David Edward Godin (21 June 1936 – 15 October 2004) was an English fan of American
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...
, who made a major contribution internationally in spreading awareness and understanding of the genre, and by extension African-American culture.
Biography
Born in
Peckham
Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
History
"Peckham" is a Saxon p ...
, London, the son of a milkman,
[Richard William]
Obituary: Dave Godin
, ''The Guardian'', 20 October 2004 Dave Godin spent his early childhood in Peckham before bombing forced the family to move to
Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a town in south-east London, England. It had a population of 31,929 as at 2011.
Bexleyheath is located south-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...
, Kent, where he won a scholarship to
Dartford Grammar School. Godin began collecting American
R&B records when at school, where he encouraged the younger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
's interest in black American music. He said: "..It was at Dartford Grammar School that I met Mick Jagger and introduced him to black music, I'm ashamed to say. It's ironic that as a result of meeting me he's where he is today." Godin played a minor role in the early jam sessions out of which the
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
emerged, but resented Jagger for what he saw as the Stones' exploitation of black music.
[Phil Johnso]
Obituary: Dave Godin
, ''The Independent'', 20 October 2004]
After working at an advertising agency, and as a hospital porter in place of
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
(he was a
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
),
Godin founded the
Tamla Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...
Appreciation Society, and in time was recruited by
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...
to become Motown's consultant in the UK, setting up its distribution through
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
. At a recording of ''
Ready Steady Go!
''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light enter ...
'' in 1964, Jagger asked Godin to introduce him to
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
. "I told him to fuck off and introduce himself", Godin recalled.
In 1967 he founded Soul City, a record shop which in 1967 developed into a record label on which he released such then-obscure soul classics as "
Go Now
"Go Now" is a song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Bessie Banks, released as a single in January 1964. The best-known version was recorded by the Moody Blues and released the same year.
Bessie Banks version
The ...
" by
Bessie Banks
Bessie Banks (born February 8, 1938) is an American soul singer, best known for her original 1964 recording of " Go Now," successfully covered in the same year by UK band the Moody Blues.
Life and career
She was born Bessie White in New Bern, ...
, with colleague
David Nathan and friend Robert Blackmore. It was in their shop that Godin coined the term '
northern soul',
[Obituary: Dave Godin](_blank)
, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 28 October 2004 a description that he would popularise through his work as a music journalist. In a 2002 interview with
of ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'', he explained that he had first come up with the term in 1968 as a sales reference to help staff in his shop differentiate the more modern
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
ier sounds from the smoother, Motown-influenced soul of a few years earlier:
"I had started to notice that northern football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
fans who were in London to follow their team were coming into the store to buy records, but they weren't interested in the latest developments in the black American chart. I devised the name as a shorthand sales term. It was just to say ‘if you’ve got customers from the north, don't waste time playing them records currently in the US black chart, just play them what they like – ‘Northern Soul’."
In his career he also coined the term
Deep Soul
Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel influence that emanated fro ...
and he promoted the interests of a large number of American musicians whose work had fallen out of favour in their home country.
His second career was in cinema exhibition. Having studied art, design and film course at
Sheffield Polytechnic
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate C ...
, he became a senior film officer for the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
and helped found and was the manager of the Anvil Cinema, Sheffield (1983–90), the only cinema in the UK to be funded by a local authority.
In the mid 1990s he started to compile a series of CDs of rare (and some not so rare) recordings – ''Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures'' – for
Ace Records, which featured such artists as
Loretta Williams
Loretta is a female given name, the masculine version being Lauro. The name derives its name from the laurel tree which is symbolic of victory.
This name is Italian in origin; it was popularized in the United States in the 1930s. It has many varia ...
,
Eddie and Ernie,
Jaibi
Jaibi was the stage name of the American soul singer Joan Banks (February 6, 1943 – September 4, 1984).
Life and career
Born Joan Carol Pulliam, and later known as Joan Bates after her marriage to her first husband Anthony Bates Sr., she firs ...
,
Ruby Johnson
Ruby Johnson (April 19, 1936 – July 4, 1999) was an American soul singer, best known for her recordings on the Volt label in the late 1960s.
Life and career
She was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and was raised in the Jewish faith. S ...
and
Jimmy and Louise Tig. The four albums were greeted with universal critical acclaim, and Godin described the series as the proudest achievement of his life. A fifth, posthumous, volume was ultimately released in 2019, based on lists of tracks he had considered for inclusion, including material intended for the four previous volumes, for which licensing rights could not be obtained at the time.
Godin, a
vegan
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...
, was an advocate of
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
and
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
. He was also known for his involvement in anarchist and
anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
organisations, including ''
Freedom Newspaper'' and ''
Class War
Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...
''. He was the only atheist in his local pro-life organisation. Towards the end of his life he developed an interest in
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
. He died in
Rotherham
Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...
in 2004, aged 68.
A biography on David Godin by Stephen Stevlor was published in 2020 on the anniversary of Godin's death.
References
Further reading
*
External links
''Guardian'' obituary by Richard Williams, October 20, 2004''Independent'' obituary by Phil Johnson, October 20, 2004''Sheffield Today'' obituary, October 21, 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godin, Dave
1936 births
2004 deaths
Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University
English anarchists
English atheists
British conscientious objectors
Motown
People educated at Dartford Grammar School
People from Peckham