Manchester is a major industrial City in the North West of England.
There are several other Manchesters in the
USA, Australia and Canada, But the original is in the UK. In the 19th
century it was famous for being the hub of the world's cotton trade and the
link to Liverpool through the Manchester Ship Canal ensured a continual
supply of the raw material.
It was the home of
The Twisted Wheel which became arguably the most famous and influential
soul club in the world and the birthplace of what would later become known as Northern Soul.
The building that housed the original club was on Brazennose Street and is
now the site of a car park. There is no plaque to mark the site which seems
rather an oversight considering its influence on music in the early sixties.
Artists who appeared in Manchester in the early sixties included many of the
greats in soul and blues and included:
Sonny Boy Williamson
John Lee Hooker
T-Bone Walker
Jimmy Reed
Muddy Waters
Chuck Berry
Otis Redding
Sam and Dave
And of course, all the UK groups who started out by imitation of the sounds
they had heard on imported 45s before writing their own material.