Neil Rushton

Last updated

Neil Rushton is a British journalist, DJ, record dealer, record label entrepreneur, event promoter and author who is closely associated with the Northern soul scene.

Contents

Life and career

Rushton was born in Birmingham in the mid-1950s, but moved to nearby Walsall at the age of 10 and now lives in Burntwood, near Lichfield. [1]

He developed a passion for Black American music during the late 1960s and first became involved in the Northern soul scene in the early 1970s, attending Northern soul events such as The Catacombs in Wolverhampton and the Golden Torch in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent. [2]

In 1975, aged 21, Rushton promoted a Northern soul event at the Queen Mary's Ballroon in Dudley Zoo. He then went on to found the Heart of England Soul Club (HESC) and organise and promote hugely successful Northern soul and jazz-funk "all-dayers" at Tiffany's in Coalville, Leicestershire and later The Ritz in Manchester and Blackpool Mecca. The 1977 Blackpool Mecca Soul Festival was organised in conjunction with DJs Ian Levine and Colin Curtis, featured the US band Brass Construction and was attended by 3200 people. [3] HESC events were notable for their eclectic music policy, which was designed to appeal equally to fans of the traditional Northern soul sound along with those who followed the more contemporary sounds of jazz-funk and disco. This split in the Northern soul scene was reflected in the schism between regulars at the Blackpool Mecca and Wigan Casino soul nights at the time. [4]

Later that decade, he founded Inferno Records which specialised in the licensing and reissuing of music made popular on the Northern soul scene. Amongst Inferno Record's releases were two popular Northern soul compilation LPs, Out On The Floor Tonight and Soul Galore and a reissue of Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" on 7". The label also attained some minor success when it leased the rights for Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love" from AVI Productions in Los Angeles and reissued the original song on 7" and an extended all-nighter version on 12" vinyl format. This was in the wake of Soft Cell's 1981 UK#1 cover version and the Inferno reissue 7" sold 45,000 copies. [5]

Later in the 1980s, Rushton managed the band the Dream Factory and founded Kool Kat Records in 1987, a record label which specialised in importing house music and techno from the US. [6]

Rushton was instrumental in defining the electronic dance music genre Detroit techno in 1988 through the release of the compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit for 10 Records in the UK, with sleeve notes by Stuart Cosgrove. [7]

In 2001, he set up the SuSU record label, to cater for the vocal/soulful house music market in the UK, [8] and continues to be involved in the UK dance music and Northern soul scenes as both a DJ and promoter.

In 2009, he authored and published Northern Soul Stories: Angst and Acetates, a history of the Northern soul scene from its origins in the early 1960s up to the present day.

Notes

  1. ↑ Soul Survivors and The New Wave - Farmer Carl Dene Returns at Newhampton, Soul Source, 9 March 2012
  2. ↑ Neil Rushton, Northern Soul Stories, Chapter 2, page 108
  3. ↑ Mark Cotgrove, From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz: The History of the UK Jazz Dance Scene, Section 2 "The Interviews", page 89
  4. ↑ David Nowell, Too Darn Soulful: The Story of Northern Soul. Chapter 7, page 187.
  5. ↑ David Nowell, Too Darn Soulful: The Story of Northern Soul. Chapter 7, page 191.
  6. ↑ Tamworth Bands Neil Rushton by Mark Mortimer
  7. ↑ Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit on Discogs.com
  8. ↑ Discogs-SuSU SuSU discography on Discogs.com

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.

Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Drexciya, Mike Banks, James Pennington and Robert Hood. Artists like Terrence Parker and his lead vocalist, Nicole Gregory, set the tone for Detroit's piano techno house sound.

Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines stylistic features of techno with house. The term tech house developed as a shorthand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, such as "rugged basslines" and "steely beats", with the harmonies and grooves of progressive house. The music originally had a clean and minimal production style that was associated with techno from Detroit and the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern soul</span> Music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England in the late 1960s

Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British mod scene, based on a particular style of Black American soul music with a heavy beat and fast tempo.

Broken beat is an electronic dance music genre characterized by syncopated beats and tense rhythms, including staggered or punctuated snare beats and/or hand claps. It has been heavily influenced by styles such as jazz-funk and R&B. Artists in this area typically emerged from the drum and bass, house, hip hop, techno or acid jazz scenes.

Rare groove is music that is very hard to source or relatively obscure. Rare groove is primarily associated with funk, R&B and jazz funk, but is also connected to subgenres including jazz rock, reggae, Latin jazz, soul, rock music, northern soul, and disco. Vinyl records that fall into this category generally have high re-sale prices. Rare groove records have been sought by not only collectors and lovers of this type of music, but also by hip hop artists and producers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz-funk</span> Subgenre of jazz music

Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from pure jazz improvisation to soul, funk or disco with jazz arrangements, jazz riffs, jazz solos, and sometimes soul vocals. Jazz-funk was popular in United States and United Kingdom. Similar genres include soul jazz, jazz fusion and acid jazz.

ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label was known as Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The label specialized in disco, early house music, and 1990s techno. Founder Bernhard Mikulski is credited with coining the term "Italo disco" in the 1980s. After Bernhard's death, his wife Christa Mikulski took over in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackpool Mecca</span>

The Blackpool Mecca was a large entertainment venue on Central Drive in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, in North West England, first opened in 1965. In the 1970s, it was particularly known for The Highland Room, which was a major Northern Soul music venue. From 1977 onwards it was also host to the Commonwealth Sporting Club. The building was closed down in 1980s and was finally demolished in January 2009 to make way for new campus buildings of Blackpool and The Fylde College. However, following an issue with funding B&FC withdrew and as of 2013 the site is planned for residential development.

Snowboy is an English percussionist, bandleader, DJ and journalist.

Network Records was an independent record label founded in Birmingham, England, in 1988 by Neil Rushton and Dave Barker.

Nik Weston is a DJ, music producer, record label owner of Mukatsuku Records and music buyer for Juno Records. Based out of London, UK, he was from the late 1990s to 2007 a key player in the promotion and distribution of Japanese recording artists and their releases outside of the country, as part of the late 1990s into 2000s revival in the jazz dance, soul-jazz and electronic Japanese music scene. He is a keen advocate of the vinyl record format.

Old school jazz dance refers to the improvised dancing style that originated in the UK in the 1970s. The style grew in clubs in the UK, mainly in London and in northern cities, with the sounds of bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, fusion, swing and other Latin-influenced jazz and funk.

Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.

Colin Curtis is a British DJ whose career spans several decades and musical developments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outta Sight Records</span> British record label

Outta Sight Records, also known as Outta Sight Soul Essentials was formed in the UK in December 2006, as part of the Castle Music family of imprints within the Sanctuary Records Group. It was conceived as a vehicle to reissue the soul catalogue owned by the group. The catalogue included the Pye and Piccadilly/Dawn UK labels plus De-Lite, Sugarhill, Chelsea, Perception, Today, Maple and associated subsidiaries. In late 2007 Sanctuary was acquired by the Universal Music Group (UMG). Outta Sight reverted to being an independent label and was relaunched in February 2010. The label, based in Warwickshire, England is distributed in the UK by Passion Music Limited and Essential Music & Marketing.

Shaun Williams is a DJ and jazz dancer from Birmingham, United Kingdom, notable for his pioneering role in the UK's jazz fusion and electro music scenes. He achieved success with the early electro club track, released with DSM, "Warrior Groove".

Kendra Spotswood is an American soul singer and is considered to be one of the most underrated singers of the girl group era. She is known best for her collaboration with Van McCoy, her membership of The Shirelles and her song "You're Gonna Make Me Love You" a favorite on the UK Northern soul scene, which she recorded under the name Sandi Sheldon.

Rose Battiste was an American rhythm and blues singer from 1960s Detroit, Michigan, United States. Her best known tracks were "I Miss My Baby" written by Richard Parker as "D. Peoples", and "Hit And Run". In 1970, Ian Levine brought records from the U.S. to England, including Rose Battiste's "Hit and Run". Battiste was filmed performing at the Blackpool Mecca for the video collection The Strange World of Northern Soul by Ian Levine. She drew a following after being rediscovered in England during the Northern soul movement.

<i>Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit</i> Compilation album by various artists

Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit is a 1988 compilation of early Detroit techno tracks released on the Virgin Records UK imprint 10 Records. The compilation's title helped establish the term "techno" as the name for electronic dance music emerging out of Detroit in the 1980s.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.