Russ Winstanley
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. We speak to legendary Northern Soul DJ RussWinstanley, the man who created the iconic Wigan Casino all-nighters. How did it all start?
“After attending Bolton’s Cromwellian Club in the late 60s and Blackpool Mecca in the early 70s I started a Friday Northern Soul Night at Wigan Rugby League Club in 1971, before transferring to the much bigger Wigan Casino with three rooms and a capacity of over 4,000. I ran the events every Saturday; midnight until 8am. Once a month there was also an ‘oldie’ allnighter 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, in 1972, I ran a mail order import record business in Wigan, plus a stall on Wigan market and at the allnighters. Then in 1974 I opened my own shop in Hallgate, Wigan. I was 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 a few 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 Jackie Wilson, Martha Reeves, Edwin Starr, R. Dean Taylor, Gloria Jones, The Elgins, Jnr Walker, Betty Wright, Billy Butler, The Exciters, The Marvelettes, Major Lance, Archie Bell and The Drells, Detroit Emeralds, plus a guy I discovered and had three chart hits with, Tommy Hunt.”
What hit records were first spun at Wigan Casino?
“To name just a few, which also became hits were: ‘Ghost in My House’ – R. Dean Taylor: no3, May 1974. ‘The Night’ – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: no7, April 1975. ‘Cracking Up and Losing the Loving Side’ - Tommy Hunt: 1975 & 1976. ‘Hold Back the Night’- Trammps: no5, October 1975. ‘Don’t Take Away the Music’ – Tavares: no4, October 1976. ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ – Thelma Houston: no13, February 1977. ‘Contact’ – Edwin Starr: no6, 1979. ‘Under My Thumb’ – Wayne Gibson: no17, November 1974. ‘The Only Way is Up’ – Otis Clay, which became a massive hit for Yaz. ‘Tainted Love’ – Gloria Jones, which was later covered by Marc Almond and David Ball of Soft Cell and was a number one hit for them in August 1981. Also Edwyn Collins had a massive hit with ‘A Girl Like You’, which he wrote about Wigan Casino!
Wasn’t Wigan Casino the first 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