The California Ballroom, nicknamed "Cali" and "Soul City", was a 2000-capacity music venue, being one of the United Kingdom's best-known
soul music venues outside London. Located in Whipsnade Road,
Dunstable,
Bedfordshire, the venue was open from 1960 to 1979.
The opening act in 1960 was pop singer
Russ Sainty
Russ Sainty (born Alfred Charles Sainty; April 1936 –28 November 2021) was an English rock and roll and pop music, pop singer.
Life and career
Sainty was born in Leyton, Essex. He first performed as a singer with the Buddy Monroe Five, be ...
.
["Dunstable California Ballroom favourite dies aged 85", ''Luton News Herald & Post'', 30 November 2021]
Retrieved 22 February 2022 Soul artists appearing included
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
,
Ike & Tina Turner,
Roy Ayers,
Brass Construction and
Grover Washington, Jr. It also hosted
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
acts including The Detours (later named
The Who),
,
Cream,
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
,
The Clash and
The Damned,
[ Killing Floor, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, ]Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine Perfect (later McVie) (vocals and keyboards) in 1967. ...
and The Herd.
References
External links
California Ballroom 1960-1979
Music venues in Bedfordshire
{{music-venue-stub