England’s Blues & Soul Magazine contributor Dave Godin, who had a record store call Soul City in London’s Covent Garden, gave the genre its title. Indirectly because of soccer/football fans from the UK’s Northern towns and cities coming into his store looking for the rare US 45’s whilst they were in the capital city to see their team play. (Imagine Seattle football fans buying records in Washington DC stores whilst they are in town to support their team). With the Southern music buyers more inclined to buy Funk and soul releases it helped the Soul City staff to know what to play the music fans from the North of England when they were in the store looking for records to take back home, they’d be steered straight to the Northern Soul section.

Northern Soul is also famous with its style of dancing and fashions which grew out of the underground rhythm & soul scene of the late 1960s at venues such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. This scene and the associated dances and fashions quickly spread to other UK dancehalls and nightclubs like the Chateau Impney (Droitwich), Catacombs (Wolverhampton), the Highland Rooms at Blackpool Mecca, Golden Torch (Stoke-on-Trent) and the legendary Wigan Casino.

As Northern Soul dancing popularity grew it became more athletic featuring spins, flips, karate kicks and backdrops often inspired by the stage performances of touring American soul acts such as Little Anthony & The Imperials and Jackie Wilson. In later years Disco and Jazz Funk dancing took on similar kinds of moves.

The below video audio is not always regarded as a classic Northern Soul record but the video gives a good representation of a Northern Soul dancefloor.