By Sam Gillinder
The genre of music known as Northern Soul emerged in the north of England during the 1970’s.
There is a venue on Town Street in Horsforth known as Beyond The Red Door. When you pass it it invokes extreme intrigue, and when you enter it it is literally like entering the TARDIS from Doctor Who.
DJ Mark Holdsworth performed a set from purely vinyl records of Northern Soul and Motown there.
Mark Holdsworth has been building his collection of seven inch vinyl records for over ten years and it is now collectively worth more than £10,000. At one point in the night the two that were on his turntables could possibly be valued at over £1,000.
Some of the favourites that had the dance floor full on the night included “Green Onions” by King Curtis, “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs and “The Night” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
The clientele who attended the party were all of an age that remember this music when it emerged. The generation known as “the boomers” – the people who grew up immediately after the country had experienced fighting in two world wars. They are regarded as the happiest generation to date, it seemed to show. The style of dancing and their attire made a glimpse of seventies nostalgia evident.
Northern soul developed from the British mod scene. It is based on a style of Black American soul music and is highly Motown-influenced.
The term “northern soul” was coined by soul music collector Dave Godlin who was managing the record shop Soul City in Covent Garden in London. He later revealed in Mojo magazine in 2002 that he did this to differentiate the style from other soul genres when he noticed that northern football fans were coming in to buy records and wanted this particular sound.
The Northern Soul DJ’s of the time started to employ a new technique. They started sequencing records to create euphoric highs and lows. This has influenced the way house and dance music DJ’s play today.
DJ Mark Holdsworth has a really good following, he has played in Benidorm and Tenerife and will be playing at Beyond The Red Door on a monthly basis.
The owner of the venue, Noel Johnson, said this is something they are “keen to develop” and he wants “to encourage people to come in and have a good time”. He hopes to put on parties with music from other eras in time.
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