At fourteen years old, I discovered the joy of listening to The Velvelettes "Needle In A H
At fourteen years old, I discovered the joy of listening to The Velvelettes "Needle In A Haystack", not once, not twice, but probably twenty times a day. I knew every word, every nuance, of Cal Gill's amazingly plaintive vocal. The more obscure Motown groups fascinated me far more than the obvious ones. Which is why, when I started Motorcity, I sought out The Velvelettes and re-recorded my beloved classic. And then, of course, also had to record this amazing classic, "He Was Really Saying Something". And these Velvelettes were all four original girls. Not a substitution in sight. I continued to record them over the next few years, releasing their first ever album, something which, at the time, they had never achieved at Motown. There was also another wonderful song that I co-wrote with Ivy Jo Hunter, the legendary Motown songwriter, called "It Keeps Reminding Me (Of Happy memories)", a song which summed up everything I tried to achieve with my Motorcity Reunion Project. When this video was filmed, in July 1989, Norma had a prior commitment, so the girls are down to three here, Cal, Bertha, and Millie
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Disco 2008 is nearly here.
24 brand new Disco tracks in time for Christmas. All of them r
Disco 2008 is nearly here.
24 brand new Disco tracks in time for Christmas. All of them recorded since August 2007.
24 fabulous retro disco delights, with a DVD also, of the performances of all 24 songs that are on the CD.
And here is the absolute piece de resistance. Track one.
The most outrageous video we have ever made.
Deanne makes her living as a Diana Ross impersonator, and has toured America and won awards.
The song was written by me and Damon Rochfort and Aron Friedman, way back in 1993, for an artist called Dee Jacobee, who was signed to Mercury. Dee was a wonderful Disco Diva but her records never came out.
Fourteen years later, and my friend Soren Jensen, when learning we were doing "Disco 2008", said we simply had to use that song and re-record it from scratch. I always pictured Diana Ross singing it, and the great lady has always been the artist I have most wanted to produce all my life.
Well I might not be getting my wish, but this is pretty damn close.
I love it.
PLEASE buy Disco 2008 in December, available through Vital, and marketed by GoldSoul Records.
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Sally Phillips and Doon MacKichan sharing a couple of kisses in a sketch.
Buy the best
Sally Phillips and Doon MacKichan sharing a couple of kisses in a sketch.
Buy the best of DVD it's effing hilarious.
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I predict that this is the video that is going to become my biggest ever hit on YouTube, a
I predict that this is the video that is going to become my biggest ever hit on YouTube, and that's no mean feat after chalking up two and a half million views of my videos so far. But I think this is the best video we have ever made and I am so proud of it. It makes the perfect showpiece for the new album, "Northern Soul 2008", and is this album's one and only slice of blue-eyed soul, on this gorgeous late-60s-London sounding stomper with a young, exciting new talent, seventeen year old Holly Harrison in front of the mike. This fabulous track, with its overtones of Petula Clark's "Downtown" (although quite different as a song) was originally cut for Venicia Wilson, who rescheduled six times before it became obvious that her problems meant she was not going to be doing a new track in the immediate future. Venicia (real name Kate Jackson) was the former girlfriend of Steve Brookstein, and it was he who recommended Holly for the track as being just the right look and voice for something Venicia Wilson would have recorded. Holly not only sounded the part, but turned up to film in a Sixties mini-dress and bobbed Mary Quant style hairdo, looking like she arrived to film "Ready Steady Go" in 1965, complete with two inch eyelashes! This could be Centre City's most popular video of all time. Holly's manager, Alan Sheppard, has been a miracle worker, and delivered to us the consummate artist, who could knock Duffy and Amy straight off their perch. This is the absolute first time premiere of another track which I am exclusively unveiling here on YouTube, from the next forthcoming album, "Northern Soul 2008", which will be released on June 30th, 2008. Holly Harrison sings "Bright Lights Of The City". It is true to say that I have tried many times in my life to capture that quintessence of what makes a Northern Soul record actually work on the dancefloor, and with records like Sidney Barnes "Standing On Solid Ground" and Chuck Jackson "All Over The World", I certainly hit a popular chord. But this time I have never been more artistically satisfied. Everything about this wonderful new song suggests the magic and energy of the era that I fell in love with as a teenager. Forget the purists - this one has it all. If you can keep your feet still while listening to this, then you must be a country and western fan or something. Holly Harrison, along with The Concentrations, Jennifer Dee, Verna Francis, Tahira Jumah, Fay Jones, Shenton Dixon and Winston Ward, represents the new generation of Centre City artists. The new album, "Northern Soul 2008" will be released on June 30th on Centre City Records, distributed once again by Passion Music and Pinnacle, and available to pre-order through the new website, http://www.ianlevine.co.uk This new current upcoming Northern Soul album is a sequel to our album from last year, "Northern Soul 2007" which was the very first release on Centre City Records. I have spent thirty two years honing my craft to the point when I am able to produce authentic records like this. There are some small minded people who call themselves fans of Northern Soul who refuse to accept that anybody can make a new record that sounds like the real thing. But with well over two million YouTube hits, they seem to be thankfully a very small minority, and my YouTube page is officially the 54th most watched UK Music Channel on YouTube of ALL-TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The new album will consist of twenty four brand new 2008 songs by soul and disco legends. Each song has an accompanying video of the artist basically performing it the studio and in outside locations, and the DVD will have four extra bonus tracks too. The work that we have all put into this project is quite staggering, and I hope it will break down the barriers between the older Northern Soul stalwarts and a new generation who need younger acts who still produce the same vibe we all witnessed forty years ago for Motown's glory years. Play the CD, watch the DVD, and give new Northern Soul a chance this time. Holly and I co-wrote this wonderful song, "Bright Lights Of The City", which sounds like a classic 1960s Dusty Springfield masterpiece.
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Gerod Harris reinterprets my classic L.J. Johnson hit, "Your Magic Put A Spell On Me", fir
Gerod Harris reinterprets my classic L.J. Johnson hit, "Your Magic Put A Spell On Me", first recorded in the summer of 1975 in Chicago, and turning into a top thirty pop hit in February 1976, with L.J. appearing on Top Of The Pops on the exact same show as Evelyn Thomas performing "Weak Spot". What an amazing week that was for a naive young twenty one year old record producer. Now thirty two years later, here it is again. And now, in 2008, I could think of no-one else capable of recreating this wonderful sound than those falsetto tones of Gerod. Of course this song is yet another performance for my oh so important new project. My brand new album, "Yesterday And Tomorrow", is probably the most dear to my heart project that I have ever undertaken. I decided after thirty three years since I made my very first record, "Reaching For The Best" by The Exciters, to take a trip back down memory lane and recut thirty of my classics on artists who I am currently working with, reinterpreting them in 2008 without losing the magic that made them special in the first place. It's a totally self indulgent project, but one which already has my fans salivating with delight. I first got the idea when I recut Evelyn Thomas's wonderful classic "Have A Little Faith In Me" with Ebony Alleyne, last year. So I'm doing thirty in total, twenty four for the CD and six more extra ones for the DVD, picking either my biggest hits, my most beloved tracks, or the songs which people most requested to see a video. As I must clearly explain, these are not the original versions. And that's what makes the project exciting and new.These are brand spanking new interpretaions of the classics, by Centre City's current roster of artists , built up over a thirty three year career of making records.
REACHING FOR THE BEST - WEAK SPOT - YOUR MAGIC PUT A SPELL ON ME - BABY I'M STILL THE SAME MAN - HE'S SO IRREPLACEABLE - MY HEAD'S IN THE STARS - NO WAY OUT - LOOKS LIKE LOVE IS HERE TO STAY - I'M IN WONDERLAND- TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY - MY CLAIM TO FAME - TRUE LOVE IS MY DESTINY - NEVER LET GO - NEW YORK'S ON FIRE - SO MANY MEN SO LITTLE TIME - HIGH ENERGY - HE'S A SAINT HE'S A SINNER - ON A CROWDED STREET - CLOSE TO PERFECTION - ALL OVER THE WORLD - MY HEART KEEPS BEATING FASTER - TECHNICOLOUR - FOOTSTEPS FOLLOWING ME - I FOUND HEAVEN - MORE TO THIS WORLD - FAN THE FLAME - I CAN'T ERASE THE THOUGHTS OF YOU - DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A DREAM - RUNNING IN ANOTHER DIRECTION - WALKING ON AIR.
I first met Gerod Harris through Sheila Ferguson of The Three Degrees, back in 1999. We had filmed the lead singer of The Montclairs, Phil Perry, for "The Strange World Of Northern Soul", and needed two other guys to add to the video, and Sheila said she had an American friend who knew all the old soul group moves. Next I asked him to put three black male singers and dancers together to back up Steve Brookstein for The Four Vandals, and indeed you can see Gerod in all the Four Vandals videos here on YouTube. Then we cut "Headaches And Heartaches" for the "Northern Soul 2007" album. That wonderful sweet fingersnapping solo song has become THE track that the Northern Soul scene have adored from that album last year. Gerod has starred in three major films, as he is also an actor as well as a singer, "Until Death", "Proof`", and with Will and Grace's debra Messing, in "The Wedding Date". Gerod was also just the perfect voice to feature on my "Disco 2008" alum, released last December, album, with a storming track called "Hanging On To A Memory". And now hopefully, Gerod's version of this classic Northern Soul hit song will have you dancing in the streets. The album, "Yesterday And Tomorrow" will hopefully be released on March 3rd on Centre City Records, exclusively through the new website, http://www.ianlevine.co.uk - and I hope you will all consider supporting it.
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This wonderful video of Matthew's fabulous version of my old Seventh Avenue Disco classic,
This wonderful video of Matthew's fabulous version of my old Seventh Avenue Disco classic, "New York's On Fire", was actually shot and edited by Matthew himself. It's quite clear to me that here he has made a video which appeals to Liverpool bricklayers, white van drivers, and readers of the Daily Star, don't you think ?? No ?? You don't ??? Hmmmm.... I wonder why not ???? This song was originally released on AVI records in 1979 by Seventh Avenue, as part of a concept album of a gay love affair around America, love found, love lost, love reunited. And now, in 2008, I could think of no-one else capable of recreating this wonderful sound than my dear friend,Matthew. Matthew James Pateman was the lead singer of my 1990s group Bad Boys Inc, which we signed to A&M in 1993, and had six top thirty pop hits with them. After so many years, I reunited with him for my last album, released last December, and we recorded "Break These Chains" which we also wrote together for "Disco 2007", but now we have just done this most amazing version of "New York's On Fire", my old Seventh Avenue disco classic, for my new CD. Of course this song is yet another performance for my oh so important new project. My brand new album, "Yesterday And Tomorrow", is probably the most dear to my heart project that I have ever undertaken. I decided after thirty three years since I made my very first record, "Reaching For The Best" by The Exciters, to take a trip back down memory lane and recut thirty of my classics on artists who I am currently working with, reinterpreting them in 2008 without losing the magic that made them special in the first place. It's a totally self indulgent project, but one which already has my fans salivating with delight. I first got the idea when I recut Evelyn Thomas's wonderful classic "Have A Little Faith In Me" with Ebony Alleyne, last year. So I'm doing thirty in total, twenty four for the CD and six more extra ones for the DVD, picking either my biggest hits, my most beloved tracks, or the songs which people most requested to see a video. As I must clearly explain, these are not the original versions. And that's what makes the project exciting and new.These are brand spanking new interpretaions of the classics, by Centre City's current roster of artists , built up over a thirty three year career of making records.
REACHING FOR THE BEST - WEAK SPOT - YOUR MAGIC PUT A SPELL ON ME - BABY I'M STILL THE SAME MAN - HE'S SO IRREPLACEABLE - MY HEAD'S IN THE STARS - NO WAY OUT - LOOKS LIKE LOVE IS HERE TO STAY - I'M IN WONDERLAND- TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY - MY CLAIM TO FAME - TRUE LOVE IS MY DESTINY - NEVER LET GO - NEW YORK'S ON FIRE - SO MANY MEN SO LITTLE TIME - HIGH ENERGY - HE'S A SAINT HE'S A SINNER - ON A CROWDED STREET - CLOSE TO PERFECTION - ALL OVER THE WORLD - MY HEART KEEPS BEATING FASTER - TECHNICOLOUR - FOOTSTEPS FOLLOWING ME - I FOUND HEAVEN - MORE TO THIS WORLD - FAN THE FLAME - I CAN'T ERASE THE THOUGHTS OF YOU - DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A DREAM - RUNNING IN ANOTHER DIRECTION - WALKING ON AIR.
Happily, whether you're gay, straight, bi-sexual, transexual, transvestite, hermaphrodite, or a fit rugby player in white shorts, Matthew's version of this classic song will have you dancing down the aisles. The album, "Yesterday And Tomorrow" will hopefully be released on March 3rd on Centre City Records, exclusively through the new website, http://www.ianlevine.co.uk - and I hope you will all consider supporting it.
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Alcazar performing their brand new single "We Keep on Rockin'" on Qx Gaygala 2008.
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This is another one of the key songs from our album, "Northern Soul 2007", which we releas
This is another one of the key songs from our album, "Northern Soul 2007", which we released last September on Centre City Records and is still available to buy. And it reunites me with Carol Jiani, who I first produced for Record Shack Records. There are still some small minded people who call themselves fans of Northern Soul who refuse to accept that anybody can make a new record that sounds like the real thing. Well if this isn't Northern Soul, then I'm a country and western singer from Outer Mongolia. This to me is the real McCoy, and I am so proud and excited with it. On September 3rd 2007, we finally released my utterly fabulous exciting new album called "Northern Soul 2007", distributed by Expansion Records and Passion Music. This new album consisted of twenty four brand new 2007 songs by soul and disco legends, including Leee John, Gee Morris, The Flirtations, Voices With Soul, Ebony Alleyne, Noel McKoy, and lots of others. Each song has an accompanying video of the artist basically performing it the studio and in outside locations. Because a lot of my fans on MySpace and YouTube have been begging me to do this, I decided to get up and make it happen, so there is a giveaway DVD with the CD showing the same twenty-some songs, all being performed in the same running order as the CD. The work that we have all put into this project is quite staggering, and I hope it will break down the barriers between the older Northern Soul stalwarts and a new generation who need younger acts who still produce the same vibe we all witnessed forty years ago for Motown's glory years. Play the CD, watch the DVD, and give new Northern Soul a chance this time. Carol Jiani was an outrageous, larger than life, African singer, who moved to Montreal and had a huge hit with "Hit And Run Lover". For those who love facts and minutae, her real name is Uchena Ikejiani. She then moved to England and signed to Record Shack to record "Vanity". After that I got her a deal with MCA records, and we released "Such A Joy Honey". Then came the song, "Turning My Back And Walking Away", which was to have been her second single for MCA, and was indeed recorded for them. But my old friend there, Dave Ambrose, left the company and Carol was dropped, and rather than be forced to release this single, they gave it back to us, so I rushed it out on the Nightmare Records label. After that, we ended up doing a whole album, "The Best Of Carol Jiani" for Hot Records in Miami, and we re-recorded "Hit And Run Lover" as well as a great version of the Dells' old soul classic, "Make Sure You Have Someone Who Loves You". Carol is a true Diva, she is still performing to this day, and in 2006 we made a brand new recording together, a version of France Joli's "Come To Me". But Carol had never done any true Northern Soul till now, and she excels at it.
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Matthew James Pateman was the lead singer of my 1990s group Bad Boys Inc, which we signed
Matthew James Pateman was the lead singer of my 1990s group Bad Boys Inc, which we signed to A&M in 1993, and had six top thirty pop hits with them. After so many years, I reunited with him for my last album, released last December, and we recorded "Break These Chains" which we also wrote together for "Disco 2007", but now we have just done THE most amazing version of "New York's On Fire", my old Seventh Avenue disco classic, for my new CD, "Yesterday And Tomorrow". But that's not ready yet, so I decided to put up this last track, "Break These Chains". With the release of this last album, in December 2007, "Disco 2008", I have spent thirty two years honing my craft to the point when I am able to produce a record like this. I have gone back to my Disco and High Energy roots and done what I love best, and what I know how to do best, and with the best artists imaginable. This to me is the real McCoy, and I am so proud and excited with it. On December 3rd 2007, exactly three months after my last album release, we finally released that utterly fabulous exciting new album on Centre City Records, distributed by Goldsoul Music and Vital Distribution. This album consists of twenty four brand new 2007 songs by soul and disco legends, including Sheila Ferguson, Hazell Dean, Steve Brookstein, Tina Charles, The Flirtations, Voices With Soul, Ebony Alleyne, Noel McKoy, and lots of others. Each song has an accompanying video of the artist basically performing it the studio and in various locations. Because a lot of my fans on MySpace and YouTube have been begging me to do this, I decided to get up and make it happen, so there is a giveaway DVD with the CD showing the same twenty four songs, all being performed in the same running order as the CD, followed by three more bonus tracks which simply wouldn't fit on the main CD itself. The work that we have all put into this project is quite staggering, and I hope it will break down the barriers between the Disco stalwarts and a new generation who haven't yet been exposed to decent dance music if all they've heard is the bilge poured out over the last twenty years. Play the CD, watch the DVD, and give new Disco a chance this time. This isn't Disco's return, it's quite simply Disco's REVENGE !!!!!!!!
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