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Northern Soul, Major Lance
When you hear the name “Major Lance” or “Okeh” they mean just one thing and that's pure unadulterated Northern Soul. The “Major” was a man of many talents and could pack a punch out on the stage, in a recording studio, where he was always in his element performing and recording Northern Soul and also in the boxing ring. As an accomplished amateur boxer, the Major could move around the dance floor pretty well too and was well known to millions of viewers as a regular dancer on the US TV “Record Hop” show. I am not sure of the exact year in which the “Major” was born in Mississippi, having seen it recorded as 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1942 !!! The general consensus seems to favour April 1941 and later he would move to Chicago to continue his musical career. The name “Major” surprisingly was not a nick-name, but his actual name, which he would make famous on the Soul circuit and in particular the Northern Soul scene and later the US "Beach" scene, until his premature death in September 1994.
Perhaps the Major says it, summing up the feelings of most Northern Soul
fans when singing: "There's a place right across
town whenever your ready, Personally I remember the Major best for his some twenty years before he left this World, around 1974 and at his last performance in the UK prior to him returning home to the USA after living in England for two-years. It was a significant time for me, for I was getting ready to leave England for Australia and was watching the UK Northern Soul scene changing direction dramatically, for the first time it was becoming “popular” rather than “underground” music. It was only coincidental that as the Major left the UK to return home to the US, I was getting ready to leave England for my new home in Australia. At the time the Major left England “Northern Soul” music hit the UK Top of the Pops and I swapped my “baggies” for flares, believing the end of an era had come for Northern Soul. I was wrong and who could have ever have guessed that more than thirty years later, Northern Soul would still be alive and would record these old memories and the legend of Major Lance would be stronger than ever. I still hold Major Lance in the very highest of regards as a soul artiste. Northern Soul prior to 1975 was "my time" and this will of course be different for many, after all, we all have our own individual tastes and I guess it's just a matter of which were the most influential years. I suspect for most people these will have been in their mid to late teens. I guess it's just a matter of when you were born and what was happening around 16 or so years later.
The Major’s influence on the Northern Soul scene has been as great if not greater than that of any other artist and began well before the terminology “Northern Soul” had ever been thought of. Like many the Major started singing gospel in a group known as “The Five Gospel Harmonies”. He then formed “The Floats” working together with Otis Leavill. The ‘Floats” are not to be confused with the ‘Floaters” and never actually released any records. It would be 1959 when the Major began working with his old school friend Curtis Mayfield, producer Carl Davis and Billy Butler, who would all greatly influence each others careers. It was Mayfield who wrote “I got a girl” which the Major recorded on the Mercury label. History has shown that things really started moving for Major Lance when he joined the greatest Northern Soul label ever “OKeh” around 1962. His first OKeh release was the little known “Delilah”, soon to be followed by his first US chart hit “Monkey Time” which is a record many a Northern Soul will fan still have in their record boxes and one which would help cement the Major’s working relationship with Curtis Mayfield. This partnership would go from strength to strength and deliver many great records including “Hey Little Girl”, “Um Um Um” and “Rhythm”. In 1965 the major toured the UK, this was far before his later Northern Soul success in the early 70's and was supported by a UK backing band fro Middlesex named “Bluesology, who appeared live at the Twisted Wheel and whose pianist was an unknown youngster named Reggie Dwight, much later to become well known to us all as none other than Elton John.
Although the Major was scheduled and advertised to appear at Manchester's Twisted Wheel in 1965 & at Whitwoth Street in 1970 he never did, although his recordings became extremely popular there, especially after the Wheel's own record collection was stolen. Popular Wheel tracks included "Hey Little Girl, OKeh 7181", "The Matador, OKeh 7191" and perhaps the biggest of all was "The Beat" a big favourite there around 1968 and which can still be found on Okeh 7255. All these tracks have to be some of the best Northern Soul value available today at around just 20 quid each, which seems ridiculously low considering the huge sums being paid today for records, some of which in my humble opinion are not very soulful by comparison to the Major's storming tracks. The Major continued in the tradition of the fast stomping tracks that are still embraced by Northern Soul lovers all over the World, non better than the incredible “Investigate”, the unforgettable anthem OKeh 7266 “Ain’t No Soul (in these old shoes)”. It was around 1969 when the Major left Okeh, rumoured to be due to disagreements and bungles brought about by the Epic label management who had been put in charge of OKeh and who had some disagreements with Carl Davis. The Major looked for another label and found "Dakar" and Carl Davis ended up at Brunswick, what a loss of two great talents. Unfortunately it turned out to be a Lose-Lose situation as Dakar did not prove to be all that successful for Major Lance where apart from the Top 40 release “Follow the Leader” on Dakar 608 and “Sweeter as the days go by” Dakar 612, nothing much would happen. The Major and Curtis Mayfield reunited when he joined the Curtom label releasing in 1970 “Stay away from me (I love you too much)” on Curtom 1953 and “Must be love coming down” on Curtom 1956. Leaving the Curtom label in 1971 the Major tried out with the Volt and Columbia labels, recording “I wanna make up (before we break up)” on Volt 4079 and “Come what may” on Columbia 10488 but overall didn’t achieve anything like the same success as when working with Mayfield. Then came periods on the Volt and Playboy labels and then the Major started the Osiris label with the former Booker T and the MG’s member Al Jackson, on which he recorded “You’re everything I need” (Osiris 001) and "I've got a right to cry" (Osiris 002).
The Major then decided to go and see why his work had become more popular in England than in the US as did some other well known Northern Soul artists, so the Major packed his bags and headed for England arriving in 1972, the UK Northern Soul scene was never to be the same and the Major’s contribution was truly phenomenal and unforgettable. It was just a little too late for the Wheel, but the Major was to become legendary as a UK Club act, known to deliver 110% at every performance. It would be in this tradition when in December 1972 that the Major recorded what would become perhaps the best known Northern Soul album of all time “Live at the Torch” which was recorded on the UK Contempo label and can also be found on OKeh and nowadays on CD, with many a track even found on MP3. As the title suggests the album was recorded live at one of the most famous Northern Soul clubs of all time, the Torch in Stoke on Trent. The Northern Soul fans knew the Major would be there and turned from all over the UK in their thousands, the attendance was a record 1,300 never to be broken at the Torch, and hundreds were left outside with just no room left to let them in. The Torch album may not be remembered for it’s musical backing, but it is perhaps the best Northern Soul album ever made, it was the Major and the audience that made it work, it certainly will never be forgotten for it’s raw enthusiasm and has, just like the Major become a Northern Soul icon, having not only the Major, but also audience participation that perhaps only those from the Northern Soul scene might ever truly appreciate. The sheer passion of that occasion at the Torch brought tears to the Major eyes, as until that moment he had not realised the extent to which he was idolised in the UK. Testimony to the occasion and the Major's enduring popularity on the Northern scene the "Live at the Torch" album was re issued by Contempo in 1996 more than twenty years after the original live performance (the re issue is the one with the purple cover). It was not only the Twisted Wheel and the Torch that embraced the Major recordings, but also the Blackpool Mecca, where "You don't want me no more" written by Billy Butler and Carl Davis was a monster dance floor track and still is in any Northern Soul club even today.
The Beat goes on In 1974 the major returned to the US, signed with the Playboy label and re-released an up tempo disco version of “Um Um Um” which became a minor hit. A rough patch followed from 1975 onwards and leading up to 1978 things got even worse culminating in the Major falling foul of the law being convicted on drugs related charges, allegedly for selling cocaine. Four years in prison doesn’t help anyone’s musical career, not even someone as talented as the Major. Fortunately on his release he was to find not only were his recordings still popular in the UK, but also on the US Carolina Coast where the USA “Beach” scene had embraced his music. After his release in 1983 the Major recorded his comeback album aptly titled "The Major's Back" and the 12" single in the "boogie" 4/4 style "Are you leaving me" on the Kat Family label.
A cruel blow was to follow with the Major's first heart attack in 1987 all but putting paid to the comeback the Major so much wanted to continue. The last ever performance from the Major was to be much later and some twenty years after he left England, at the Chicago Blues Festival, shortly after which he would die of a second and fatal heart attack. Gone but never to be forgotten, Major Lance will always enjoy true legendary status on the Northern scene, the Major was and still is the epitome of Northern Soul, and his name will always be remembered and held in the highest regard when and wherever the Torch, Okeh or Northern Soul might ever be mentioned and so I might add it should be.
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Um Um Um !