Northern Soul was originally used to describe 'rare soul of the type enjoyed in the North of England'. The scene is centered around "collecting, dancing to, venerating, and attending dos centered on 1960s' African American rare soul music on 45 RPM 7-inch vinyl records. Although Northern Soul grew out of the Mod scene in the 1960s in the South of England, since the early 1970s, it has been and continues

to be concentrated in the Greater Manchester region but has also existed throughout the UK." Kimasi L. Browne, Ph.D. (Azusa Pacific University), USA

The name Northern Soul was attributed to Blues & Soul writer Dave Godin who in an article for the magazine in the early 70's claimed that the soul music that the kids in the North of England were dancing to was different to soul music elsewhere in the country, he said 'a form of northern soul music' & the scenes name was born!

There are various styles of "Northern Soul" such as 'oldies', 'newies', 'stompers', 'floaters', 'beat ballads', 'agrosoul', 'crossover' and even some 'funk'.

A typical example of a Northern Soul oldie is The Savadors "Stick By Me Baby". This is rare, black american dance music from the 1960s at it's very best. Click the label to listen...

Considered to be a 'passing fad' during the early 70's the Northern Soul scene has now been going on for over 35 years and in today's climate of over hyped, wishy washy MTV packaged shite it is currently going through one if its most popular phases in it's history. There are hugely popular all nighters in London, Manchester and Stoke On Trent to mention just a few. There are Weekenders in Prestatyn, Fleetwood Nr Blackpool, & Cleethorpes that are attracting many of the original artists to appear live, and with events springing up all over Europe and parties in the UK like "You Know You Got Soul" it is still attracting new hearts of soul that all add to the thriving world wide scene.