William Bell was one of the architects of Stax/Volt soul. His debut single in 1961 helped define the classic country-soul sound of Memphis when he struck gold with his debut single.

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He looked like Elvis, he sounded like Elvis, and that was Ral Donner’s golden ticket to pop stardom – for a brief period in 1961.

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The Flirtations are one of those bands who left their native USA to find success in the UK… and then became even bigger back in America.

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The Nice recorded this version of Tim Hardin’s song How Can You Hang On To A Dream, built around Keith Emerson’s jazz piano and a ghostly choral arrangement.

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Here’s a ’60s band I’ve never heard of before, a female-fronted outfit with the disappointingly humdrum name of Smith, with their solitary hit single – a cover of Baby It’s You.

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Dobie Gray’s stomper Out On The Floor has been called the best Northern Soul record of all time, though I remember Dobie Gray for two other songs – Drift Away and The In-Crowd.

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You can’t see him in this footage but this is the moment keyboard player Barry Goldberg – who died in January -became part of one of the most historic gigs in musical history.

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French vocal trio Belle Epoque had their biggest (and possibly only) hit single in 1977 with disco classic Black Is Black.

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It takes a bold and courageous artist to re-record her signature song after more than half a century, but Marianne Faithfull was nothing if not brave.

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This is the song that gave The Rolling Stones their first big US hit and helped make Irma Thomas the Soul Queen of New Orleans.

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