Heart and (Northern) Soul

Tainted Love by Gloria Jones is blaring out the speakers inside a Manchester bar. All around, people wearing flairs and brogues are high kicking and spinning across the dance floor. The next song? Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson.

No, it’s not 1970, it’s 2025 and Deptford Northern Soul Club (DNSC) is hosting one of its monthly Northern Soul club nights full of twenty-somethings yearning for the iconic music and sub-culture of Northern Soul.

Even though the genre had its heyday in the 1970s, Northern Soul is enjoying a new wave of interest among young people. Only this time, they're posting about it on social media.

Back when co-founders Lewis Henderson and Will Foot launched the club, they wanted to do something that no one else was doing. They wanted to take Northern Soul out of the past and make it live again. The fact that their events are still as popular as ever eight years on – and have even expanded into Europe – would suggest they have succeeded.

“Soul music at that time in London, it was like an old men’s club,” says Lewis.

“From all of these anecdotes my dad had told it was always sweaty, young and energetic. What we wanted to do was try and bring it away from nostalgia and back into the context of ‘club culture’.”

Now, DNSC hosts monthly club nights in Manchester and London, playing nothing but vintage Northern Soul music.

“All of the songs are relevant because the most important thing to a lot of people is falling in love with someone and a lot of these songs were just love songs, and they play with the idea that you as an individual can make something of your life in a romantic sense and I think that's really timeless,” says Lewis.

In the past, DJs used to play songs three or four times because people had never heard them before. Streaming means that now people have access to songs at all times.

“I would never, ever play the same song twice in a set,” says Lewis. “The DJ used to be this kind of archaeologist, discovering something. And now that's not what they are, they're just kind of like a hype man really now.

“We're living in a different time. Before the internet, there was that great unknown. You didn't know what the DJ was going to play.”

@charlie.thesoulboy Replying to @Lynsey DISCLAIMER ⬇️ Everyone is going to have their own style, thats why I love Northern Soul! You get to see people moving in a way to that is unapolegitcally themselves, expressing their own unique personality. So if your two-step doesnt look exactly like mine, thats perfectly fine! There is no wrong or right way! Connect to the music in a way that feels right for you! That being said, it can feel a little daunting the first time you step on the floor, so having a basic step that you can always come back to throughout the night if you’re getting lost, is helpful to a lot of people. I’ve had a few people ask for some tutorials, so here is me demonstrating how I do it! I’m going to be posting more tutorials, getting progressivley more advanced, so follow the page if you want to be kept in the loop about the next installment in this series! We’ll be looking at a four-step next! 🕺 Any questions, dont hesitate to dm or comment! Keep the faith ✊ #northernsoulmusic #northernsoul #60smusic #70smusic #disco #60s #70s #mod #northernsouldancer #soulboy #northernsouldancing #70sfashion #soul #boy #retro #fyp #dance #oldschool #keepthefaith #keepthefaithnorthernsoul #northernsouldancersoulful #dancetutorial #tutorial #help ♬ Love Makes A Woman - Barbara Acklin

In comes Russ Winstanley – the father of Wigan Casino and the man who exposed Soft Cell to their number one hit cover of Tainted Love.

After becoming interested in Northern Soul in the early 70s, Russ started DJing at Wigan Rugby League Club, playing rare records his uncle brought back home with him from Florida. In 1973 he started doing nights at Wigan Casino.

By the time the Casino closed in 1983 he’d done 526 all-nighters. Songs got into the charts because he played them at Wigan Casino; he hosted events with the likes of Jackie Wilson and Bobby Womack; and now he’s doing Northern Soul events all around the world.

According to Russ, interest is growing so much at the moment for three reasons: nostalgia, a decline in nightclubs, and really good music.

“We’re probably keeping more working men's clubs and venues going these days by putting on lots of Northern Soul nights. They're all struggling quite a bit,” he says.

“I think part of it is because the nightclubs and places have tailed off a bit for the usual age group. So, they're not going and then they see that we're doing a Northern Soul night and some of them say, ‘come on then I’ve heard these are very good, we'll go along and see these.’

“And they come along. They enjoy the dancing. They enjoy the fact that it’s music and things that they weren't aware of, and they really enjoy it.

“I think they want to do something that’s a bit different. We didn't have the mobile phones when we were going out. You used to have to go out to meet your friends, they don't have to do that.

“I think that's what's really affected the nightclubs in particular. And they just want to get back now and have a look how it's done. You go to some nightclubs and there's hardly anybody in them, so they want to come to busy ones like ours.”

Have you ever been to a #NorthernSoul event? ✊🕺🪩
— Charlotte Fisher (@CharlotteFish_) January 15, 2025

Mobile phones and the internet haven’t just changed the role of the DJ. Northern Soul, Lewis says, is no longer a subculture.

“I don't think it is a subculture anymore,” he says. “If you want to look for subculture it’s probably not in music anymore. Through a period of time, people used to own music and collect it, and they were hoarding it and becoming fascinated by it.

“It was something that they'd live for, but I don't think people do that anymore. Nothing is owned. Everything is borrowed today, and, in that context, it doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to the audience anymore.”

An essential part of the sub-culture was finding rare, unreleased records that no-one else had. Something which is getting more and more difficult and sort after as time passes.

Now, after a lot of the original soul artists have died, no-one knows who owns the rights to their music.

So, it only exists physically – it’s not on any streaming platforms. Enthusiasts are now digging more than ever to find these rare, valuable records.

“It’s still that thing about digging,” says Lewis. "You're looking for that thing that no one else has; you're looking for that special song. There's so much Northern Soul out there because people had that amazing technology. It was the first time producing a record became a DIY practice. So, there’s so much documented music out there and no one has done a very good job of cataloguing it at all.

“This music should be heard, and I think maybe a DJ’s role now, referring back to what I said in the last question is, isn't actually just to be a hype man. It also is to be a spokesperson for musicians that can no longer speak because they're all dead.”

With many buried Northern Soul records still to be found; new, young energy being pumped into the clubs; and the original fans keeping the faith, the future of Northern Soul is looking bright.

And it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Russ is booked and busy, regularly playing shows at home and abroad, and for DNSC they want to take it back to where it all started.

“We want to take it to America,” added Lewis. “We should take it back to the communities in America where it came from and say, 'We still f***ing love all the music that your grandparents made.'”

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