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Va-Va Location: Great Moor Street, Bolton. Date: 1973 |
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Located on one of the main streets in Bolton, Va-Va's was a modern club with a capacity
of around 400, expensively decorated with a small tile dancefloor, surrounded by small
alcoves partitioned off by clear plastic screens. With £10,000 worth of sound equipment,
it was certainly a luxury venue by Northern Soul standards. There has been a lot of conjecture as to how the name "Va-Va" came about, but the best explanation I have heard is this... in Spanish, the word "va" means go... hence "go-go". Simple eh? Anyway, I digress... A chap named Rick Barret heard that the owner was looking to run an all-night venue, and as the Torch had just closed, the timing seemed right. Richard Searling, who was working at Global records at the time, got a call from Rick Barrett in April 1973, asking him to DJ at the venue. As Richard had just returned from Philadelphia at the time, he was eager to play his new discoveries, and so accepted the offer. |
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Assisted by the likes of Pep, Martin Ellis and Alan Day, Va-Va's ran every Friday. After
starting slowly, with 100 or so on the first night, by July 1973 it had become firmly established
as a premier national venue. Normally a 1am-8am session, Richard Searling regularly did 4-5 hours
a night. Richard himself remembers some of the sounds he played: "I found myself 'slaving behind the hot turntables' at Va-Va from 1 - 8 AM, spinning (if my memory serves me correctly) sounds like 'One In A Million' - Maxine Brown, 'Love Is Like An Itching' -Timothy Wilson, 'Tainted Love' - Gloria Jones, 'Last Minute Miracle' - Shirelles, 'Slow Fizz' - Sapphires, 'Just Ask Me' - Lenis Guess, amongst many others. They were all tremendously popular, but obviously other records were featured over the following months, some taking off, others remaining semi-underground until later years. Examples of this are 'Love Is Wonderful' - Paula Parfitt, 'No.1 In Your Heart' - Herbie Goins, 'Baby I Need You'- Marsha Gee, 'Laws Of Love'- Volcanos, 'Easy Baby'- Adventurers, 'Worth Every Tear I Cry'- Dee Dee Warwick, 'What Love Brings'- Kenny Bernard, 'Can It Be Me'- Mel Williams, 'Hide Nor Hair'- Earl Grant, and 'I Don't Mind'- Carolyne Cooke (RCA)". (c/o New Soultime). The secret of Va-Va's seemed to be that it became a regular meeting place, pulling a loyal crowd of people that would turn up week after week from Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South. Incidentally, it was here that Richard Searling met Russ Winstanley... Unfortunately, Va-Va's went the way of many other all-nighters. The Police started to express an interest in the use of drugs at the club, and the management decided it was in their best interests to end the all-nighters. One Friday in August, Va-Va's simply didn't open, leaving coachloads of soulies stuck dumbfounded in the car park. If you know anything more about Va-Vas, let the Webmaster know. |