Ska, Reggae and Northern Soul

Combining Jamaican Folk music, or Mento, with Jazz and Rhythm and Blues in the late 1950s, Ska is the parent of Reggae, Rocksteady and 2 Tone. Think Prince Buster and Jimmy Cliff.

Reggae was Influenced by Jazz Rhythm and Blues, Ska and Rocksteady. This homegrown Jamaican music fanned out across the world, courtesy of the Jamaican diaspora. The music of the people was often with social or political commentary and it was in some ways a precursor for the punk movement. Also associated with Rastafarianism, the great artists to date include Bob Marley and The Wailers, Toots and The Maytals and Jimmy Cliff. Many artists launched their careers in the UK and along with the homegrown London based Steel Pulse and Birmingham’s UB40. Read up on the greatest in Bob Marley: The Untold Story and there is some great depiction of Notting Hill Carnival in the Café Royal Books, Peter Marshall — Notting Hill Carnival the 1990s

The Northern Soul scene was built around the lesser known Motown Artists, very often the B sides picked up on vinyl fishing expeditions to the USA by the Northern Soul Artists. Though not the complete preserve of the North of England, the hot spots for the movement were centred on Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. The Twisted Wheel in Manchester, Wigan Casino, The Torch in Stoke and Catacombs in Wolverhampton amongst the temples of Northern Soul.