Sunday 20 November 2022

Indeed I Do!

Unaccustomed as I am, dear reader, to feature artists like Bruce Springsteen on this here blog [not normally "our kind of music" at all], an article in The Guardian yesterday piqued some interest...

...for @adecadeago, I published this:

RIP Frank Wilson, soul music producer, who died on Friday. Who? You may ask...

Mr Wilson would have been admired for his sterling work in the music industry - but little else - had it not been for the fact he recorded one of the rarest popular music tracks of all time.

The story of how the man's recording of his own song for Motown back in the 60s eventually led this obscure and deleted pressing to be the most expensive 7" single ever is indeed a fascinating one.

Read the story on Soul Source.

Largely revived from obscurity by the fanatics of the Northern Soul scene in the UK in the 1970s, a copy of Frank Wilson's under-rated original sold in 2009 for more than £25,000!

Here is that very song, Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do):

[2022 update: new video featurung the legendary Northern Soul venue Wigan Casino]

Oh, and by the way - Frank Wilson also wrote this rather more familiar classic:

Now, ten years down the line, there are rumours that Mr Wilson's rare record may well have recently changed hands for £100,000...

...and to top it all - "The Boss" has revived this Northern Soul classic for his new single, bringing it a whole new audience in the USA, where it originated yet remains completely unknown:

Frank Wilson would have been so proud.

His original remains the far superior version, of course.

13 comments:

  1. There was some fine footwork in that Northern Soul Dancing video. A good friend here grew up in the Midlands and he is a Northern Soul fanatic.

    Stoned love... ah yeah.

    Springsteen honors Frank Wilson!

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    1. I could never dance that energetically. even when I was young and lithe!

      We've noticed over the years that Northern Soul is popular among the expats on the Costa - I suppose if you live in the chilly north of England, it's very tempting to sell up and migrate south when you retire, bringing your music with you...

      Jx

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    2. This is a friend who moved here with his Spanish wife and their baby about 20 years ago. Northern Soul must be retro for him.

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    3. The genre never died - Marc Almond based all his early repertoire with Soft Cell around it, and the likes of Duffy, Carmel, and even Adele in her early days all paid due homage.

      There are "Northern Soul nights" and "weekenders" up and down the country to this day, so it's understandable that your friend might have "discovered" it, even if it wasn't really his era. Jx

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  2. rip. your last picture there is of the soul singer Jerry Butler, not mr. wilson

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    Replies
    1. Better let the Classic Motown website know that, then, as that is where I got the photo from. Jx

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  3. Nice flares! Difficult to tuck into wellies though.
    I do like Springsteen's version.
    Sx

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    Replies
    1. Not many muddy lanes in Wigan, I imagine. Jx

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  4. Wow... great story. Well told. Thanks for sharing this. Music history is real history. And this is an amazing story.

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    Replies
    1. It is a remarkable - and convoluted (Detroit via Wigan) - story, indeed. I love this kind of thing, as you probably have guessed. Jx

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  5. Fascinating stuff
    Loved seeing the legendary Wigan Casino in the 1st Vid.
    Love the music (not Bruce Springsteen)
    "what do we do Malcolm" ? - - -

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