Introducing Deptford Northern Soul Club Records, in association with [PIAS]. A modern reissue label, enabling Northern Soul lovers, young and old, to experience the music as it was meant to be heard.
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“After scouring record shops, markets and the internet for the best music for our sets we became increasingly frustrated at the cost and poor quality of the records that we wanted to play out. Whilst being happy to use digital alternatives in their place, good quality WAVs for some of the more obscure tracks became near impossible to find. So from day one we began to make a list of all the tracks we played out that were unobtainable on vinyl and those we could only have dreamt of playing that it seemed were lost to time. This list became the bedrock for Deptford Northern Soul Club Records, and with the help of Northern fans up and down the UK it grew to the point where we began searching for the rights and the highest quality audio to reissue. We are so excited to begin sharing releases soon. KTF!” Will and Lewis, 2019
DNSCR005 - Lou Courtney - Trying To Find My Woman / Lee Dorsey - Give It Up
Featuring Fifty quid’s worth of excellent brass-powered psyche soul that originally turned up on Buddah Records in 1969. An absolutely huge Blackpool Mecca 45 with a backflip moment at around 40 seconds moment that repeats for all stomping excessives.
Backed with the legendary Lee Dorsey’s mighty ‘Give It Up’ from the same year. A swampy soul stew with a funky feel by the hugely under rated singer. An Allen Toussaint production with The Meters providing the chops.
Lou Courtney (born Louis Russell Pegues, August 15th 1943) is an American soul singer and songwriter.
Born in Buffalo, New York, he graduated from Hutchinson Central Technical High School in 1962. As “Lew Courtney”, he first recorded for Imperial Records the same year. He also worked in New York City as a songwriter, using his birth name, Louis Pegues, and wrote for Chubby Checker as well as Mary Wells' 1964 hit "Ain't It the Truth".
With Dennis Lambert, he co-wrote the pop songs "Find My Way Back Home" for the Nashville Teens, "Do the Freddie" for Freddie and the Dreamers, and "Up and Down" recorded by the McCoys. He also worked as Lorraine Ellison's recording director, and produced Betty Mabry's first single, "The Cellar".
Lou Courtney
In 1966, he signed for Riverside Records, and as Lou Courtney recorded the first in a series of dance-based songs. His first chart hit came with "Skate Now", which reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 71 on the Hot 100 in 1967, and was followed by "Do the Thing" (#17 R&B, #80 pop).
He released a series of singles on Riverside and its subsidiary Pop-Side label in the late 1960s, including two more R&B chart hits, "You Ain't Ready" and "Hey Joyce". Lou recorded several tracks regarded as classics on the British Northern soul scene such as "Me & You Doing the Boogaloo" and "If the Shoe Fits".
Lou Courtney
Most of his songs of the period were co-written and produced with Robert Bateman, who had previously been the co-writer and co-producer of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" at Motown. Courtney left Pop-Side in 1968 and released singles on various other labels including Verve ("Do the Horse", 1968), Buddah ("Let Me Turn You On", 1969), and Hurdy-Gurdy ("Hot Butter 'N All", 1971). However, he failed to reach the charts until he joined Epic Records in 1973, when, working with producer Jerry Ragovoy, he had further R&B chart entries with "What Do You Want Me To Do" and "I Don't Need Anybody Else", both self-penned songs. In 1978, Courtney briefly became a member of The 5th Dimension, replacing Danny Beard, and featured on their Motown album High On Sunshine. Subsequently, he has made occasional one-off live appearances. In 2016 it was reported that Courtney was living in New York City, following a stroke.
The Clash front man, Joe Strummer, is pictured here with the New Orleans native Lee Dorsey. Dorsey had big hits with "Ya Ya" in 1961 and "Working In A Coal Mine" in 1966. Dorsey would open for The Clash in New Orleans on June 4, 1982 at the now gone venue known as The Warehouse.
Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24th 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were "Ya Ya" (1961) and "Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with instrumental backing provided by The Meters.
From left: Image 1; The Meters, Image 2; Allen Toussaint
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dorsey was a childhood friend of Fats Domino before moving to Portland, Oregon when he was ten years old. He served in the United States Navy in World War II and then began a career in prizefighting. Boxing as a lightweight in Portland in the early 1950s, he fought under the name Kid Chocolate and was reasonably successful. He retired from boxing in 1955 and returned to New Orleans, where he opened an auto repair business as well as singing in clubs at night. His first recording was "Rock Pretty Baby/Lonely Evening" on Cosimo Mattasa's Rex label, in 1958. This was followed by the Allen Toussaint-produced "Lottie Mo/Lover of Love", for the small Valiant label in late 1960. These efforts were unsuccessful, but around 1960 he was discovered by A&R man Marshall Sehorn, who secured him a contract with Fury Records, owned by Bobby Robinson.
Lee Dorsey After meeting songwriter and record producer Allen Toussaint at a party, he recorded "Ya Ya", a song inspired by a group of children chanting nursery rhymes. It went to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Although the follow-up "Do-Re-Mi" also made the charts, later releases on Fury were not successful. Dorsey returned to running his repair business, but also released singles on the Smash and Constellation labels in 1963 and 1964. He was then approached again by Toussaint, and recorded Toussaint's song "Ride Your Pony" for the Amy label, a subsidiary of Bell Records. The song reached no.7 on the R&B chart in late 1965, and he followed it up with "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine" – his biggest pop hit – and "Holy Cow", all of which made the pop charts in both the US and the UK.
Dorsey toured internationally, and also recorded an album with Toussaint, The New Lee Dorsey in 1966. In 1970 Dorsey and Toussaint collaborated on the album Yes We Can; the title song was Dorsey's last entry in the US singles chart. It was later a hit for the Pointer Sisters under the title, "Yes We Can Can". In 1980, he opened for English punk band The Clash on their US concert tour, and also toured in support of James Brown and Jerry Lee Lewis. Dorsey contracted emphysema and died on December 1, 1986, in New Orleans, at the age of 61.
BANDCAMP ︎
From left: Image 1; Lou Courtney, Image 2; Lee Dorsey