off. We were driving along Sunset Boulevard in his car and he switched the radio on and the Isley Brother's "Fight The Power" came on and he went "F*&king FUNK! I HATE "f*&king FUNK"! and he jabbed the car radio's pre-set buttons to another station and the Ohio Player's "Love Rollercoaster" came on - steam started coming out of his ears and he screamed " "F*&king FUNK! What ees wrong with zees people? F*&king FUNK Motherf*&kers! Why can't zey play some Northern instead of this motherf*&king FUNK all ze time"!!! He then furiously jabbed the pre-sets again only for the Brothers Johnson "Get The Funk Out Of My Face" to come blasting out of the speakers. He looked at me, "OK, that's it now"!

He then just jerked the car to a complete hault right in the middle of Sunset Strip and started smashing the car radio with his fists. When his hand started bleeding, he got out of the car, took off one of his shoes and continued smashing the radio until parts of the radio were all over the floor of the car. He then physically tore the radio out of the car and threw what was left of it onto the road and then started stamping on it with his other shoe-clad foot.

By this point there was a half-mile tailback on Sunset and the horns going off were almost deafening and the driver of the car behind us was just watching all this with her mouth wide open in shock......

I said "err, Simon, maybe we'd better go......"

He just got back in the car, slammed it into gear and said "well, at least we won't have to listen to that REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE anymore!"

Ian D

Frank,

I will PM you the "last" escapade of Simon. It's not funny, but it is..if you know what I mean.

John

[Ian Dewhirst]

Frank,

I will PM you the "last" escapade of Simon. It's not funny, but it is..if you know what I mean.

John

Probably the classic case of life catching with him in the end. I know he was on the skids 'cos Les McCutcheon had to pay for some stomach surgery he had in the mid 90's but predictably hasn't heard from him since.......

Cheers Johnny!

Ian D

[NorthernDancer]

great thread keep them coming

[good angel]

Didnt he nearly get lynched at Wigan by people who sent him money for records,and that they never recieved

Kev

[Mak]

wasn't it Arkwright St?

btw isn;t there some audio of Soussan djing at The Casino playing all his hammond organ instrumentals

Selectadisc , def on Arkwright St

[Julianb]

Not going to repeat myself, so see the thread under Catacombs story I posted a couple of weeks ago.

As an aside, I've just found a picture of Simon with Van McCoy and al letter of 'introduction' to Fred Kaplan in Brooklyn ( where Simon got the first lot of stuff from on his first trip to the States) the address is 4 Fox Hill Court Weetwood Lane Leeds 16 ( pre postal code era) which ties in with the Chris Tipping address.

Julian

[Ian Dewhirst]

Not going to repeat myself, so see the thread under Catacombs story I posted a couple of weeks ago.

As an aside, I've just found a picture of Simon with Van McCoy and al letter of 'introduction' to Fred Kaplan in Brooklyn ( where Simon got the first lot of stuff from on his first trip to the States) the address is 4 Fox Hill Court Weetwood Lane Leeds 16 ( pre postal code era) which ties in with the Chris Tipping address.

Julian

Did you know him when he was in Leeds Julian?

The only N.S. person I can remember who knew him from back then was Al ??????? from Halifax - the recreational rock climber who was always pretty zapped up but knew his British stuff especially well. Apparently he met Simon in Jumbos whilst listening to Jimmy James "A Man Like Me" on Stateside as a new release and Simon came up to the counter saying "excuse me, excuse me but what ees zees record? It elates me, it excites me, it unblocks my nostrils!"

Simon repeated the above story to me in L.A. and said that Al ?????? introduced him to Northern Soul following that meeting and within months he was off to New York hunting for Northern............

And the 'unblock my nostrils' quip was pure Simon and he built it into his routine everytime we went crate-digging. A typical exchange would be when Simon would suddenly stop digging and pull out a record....

He'd then hold the record directly in front of his eyes and say "Hey, baby boy. Are you're nostrils blocked my friend? Well, you will breathe forever when you hear this baby boy. I have just found the ultimate sinus-deblocker"!

And he'd usually be right. He had a photographic memory for label credits and could usually spot a 'good possibility' Northern unknown immediately, usually from a tiny credit buried away on the label. I have to give him that.

Anyone got any scans of his lists handy? The sheer scale of some of them was daunting.

Also I haven't mentioned it yet, but his personal collection was staggering when I was there. He didn't have quantity but, boy, he sure had some quality there. He kept the collection in his office at his Hollywood pad which was directly next to the pool and they were all housed in wooden, lockable cabinets right the way around the room. He reckoned that he also had over 100,000 records in storage but I never saw 'em. But the stuff in his office. Phew!

Every so often I'd be in there and he'd say, "are you ready for a sinus-deblocker that will rip your nose to shreds baby boy"? And he'd put a record of staggering brilliance on.

I'd say, "Jesus Christ. What the F*&k is THIS?

And he'd say "a very, very rare record baby boy. I have zee only one and I must find another one before I unveil zees record to England".

I'd then jump up to look at the label and he'd snatch it off the turntable.....

And I'd say "C'mon Simon. You're nuts man. This is a huge record!"

And he'd look at me, smile and say "sinus-deblockers don't grow on trees baby boy".

Ian D

Edited March 29, 2008 by Ian Dewhirst

[Baz Atkinson]

brilliant thread what a character!

BAZ A

[Sean Hampsey]

Selectadisc , def on Arkwright St

Also on Canal Street in Soussan's day.

[Sean Hampsey]

brilliant thread what a character!

BAZ A

He was a character alright Baz... somehow though, if he appeared on the Scene nowadays we'd all want his guts for garters and call him a Bootlegging B##tard.

IMO a slimy 'Tea Leaf' and certainly not someone to deify, even though it's 30 odd years on.

Sean

[Ian Dewhirst]

brilliant thread what a character!

BAZ A

There's a TON of material Baz. This one could run and run......

There's probably not a single West Coast record dealer from the early 70's who doesn't have his own raft of Soussan stories. Even when I've been back to L.A. and chatted to some dealers at a record fairs, the Soussan stories start emerging - usually a rip-off LOL...

I'm mean, he'd already pissed-off every dealer on the West Coast by '76.

I always used to know if he'd hit a place when I find broken funk records in the racks. I'd say to the owner, "has a French-Morroccan guy called Simon or Michel (Michel was his real name and the one he used in L.A.) been here"? And the owner would generally say, "Oh THAT little Motherf*&ker! If I ever see that French f*&k again I'll kill him"!

And that was 31 years ago!

Ian D

[Julianb]

Did you know him when he was in Leeds Julian?

Knew him very well indeed.

Julian

[Dave Moore]

Did you know him when he was in Leeds Julian?

Knew him very well indeed.

Julian

You shoulda slapped the fooker gud n hard back then Julian and saved some of us a lot of grief and money!

[KevH]

You shoulda slapped the fooker gud n hard back then Julian and saved some of us a lot of grief and money!

sounds like there's a story in there too Dave .

[Mike B]

Funny enough he was the only person to pay Doni Burdick for the use of Bari Track when he put it out on Soul Galore, quite unlike the latter day people who released it on their coalmine CD's for which Doni never received a penny. I'll dig the letter out Sunday that SS sent to Doni Burdick and put a scan up on here.......

Scan is now attached - its a bit hard to read as its a copy I have got. But it reads:

Dear Don

A quick note with your cheque for $200. Any additional gratuity will be paid to you on same basis. Please rush me I have faith in you instrumental URGENT plus Tamiko Jones " I am spellbound"

All the best Simon

He never did send him any more money but neither did Don send him any more tunes. This was in June 1975 so not sure when SS put out the instrumental to IHFIY?

Also if anyone knows if Bob Foster from LLandudno is still around I have got a copy of a letter he sent to Don in 75.

Cheers

Mike

Edited March 30, 2008 by Mike B

[45cellar]

wasn't it Arkwright St?

btw isn;t there some audio of Soussan djing at The Casino playing all his hammond organ instrumentals

Oh dear, yes the Instrumentals, who was that playing the Hammond Organ.

I remember the I Can't Get Enough (Of Your Love) being played.

Edited March 30, 2008 by 45cellar

[Pauldonnelly]

Oh dear, yes the Instrumentals, who was that playing the Hammond Organ.

I remember the I Can't Get Enough (Of Your Love) being played.

six by six by the floorshakers..wtf

[Dave Moore]

sounds like there's a story in there too Dave .

Not much to tell really. 1978 ish I (like lots of others), sent dosh to LA for a rake of 45s only to receive "substitutes", (bootlegs), as my selections weren't currently in stock. (From my enquiries then, neither were most other peoples.) Man's a thief, pure and simple. I'd give him a quick 'Chuck Norris type whack' to the temple as means of repayment if the opportunity ever pesented itself.

Must be dozens of guys that he scammed back then at least.

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

Simon Soussan showed how easy it could be to exploit the Northern Soul scene to great personal advantage. He has thus been a perfect role model for (far too) many people over the past three decades, and I hope that he and they all rot in hell when their times come...

[Julianb]

You shoulda slapped the fooker gud n hard back then Julian and saved some of us a lot of grief and money!

Hi Dave

when I first met him, he didn't really know much about soul music and he was DJing at an 'upmarket' pop club in Leeds. I met him at Jumbo records in Leeds which was a soul/reggae shop when he was starting to get interested. At this time he was seemingly honest.

The problems started after he returned from the States and put out his first sales list with a load of rarities and unkown stuff. I think he then started to keep monies for records which he had already sold ( and possibly never had), although I did go through the records he brought back the day after he returned to the UK and there was some fantastic stuff (packed into an old leather suitcase if my memory serves me right). He did of course also do 'swaps' with his side of the bargain never materialising!!

He never tried to 'con' me - perhaps because I saw him almost every weekday in Leeds, but it was very embarrassing to me when he started to 'rip off' my mates ( and that SS members did include Ian Levine) amongst many others.

Hope you and Bev are well, saw Fergy and Janet on Friday - I believe they are coming over to see you soon and to take in a 'weekender' or allnighter at the same time.

Julian

[soulfulsaint]

I'm here!

Oh boy, there's enough material about Simon Soussan for another monster thread.

Where was he from and what was his background in soul music?

A French-Morroccan who moved to Leeds, Yorkshire and worked designing suits for Burtons. He discovered Northern Soul in Leeds and became quite passionate about it very quickly.

Ian D

I remember talking to him in the record bar at Wigan and he told me he also had a business selling hoovers. May have been an elaborate con. Anyone hwo has ordered a hoover that didn't arrive, or a bootlegged Ronnie DYSON it may be Simon.

[Ian Dewhirst]

Hi Dave

when I first met him, he didn't really know much about soul music and he was DJing at an 'upmarket' pop club in Leeds. I met him at Jumbo records in Leeds which was a soul/reggae shop when he was starting to get interested. At this time he was seemingly honest.

The problems started after he returned from the States and put out his first sales list with a load of rarities and unkown stuff. I think he then started to keep monies for records which he had already sold ( and possibly never had), although I did go through the records he brought back the day after he returned to the UK and there was some fantastic stuff (packed into an old leather suitcase if my memory serves me right). He did of course also do 'swaps' with his side of the bargain never materialising!!

He never tried to 'con' me - perhaps because I saw him almost every weekday in Leeds, but it was very embarrassing to me when he started to 'rip off' my mates ( and that SS members did include Ian Levine) amongst many others.

Hope you and Bev are well, saw Fergy and Janet on Friday - I believe they are coming over to see you soon and to take in a 'weekender' or allnighter at the same time.

Julian

Hi Julian,

I think the club was called either Nouveau or Madisons from memory. He was quite tight with the Persian community in Leeds at the time and several of them remember him well from that period.

I think it's fair to say he ripped EVERYONE off once he got established on the record side of things!

Ian D

[cloth ears]

julian

i seem to remember hin conning my mum into letting him in and pinching loads of my records while i was up at the torch.......remember the white suit!!!!!!!

[bri phill]

Hi Julian,

I think the club was called either Nouveau or Madisons from memory. He was quite tight with the Persian community in Leeds at the time and several of them remember him well from that period.

I think it's fair to say he ripped EVERYONE off once he got established on the record side of things!

Ian D

Ian,I can honestly say he never ripped me off but if I would have give him the grand he wanted back in 74 when I met him in London I think I would have been added to the list.I ripped myself off I was far too cheap when I hear how much everyone was paying for their tunes,mind you I didm't want to hang on to 'em with the way Selecta Disc was back then.

Brian

[Guest]

Ian,I can honestly say he never ripped me off but if I would have give him the grand he wanted back in 74 when I met him in London I think I would have been added to the list.I ripped myself off I was far too cheap when I hear how much everyone was paying for their tunes,mind you I didm't want to hang on to 'em with the way Selecta Disc was back then.

Brian

I first encountered the enigma that was to become Simon Soussan in 1969 , when I worked for Alexandre The Tailors in their Boar Lane branch in Leeds . SS worked for Burton's in their Briggate branch , just up the road from Alex's .

A short scene setter ......... Any quick alterations to suits ( trouser length shortening , sleeves taken up etc . ) , were sent to local small tailors / seamstresses , who could complete these jobs usually within an hour . Alex's and Burton's used one housed on the third floor of an old tenement building , off to the side of the road in Lower Briggate , run by an old Jewish couple , The Fallons .

This is where I first met SS : he was in there , obviously waiting for a job , and I was taking a jacket in to get the hand stitching put on the edges , as we had cocked up not putting it on when the suit was ordered ..........

SS was sat on a chair in front of a rack of garments , legs crossed , smoking a cigarette . Very bronzed with coiffered and laquered hair ( obviously not cut by your average barber ) , and dressed , as we all had to dress who worked for the chain tailors , in a dark suit and waistcoat : no big deal , but what struck me was an extremely loud paisley tie and large silk hankerchief hanging from his breast pocket like a bunch of bananas : a real dude to say the least ......

We eyed each other , and exchanged hellos . Mrs Fallon said " this is Michel , Malcolm , he works for Burton's : Michel , this is Malcolm , he works for Alexandre's " . We shook hands , told me his name - Michel Soussan . He stressed his name , and assume he did so in order for me to remember it . He asked me if I liked working " there " ( Burton's staff had a downer on anyone who worked for anyone but the Burton empire ) . I was taken slightly aback when he spoke , as I could not make out his

accent , as I thought he was Jewish because of his looks and mannerisms . He looked / appeared to be around the same age as me , 19 or perhaps older .

I told him it was OK , to which he said " I don't know how you can stand it , I cannot wait until I get out , and make something of myself . I hate selling to people , I hate this town , I hate everything "

The conversation led to where we lived, to which I told him in Moortown : he said that he lived on Street Lane in Moortown ( then an extremely wealthy area of Leeds ) , and that he was looking for a place for himself . He did not give any information as what his parents did , only stating that they were " in business " . We got to talking about where we went socialising in Leeds : I told him that I DJd at The Central , and went to Le Phonograph , The Old Mecca in The County Arcade , and the new Mecca

( The Locarno ) up in the Merrion Centre . " He stated " that he did not go to such places " and he went to where it was " more suitable to his image " ..........

In regard to telling him that I DJd at The Central , he asked if I went The Wheel , and he told me that he was interested in the records , and that he had " many "of what they played there at his home .........

That is as much as I could get out of him , he would only tell me that there were " Many , Many " , and the were " good " . Despite my keeping asking him about his records , he would not open up , stating

" later , later , maybe we will talk then ". . He picked up his stuff , and went down the stairs ........

After he had gone , I asked Mrs F about him : she said " not much " , and that he was " Egyptian , Persian or something " , and that he was " full of himself " , and " I would be sorry if I got into his company " ........

As I did not frequent his alleged " suitable " places , our paths did not cross , except when we collecting alterations from The Fallon's . Obviously on meeting him , I would ask him again about his records , he would be avasive , only telling me that he had got " more " , and when asked could I see them , all he gave was the familiar " later , later " . I became more and more intrigued about these records he had , and attempted to gain his friendship whenever we met . I used to call at Burton's in the hopes of seeing him , but to no avail . I was always told that he was busy , or he was out , or not in that day .

I left Leeds at the beginning of 1971 , but used to return to see friends at periodic intervals : one particular time whilst I was there , I decided to call at Burton's to see if he still worked there . The floorwalker informed me that he - Michel Saossane - had left .........

I called down to see The Fallon's , and asked Mrs F if she knew he had left ; She said she had , just looked and said " I never liked him : you never felt at ease when he was in here , he was too much of a Fagin for me " .......

I never encountered Michel Saossane again until the mid - seventies , and like with many others , the rest is history .........

Malc Burton

SIMON_SOUSSAN.doc

Edited March 30, 2008 by Malc Burton

[Modernsoulsucks]

"I remember talking to him in the record bar at Wigan and he told me he also had a business selling hoovers. May have been an elaborate con. Anyone hwo has ordered a hoover that didn't arrive, or a bootlegged Ronnie DYSON it may be Simon"

That's somewhat of a coincidence. Before Wigan I think it was Dave Hall and Dave Stubbs from Stockport who told me he'd ripped them off so round to flat in Leeds to see him. In subsequent exchange of views he got hit over the head with a hoover!!

Also remember him stood in front of bottom bar at Highland Room early on. Think Levine was playing some of his 45s and a guy walked in and smacked him. I thought it was Ian D. or maybe Ian was there and broke it up?

ROD

[Ian Dewhirst]

"I remember talking to him in the record bar at Wigan and he told me he also had a business selling hoovers. May have been an elaborate con. Anyone hwo has ordered a hoover that didn't arrive, or a bootlegged Ronnie DYSON it may be Simon"

That's somewhat of a coincidence. Before Wigan I think it was Dave Hall and Dave Stubbs from Stockport who told me he'd ripped them off so round to flat in Leeds to see him. In subsequent exchange of views he got hit over the head with a hoover!!

Also remember him stood in front of bottom bar at Highland Room early on. Think Levine was playing some of his 45s and a guy walked in and smacked him. I thought it was Ian D. or maybe Ian was there and broke it up?

ROD

Hi Rod,

No it was me that had the priviledge of being smacked in the kisser with a 1 pint pebble-glass beer mug!

Simon and Richard (Searling) arrived at the Mecca fairly late-on and I was at the bar on the right-hand side of the Highland Rooms with a box of records when Simon and Richard came over and Simon introduced himself and asked me if he could look through my box.

Naturally, I said yes and he started going through my stuff and asked me if I'd be interested in any trades. Knowing this was Soussan and also knowing that he had some great spares I said yeah, so he started pulling stuff out....

...and I couldn't believe it. He pulled out two or three oddball things - Shona Springfield "I Need A Rest", Denise Keeble "Before It Falls Apart" etc, etc - stuff which was actually around at the time but wasn't actually super rare.

So naturally I was anxious to get a deal consumated and try and get my hands on a couple of Soussan's goodies.

The only problem was that Simon was by now attracting a crowd - maybe about 20-30 people at first, then more....

And people were basically starting to create a crush plus there were murmurs from the crowd saying things like, "is it really Soussan", "that twat ripped me off for £30" and "wait til I get my hands on that French f*&k" etc, etc.

All I wanted to do was get this deal done and then bugger off quick. But I couldn't because now Simon and myself were virtually being crushed against the bar and some prick was digging something into my back.......

I can remember Richard saying something like, "eeerrr, Simon, I think we'd better go......"

At that point I kind of lost my rag and pushed back from the bar, mainly to stop this twat digging into my back whilst I was trying to get a deal completed....

As a result of me pushing back there was a kind of 'mexican wave' of people falling backwards and I reckon that was the trigger which peaked an already volatile sitaution into overdrive.

I turned around from the bar and said ". c'mon guys, let's have some room here................"

And out of nowhere someone hit me full-on in the face with a pebble-glass beer mug. I was hit so hard that the handle snapped off the glass and continued round my face and sliced my ear lobe into the bargain.

Surprisingly, although it hurt like a bitch and I knew I'd been really slugged, all I could think of was that some twat had disrupted a potential record deal and now I'd been hurt into the bargain.

Meanwhile Soussan did a hasty exit.

I went to the loo and surveyed the damage. One broken nose, two black eyes and a sliced ear lobe. Blood all over my nice shirt as well, bastard!

I think I want to Blackpool Hospital, got patched up and still went on to Wigan 'til 8.00am.

I used to be hard in those days.........

Ian D

[Ernie Andrews]

Hi Rod,

No it was me that had the priviledge of being smacked in the kisser with a 1 pint pebble-glass beer mug!

Simon and Richard (Searling) arrived at the Mecca fairly late-on and I was at the bar on the right-hand side of the Highland Rooms with a box of records when Simon and Richard came over and Simon introduced himself and asked me if he could look through my box.

Naturally, I said yes and he started going through my stuff and asked me if I'd be interested in any trades. Knowing this was Soussan and also knowing that he had some great spares I said yeah, so he started pulling stuff out....

...and I couldn't believe it. He pulled out two or three oddball things - Shona Springfield "I Need A Rest", Denise Keeble "Before It Falls Apart" etc, etc - stuff which was actually around at the time but wasn't actually super rare.

So naturally I was anxious to get a deal consumated and try and get my hands on a couple of Soussan's goodies.

The only problem was that Simon was by now attracting a crowd - maybe about 20-30 people at first, then more....

And people were basically starting to create a crush plus there were murmurs from the crowd saying things like, "is it really Soussan", "that twat ripped me off for £30" and "wait til I get my hands on that French f*&k" etc, etc.

All I wanted to do was get this deal done and then bugger off quick. But I couldn't because now Simon and myself were virtually being crushed against the bar and some prick was digging something into my back.......

I can remember Richard saying something like, "eeerrr, Simon, I think we'd better go......"

At that point I kind of lost my rag and pushed back from the bar, mainly to stop this twat digging into my back whilst I was trying to get a deal completed....

As a result of me pushing back there was a kind of 'mexican wave' of people falling backwards and I reckon that was the trigger which peaked an already volatile sitaution into overdrive.

I turned around from the bar and said ". c'mon guys, let's have some room here................"

And out of nowhere someone hit me full-on in the face with a pebble-glass beer mug. I was hit so hard that the handle snapped off the glass and continued round my face and sliced my ear lobe into the bargain.

Surprisingly, although it hurt like a bitch and I knew I'd been really slugged, all I could think of was that some twat had disrupted a potential record deal and now I'd been hurt into the bargain.

Meanwhile Soussan did a hasty exit.

I went to the loo and surveyed the damage. One broken nose, two black eyes and a sliced ear lobe. Blood all over my nice shirt as well, bastard!

I think I want to Blackpool Hospital, got patched up and still went on to Wigan 'til 8.00am.

I used to be hard in those days.........

Ian D

Christ Ian - I was stood next to you when the pair of them Turned up Richard said hello but Simon Ignored me cos He had failed to rip me off outside global months earlier.

Your right about people wanting to get at him and I thought OH F88K and hastily went into the corridor to get out of the way. REmember Soussan as he was leaving calling everybody stupid F***kers. One of the very few times I was actually frightened at the Mecca.

One of the memories I tend not to remember with fondness

Christ the hairs are standing on the back of my neck thinking about it!

Edited March 30, 2008 by Ernie Andrews

[Ian Dewhirst]

I first encountered the enigma that was to become Simon Soussan in 1969 , when I worked for Alexandre The Tailors in their Boar Lane branch in Leeds . SS worked for Burton's in their Briggate branch , just up the road from Alex's .

A short scene setter ......... Any quick alterations to suits ( trouser length shortening , sleeves taken up etc . ) , were sent to local small tailors / seamstresses , who could complete these jobs usually within an hour . Alex's and Burton's used one housed on the third floor of an old tenement building , off to the side of the road in Lower Briggate , run by an old Jewish couple , The Fallons .

This is where I first met SS : he was in there , obviously waiting for a job , and I was taking a jacket in to get the hand stitching put on the edges , as we had cocked up not putting it on when the suit was ordered ..........

SS was sat on a chair in front of a rack of garments , legs crossed , smoking a cigarette . Very bronzed with coiffered and laquered hair ( obviously not cut by your average barber ) , and dressed , as we all had to dress who worked for the chain tailors , in a dark suit and waistcoat : no big deal , but what struck me was an extremely loud paisley tie and large silk hankerchief hanging from his breast pocket like a bunch of bananas : a real dude to say the least ......

We eyed each other , and exchanged hellos . Mrs Fallon said " this is Michel , Malcolm , he works for Burton's : Michel , this is Malcolm , he works for Alexandre's " . We shook hands , told me his name - Michel Soussan . He stressed his name , and assume he did so in order for me to remember it . He asked me if I liked working " there " ( Burton's staff had a downer on anyone who worked for anyone but the Burton empire ) . I was taken slightly aback when he spoke , as I could not make out his

accent , as I thought he was Jewish because of his looks and mannerisms . He looked / appeared to be around the same age as me , 19 or perhaps older .

I told him it was OK , to which he said " I don't know how you can stand it , I cannot wait until I get out , and make something of myself . I hate selling to people , I hate this town , I hate everything "

The conversation led to where we lived, to which I told him in Moortown : he said that he lived on Street Lane in Moortown ( then an extremely wealthy area of Leeds ) , and that he was looking for a place for himself . He did not give any information as what his parents did , only stating that they were " in business " . We got to talking about where we went socialising in Leeds : I told him that I DJd at The Central , and went to Le Phonograph , The Old Mecca in The County Arcade , and the new Mecca

( The Locarno ) up in the Merrion Centre . " He stated " that he did not go to such places " and he went to where it was " more suitable to his image " ..........

In regard to telling him that I DJd at The Central , he asked if I went The Wheel , and he told me that he was interested in the records , and that he had " many "of what they played there at his home .........

That is as much as I could get out of him , he would only tell me that there were " Many , Many " , and the were " good " . Despite my keeping asking him about his records , he would not open up , stating

" later , later , maybe we will talk then ". . He picked up his stuff , and went down the stairs ........

After he had gone , I asked Mrs F about him : she said " not much " , and that he was " Egyptian , Persian or something " , and that he was " full of himself " , and " I would be sorry if I got into his company " ........

As I did not frequent his alleged " suitable " places , our paths did not cross , except when we collecting alterations from The Fallon's . Obviously on meeting him , I would ask him again about his records , he would be avasive , only telling me that he had got " more " , and when asked could I see them , all he gave was the familiar " later , later " . I became more and more intrigued about these records he had , and attempted to gain his friendship whenever we met . I used to call at Burton's in the hopes of seeing him , but to no avail . I was always told that he was busy , or he was out , or not in that day .

I left Leeds at the beginning of 1971 , but used to return to see friends at periodic intervals : one particular time whilst I was there , I decided to call at Burton's to see if he still worked there . The floorwalker informed me that he - Michel Saossane - had left .........

I called down to see The Fallon's , and asked Mrs F if she knew he had left ; She said she had , just looked and said " I never liked him : you never felt at ease when he was in here , he was too much of a Fagin for me " .......

I never encountered Michel Saossane again until the mid - seventies , and like with many others , the rest is history .........

Malc Burton

Great story Malc. Thats put a few more facts into his earlier years.

And he was always evasive when it came to actually showing anyone his records!

The more I think about this, the more it looks as though Soussan was really an opportunist. He probably wanted an excuse to leave Leeds and Northern Soul gave him the perfect opportunity.

He was an arrogant prick anyway, so I imagine his No.1 intention was business related first and foremost with Northern Soul providing him with the opportunity to go the States.

And I just remembered that his favorite record prior to coming to Leeds was Los Bravos "Black Is Black" which he says he first heard in his native Morrocco which actually makes perfect sense as Los Bravos were from Spain and "Black Is Black" was a massive hit throughout the world in 1966, so he almost definitely would have heard the song in Morrocco in his late teens/early 20's.

He always used to say that "Black Is Black" was his favourite record and he got frustrated that he didn't hear more records like that until he discovered Northern Soul in Jumbos that day.

So it's all beginning to fall into place now. One listen to Los Bravos and you can see EXACTLY where Soussan's influences came from - see file attached! Pure Northern in a Spanish kinda way LOL......

Plus does anyone on here remember when we all thought Soussan was the vocalist on Benny Curtis's "Dirty Hearts"? To this day I can remember Snowy from Doncaster introducing "Dirty Hearts" as being Simon Soussan..........

Ian D

Los_Bravos___Black_Is_Black.mp3

[Ian Dewhirst]

Christ Ian - I was stood next to you when the pair of them Turned up Richard said hello but Simon Ignored me cos He had failed to rip me off outside global months earlier.

Your right about people wanting to get at him and I thought OH F88K and hastily went into the corridor to get out of the way. REmember Soussan as he was leaving calling everybody stupid F***kers. One of the very few times I was actually frightened at the Mecca.

One of the memories I tend not to remember with fondness

Christ the hairs are standing on the back of my neck thinking about it!

It wasn't you that clobbered me was it Ernie?

Good. At least that's verified then. It was also the first time that I'd ever seen a ruck happen @ the Mecca. It's a shame I had to be in the middle of it..........

Plus it took me years to get rid of that Shona Springfield record LOL.....

Ian D