Keb Darge

Keb Darge (born 1957dirty interviews archives #2 : keb darge
alainfinkielkrautrock, October 15, 2007) is a Scottish DJ and music producer, in the genres of Northern soul, Deep funk, Garage punk, and Rockabilly music. He is credited with inventing the term " deep funk".

Early life

Darge has described himself as "a bit of a thug" in his youth. In his late teens, he "picked a fight with the only English boy in the town" and the other teenager gave him a drubbing, using taekwondo moves. Surprised, Darge asked him how he had done it, then began taking taekwondo classes. He eventually became Scottish taekwondo champion.

Darge began Northern soul dancing in his late teens and entered local disco dance competitions (dancing in the "northern soul style") in the North of Scotland. He made an appearance in the nationally televised 1979 UK disco dance finals. Along with his Scottish dancing, he also danced at the Wigan Casino. Darge began buying records for what would eventually become his ultimate passion and career for the rest of his life.

Career

Soon after he began dancing, he was DJing in Wigan at a club next to the casino, and around Scotland as well with his record collection throughout the 1970s. At the age of 22, Darge moved to London, ceasing to be a DJ. Music promoters from then approached him, asking him to come back to DJing. He obliged, and gave the Northern soul phenomenon exposure in London through his performances, bringing in people from northern England to London who were previously associated with Wigan's Northern soul scene before it dissolved. Meanwhile, he worked in various jobs, including butcher's boy, window cleaner and delivering leaflets.

During the 1970s, his work in tracking down vintage funk and soul music led to friendships with American musicians including Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Harold Melvin and George Clinton. In 1987, he sold many of his Northern soul records to pay for his divorce but he had left over in his loft many other records of what he then referred to as "junk music" that he had picked up in the United States on his many jaunts to find Northern soul records there and in the UK. This "junk music" would be the beginning of what Keb would later call "Deep Funk", having underestimated the potential of these leftover records.

In 1989, during the heyday of acid house in the UK, Keb decided to play these funk records, and managed for a short while to get a night to perform regularly at " The Wagclub", a club specializing in acid jazz. After his night there ended around 1992–93, he met fellow funk record collector Mark Cotgrove, aka Snowboy

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