Fans put soul into big night

Many music fans will say that Northern Soul died the day the legendary Wigan Casino closed its doors.

The Lancashire club became a mecca for scores of music fans who often toiled in factories during the week, saving their money for letting their hair down every weekend.

Numbers at its all-nighters topped 2,000 until it shut in 1981 and music fans declared Northern Soul was dead and buried. The venue, once declared the greatest nightclub in the world, has since been demolished and replaced by a car park.

But judging by the crowd at the Regis Banqueting Suite, known locally as Regis Hall, in Cradley Heath last night – Northern Soul is very much alive and kicking.

In fact the Black Country has played a massive part in keeping the Northern Soul scene buzzing in the West Midlands for decades.

The roots of the music goes back to the popularity of Tamla Motown hits in the 1960s when English Mods embraced the sound of young black America.

The scene reached its height in the 1970s with the success of the Wigan Casino and hit records such as Al Wilson's The Snake and Tainted Love by Gloria Jones.

The Catacombs or 'The Cats' as it was also known in Wolverhampton was one of the most popular and influential clubs in the West Midlands in the 1970s.

Records first played at the club would often be whisked up to the famous Wigan Casino to be played to revellers there.

By the mid Seventies The Queen Mary Ballroom at Dudley Zoo was also starting to gain a strong reputation as a happening soul venue.

And while shoulder pads and punk may have ruled the 80s, Soul nights could still be found in the West Midlands during this decade, with Wolverhampton's own DJ Pep running venues across the region. Albrighton's Lea Manor near Wolverhampton was the place to be seen if you were a soul fan in the mid-90s. It was considered, by some, to be the best soul night in the country.

It's promoters were part of a team that later started a soul night at The Station Hotel in Dudley – which some actually attribute to putting the town back on the soul radar.

The Station Hotel soul nights closed in 1999 until a pack of Dudley residents decided to revive soul at the hotel in 2003.

And there's still soul nights across the region – Connaught Hotel in Wolverhampton host sa regular soul night as do clubs in Walsall and Bewdley.

And then there's the Regis Restaurant.

Promoter Kenny Lee has been organising a Northern Soul and Motown Night there for several years but it could all come to an end.

Sandwell Council is considering closing the Reddal Hill Road venue, meaning Kenny will have to move the night some where else, most likely, he says, to a venue outside Sandwell.

But if the history of Northern Soul in the Black Country is anything to go by, soul will be sticking around for some time to come.