Gail Woods

Growing up in St Helens Mersyside I was into soul, northern soul, funk, indie, some punk and reggae.

But Northern Soul had such a special appeal because even when I was as young as 14, me and my friends regularly attended venues such as The Court in Prescot Road, where we could dance all night to soul stompers from unheard girl or boy groups that wanted to be the next "Supremes" or "Temptations", or guys who wanted to sound like Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder. The dancing was amazing by both boys and girls, backdrops and spins were the norm. We had to bring seperate flat shoes for dancing because the music was so energetic. I loved it. All day events were held so we could dance from 11am to 11pm on Sundays. The tracks became cult classics and rare singles could exchange hands for £5 when the average single was maybe 50 pence!!

When we got older we used to assemble at such places as The Mecca in Blackpool, The Torch In Stoke on Trent and of course the legendary Wigan Casino. All nighters were held and no-one arrived home before 6am the next day.

A guy called Ian Levine is said to have brought the first northern soul singles from America and played them first at The Twisted Wheel, a legendary club in it's home town of Manchester. These musical gems have since become classics and are even used in TV commercials such as KFC and have been sampled many times by artists such as Fat Boy Slim and have definite staying power.

Keep The Faith!

What do you like most about living in our area?

The beach, countryside and general lovliness of our area.

Name one thing that's on your 'must do list'

Be fluent in another language or retire early and go round the world, buy a house in france…. The list is endless.

Who do you like most in the world of music?

Prince

What is the best gig that you've been to?

Prince.

What was the first film that you saw at the cinema?

A Disney film.

If you could swap places with someone who would it be?

At this moment I would swap places with one of the professional dancers in strictly - perhaps Karen.

Disco or Dance?

Disco of course.