Soul, Blues, Sixties Music Database
On the FANTASTIC UK ACTION label from this almost unknown lady Soul singer Della Humphrey.
We played this ’45 at the Blue Note Manchester.
Other tracks by Della Humphrey:
She made slow Soul ballads and also some reggae music.
![Bob & Marcia - Young, Gifted And Black [1970]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vF67IBYVPUU/hqdefault.jpg)
Bob And Marcia – Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths – recorded a hit Jamaican sound. Call it SKA Rock Steady Blue Beat or Reggae or whatever, this style of music was made popular in England in the early sixties at Jamaican clubs and Shabeens (illegal drinking houses). A very popular set of sounds at London clubs like the 100 and The Flamingo – where Georgie Fame took on the style of SKA alongside his Blues and Soul influences. Young Gifted And Black just said it all in 1970; the genre had emerged into full popularity from its hidden roots in hip clubs of the sixties. Even the ‘B’ side Pied Piper became a hit.
It was even released on Motown in the USA and also spawned an instrumental derivative.
In Manchester it was a sound made popular at the Twisted Wheel by Roger Eagle, with records such as Prince Buster’s All Stars with Al Capone being eternally popular on that Soul scene! And then re-introduced as a major theme at The Blue Note club.
In the seventies this music style, mostly brought to popularity by Prince Buster in the sixties, was then made even more popular by Bob Marley. A lot of chart hits by various artists followed and another interesting duet combination was the great new style from Althea and Donna: with UPTOWN TOP RANKING – giving the style a modern upbeat and unique approach and keeping up a tradition in SKA sounds of duet recordings.
Stranger And Patsy – Patsy Todd and Stranger Cole – on the Bluebeat label, were popular at Manchester’s Nile Club (Moss Side) and also at the only Manchester city centre club The Blue Note, that included Rock Steady SKA and Bluebeat alongside its Soul music focus.
This song by Dandy Livingstone was a huge track at both The Blue Note and The Twisted Wheel. It was all about the Rude Boys in Jamaica. And an even bigger hit in the 80’s when the Specials caught that SKA ROCK STEADY BLUE BEAT.
The Upsetters
This track by Theophilus Beckford was another Blue Beat 45 played regularly at the Blue Note Manchester.
Bob Marley was the legendary reggae singer, composer and musician who died at the untimely age of 36. In the early years of Blue Beat, Ska and Rock Steady, there were many releases that were covers of U.S. soul and R&B hits. One of our favourites, People Get Ready by the Impressions, was given the Ska treatment by Bob Marley and remains one of our best remembered tracks released by the legend.
Ken Booth
This song by Dave And Ansell Collins was played at the Blue Note in Manchester, a big chart hit too and by 1970 it was the premier club for SKA and Blue Beat, and I even heard it played at a Twisted wheel all-nighter.
No, not the other Glen Miller! What a rip-off, I even played this a couple of times at the Blue Note club in Manchester in 1969.
Its not really bad, it does have a great rap of lyrics, but how on earth did he get away with simply putting the entire duplicated Hip-Hug-Her by Booker T And The MG’s as the backing??!
I guess that Booker and Stax had enough trouble at that time as Atlantic records had all the rights to everything STAX a mistake made by the owners of the record company by a small print message within the Stax distribution contract: Stax had no rights to thier own recordings once Atlantic distributed them! And I bet that if they did hear about this rip-off on Dr Bird, they passed it over as a problem for Atlantic who probably never heard of it anyway.
But then again its so obscure and only sold a few copies sold, (and I got mine in a junk sale in a shop on Denmark Road Moss Side for a few pennies) so you may ask who cares…