News — soul

Some have been asking where this is at, so thought a brief update is in order. Currently I'm about 25,000 words into the Tempests book venture, covering early days of the band, including the Atlantic and Smash recordings through to the present. The purpose of the project is also presenting the story of individual band members' careers after the Smash line-up disbanded; the story of how the northern soul scene picked up on the Tempests' recordings in the 1980s, and latter day formal recognition for the Tempests (and now posthumously for Hazel Martin later this year) at the CBMAs. Got...

Bob Collins and the Fabulous Five from Greensboro, NC were a popular booking throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. Venues in the 1960s included the Polo Club (Winston, Salem), the Casino (Nags Head, NC) and the National Guard Armoury (Greenville, NC). Their largest mainstream hit in the mid 1960s was “If I Didn’t Have a Dime” a.k.a. “Jukebox”, a previous minor hit for Gene Pitney. Their version was released on the Greensboro label Jokers 3. The band was originally formed in 1961 and continued until 2007. It had at least twenty-five members in its long history. From a northern soul perspective,...

  Olene Gaines, the wife of Earl Gaines (b.1935, d. 2009) recalls that he was raised partly by his mother in between Alabama and Nashville. His father was in the picture, though he was never really mentioned as being involved in his upbringing. His first singing experience was with his uncle in Alabama, as part of a gospel quartet. Early life consisted of helping the family pick cotton and raising cattle during the day, and listening to blues singers on WLAC at night. As a teenager Earl moved permanently to Nashville to live with his mother, and became good friends...

Maurice Williams was originally from Lancaster, SC. His group involvement was a long one since the early 1950s, commencing with the Royal Charms, Junior Harmonizers and the Gladiolas. The Gladiolas hit pay dirt in 1957 with “Little Darlin’ ” on Excello when the group went to Nashville.  The most important milestone for Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs was “Stay” released in 1960 on Al Silver’s New York Herald Records. “Stay” went straight to No.1. It became a huge early beach music hit and is now recognised as a doo-wop classic, having since been covered by The Four Seasons, Jackson Browne...

The Aqua Lads played largely as a revue act (later with The Chantells) around Charlotte, NC and Myrtle Beach,  although they also backed national R&B bands further afield, including Canada. The group ran from 1963-1969 and had over twenty members during this period. Five 45s by The Aqua Lads were released; of particular northern soul interest are “I Remember” on Gold Bee (GB-1650) from 1965 and “I’ll Never Know” on Aqua, recorded with The Chantells on vocal lead in 1968. Much has already been written about the legendary Stafford Top of the World all-nighters. Following northern soul’s commercial peak of...