Tony Clarke never had a big hit in his lifetime but is revered here for one of the biggest Northern Soul favourites of all time – Landslide.

If you’re not dancing within the first 20 seconds you may need to check your legs have not been chopped off. And like most of the best ones, it’s barely two minutes long – all the better to let you catch your breath.

Landslide is the archetypal rare groove stomper, surpassing his only (minor) hit The Entertainer, and regularly appears on Northern Soul compilations.

Tony Clarke – real name Ralph Williams (or Ferguson, or Clarke; no one’s sure) – was born in New York and started singing after moving to Detroit as a child with his mother Thelma.

He made his first recording thanks to his postman Fred (himself one half of a duo called Bob & Fred) overhearing him sing and taking him to a local label to make Ten Reasons b/w Hot Rod Car, released under the pseudonym Tall Tonio.

Three years later he recorded a second single, Cry b/w Love Must Be Taboo, under the name Tony Clarke. Like his debut, it bombed, but Clarke joined forces with Billy Davis to write two hits for Etta James – Pushover and Two Sides To Every Story. 

He penned more hits for others including David Ruffin and The Vibrations, using the pseudonyms Tony Lois and Thelma Williams; his songwriting success leading to a record deal with Chess in Chicago, for whom he recorded Ain’t Love Good, Ain’t Love Proud in 1964.

 His first, and only, success came with The Entertainer, which reached No.31 in America, followed by You’re A Star. Landslide was his final release for Chess but he carried on recording, and other tunes like (They Call Me) A Wrong Man and This Heart Of Mine have belatedly become collectors’ items.

It flopped until it was discovered by British DJ Ian Levine, one of the first Northern Soul DJs, who played it to death at Blackpool Mecca, where it fast became a dancefloor favourite, alongside The Entertainer and another Clarke tune, I Can’t Wait Until I See My Baby’s Face, backed by The Monticellos.

His final single, Ghetto Man b/w Love Power, was released in 1970. A year later his estranged wife shot him dead in self-defence after he went back to Detroit and broke into her home, armed with a tyre jack.

Trivia fact: after moving to Hollywood in the mid-Sixties, Clarke plays a small part in Sidney Poitier’s They Call Me MISTER Tibbs.