Northern Soul was probably the most exciting sub-culture underground
movement of the 70s. In its heyday thousands of people were travelling
hundreds of miles to take part in all-night events and listen to the latest
breaking tracks from across the water.Wespeak to legendary Northern Soul DJ
RussWinstanley,themanwho created the iconicWigan Casino all-nighters.
How did it all start?
“After attending Bolton’sCromwellian
Club in the late 60s and Blackpool Mecca
in the early 70sIstartedaFriday Northern
Soul Night atWigan Rugby League Club in
1971, before transferring to the much
biggerWigan Casino with three rooms and
acapacity of over 4,000.Iran the events
every Saturday; midnight until 8am. Once
amonth there was also an ‘oldie’ all-
nighter and early sessions every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday.”
Between 1973 and 1981, how many people
do you think visited Wigan Casino?
“There were over 500 all-nighters and
1,600 early sessions. There were
approximately 100,000 members. The
average all-nighter attendance was around
3,000 and the early session attendance
was around 1,250.Weekly attendance,
with oldies all-nighter included, was over
10,000–around two million ‘Soulies’
visited from 1973 to 1981!”
Were you involved with anything else?
“Initially,in1 972, Iran amail order
import record business inWigan, plus a
HIGH PROFILE NORTHERN SOUL EVENTS
RUSS IS INVOLVED WITH THIS YEAR:
Butlin’sSkegness NorthernSoul Weekender: 8,500 Soullovers ,10t op acts, 30topjocks
andfive venues:September20-22.
Thoresby Hall,Nottingham weekender: October4-6.AswellasRuss, DJs include Ian Lavine,
Alan King,Brian Rae, Di Herring, StuartRussell andCliveJones.
Also, betweenOctober23 and 27 Russ willbejoining Phillip Dickandthe re st of theguys
for Motown’ s60thbirthday celebrations in Detroit.(Check out DetroitaGoGo).
Russ Winstanley
An exclusive interview with
stall onWigan market and at the all-
nighters. Then in 1974Iopene dmyown
shop in Hallgate,Wigan. Iwas quite lucky
too, because my Uncle Peter lived in the
USA and he could send me lots
of rarities.”
Who were the original DJs?
“There was myself and Ian Fishwick in the
main room. Initially we only opened at
2am for the first year and the Casino’s
Beachcomber Club opened to get everyone
off the road. The DJs in there were Brian
Rigby,Alain Cain, Henny Spence and Ste’
Whittle. The first night was 75p each, we
attracted over 650 Soul lovers, and within
afew weeks we were packed! After that I
soon chose other guest DJs to keep up
with the demand!”
What acts graced the ‘Heart of Soul?’
“I included acts as often as possible,
some of which were JackieWilson, Martha
Reeves, Edwin Starr,R.Dean Taylor,
Gloria Jones, The Elgins, JnrWalker,Betty
Wright, Billy Butler,The Exciters, The
Marvelettes, Major Lance, Archie Bell and
The Drells, Detroit Emeralds, plusaguy I
discovered and had three chart hits with,
Tommy Hunt.”
What hit records werefirst spun at
Wigan Casino?
“Toname justafew,whichalsobecame
hits were: ‘Ghost in My House’–R.Dean
Taylor: no3, May 1974. ‘The Night’ –
FrankieValli and the Four Seasons: no7,
April 1975. ‘Cracking Up and Losing the
Loving Side’-Tommy Hunt: 1975 &
- ‘Hold Back the Night’-Trammps:
no5, October 1975. ‘Don’tTake Away the
Music’–Tavares: no4, October 1976.
‘Don’t Leave Me ThisWay’ –Thelma
Houston: no13, February 1977. ‘Contact’
–Edwin St arr: no6, 1979. ‘Under My
Thumb’–Wayne Gibson: no17, November
- ‘The OnlyWayisUp’ –Otis Clay,
which becameamassive hit forYaz.
‘Tainted Love’–Gloria Jones, which was
later covered by Marc Almond and David
Ball of Soft Cell and wasanumber one hit
for them in August 1981. Also Edwyn
Collins hadamassive hit with ‘A Girl Like
You’, which he wrote aboutWigan Casino!
Wasn’t Wi gan Casino thefirst club to have
its own record label?
“It was my label, Casino Records, which
was founded in February 1978.We had
great record sales in the specialist shops,
which were not used to record sales for
chart purposes. Casino Records had its
Historic memories.
Original posters and pictures.
Russ and Stu in the
Grand Arcade in the
spot where Wigan
Casino once stood.
68 |SCOOTERING|AUGUST2019
