Welcome back to Northern Soul Monday – where we spin the best Stompers just for you. It’s the best way to get the week going. Are you ready to Turn Up the Volume, sprinkle the wood floors with talk, get all dolled up, Press Play, and Dance? We sure are!

This Monday’s Featured Track is “Jeanette” by Wade Flemons. It was originally released in 1968, on Ramsel Records, with the B-Side of “What a Price to Pay”.

“Jeanette” by Wade Flemons
Northern Soul Monday

Wade Flemons was born in September of 1940, in Coffeyville, Kansas. He started his Music career in 1958 as a Solo Artist but is best known as Musician and Singer in Earth, Wind, And Fire, between the years 1971-1972. (from Wikipedia)

Some of Flemons’ Solo Songs were adopted by the Northern Soul movement in the UK, most notably this one – “Jeanette” – and “That Other Place”. They were both originally recorded in 1968.

“That Other Place” by Wade Flemons

A little Northern Soul History:

The Wigan Casino was a nightclub in Wigan, England that was open between the years 1973 and 1981. It is famously known as a venue for Northern Soul Music. It inspired other Northern Soul clubs such as the Twisted Wheel, in Manchester, and the Chateau Impney, in Droitwich, the Catacombs, in Wolverhampton, and the Golden Torch, in Stoke-on-Trent.

There have been quite a few Media representations of the Wigan Casino. There is a TV Documentary called “This England”, which was filmed in 1977. Russ Winstanley and Dave Norwell wrote Soul Survivors, The Wigan Casino Story, published in 1996. Also, a stage play by Mick Martin about the Wigan Casino years, “Once Upon a Time In Wigan” debuted in February or 2003, at the Contact Theatre, in Manchester. (from Wikipedia)

Young people from all over the UK regularly attended Wigan Casino to hear the latest Northern Soul Artists and to Dance. There were long lines to get inside. The second Dance Floor inside, Mr. M’s, stayed open until Six A.M. the next morning and played Oldies Songs from a variety of DJ’s, including Dave Evison and Steve Whittle.  “All-Nighters” became popular. They were known to end with three Songs that became known as the “3 before 8” – “Time Will Pass You By” by Tobi Legend, “Long After Tonight is All Over” by Jimmy Radcliffe, and “I’m On My Way” by Dean Parrish.