Loleatta Holloway RIP

RIP Loleatta Holloway. Provided the soundtrack to many a great night for me in the clubs over the last 20 years. Respect

Here is an article I wrote about her a few years ago. It's a shame that she wasn't given more recognition while alive
There's are some career highlights down below too including an accapella of "Love Sensation" and footage of us spinning it at an epic Mor Disco night.



One of the biggest tracks for me over the last few months has been Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill". I'll be straight up in admitting to never being a huge fan of Whitney during her 80's and 90's heyday and though her pop music was highly accessible and successful, from a soul point of view i've generally felt she has not offered too much with lots of drab bland middle of the road material. This changed dramatically with the "My Love is Your Love" album and the likes of Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef and Missy Elliot really helped bring a more soulful Whitney through on some classics songs.

Raphael Saadiq helped her subsequent "Fine" single become a bit of an underground soul classic while on her generally disappointing next solo effort "One of those days" was pretty tasty. "Million Dollar Bill" is her best single yet in my opinion and it is clear that despite her well documented personal problems Whitney has still got the ability in her to create powerful music. It's a top class tune written by Whitney and produced by Swiss beats, who uses a really good sample of a classic disco tune from the wonderful Loleatta Holloway to arm the track with a hook that is highly effective on the dance-floor.

This is where the story gets interesting though. Loleatta Holloway's own personal life will never gather even a smidgeon of interest and though she is known only amongst dance and disco fans she is a very important vocalist who should be heralded more. Even though there has been very little mention of her involvement with the new Whitney track, she won't mind, as 20 years ago she was given even less recognition and respect as Black Box scored a huge hit with a sample or blatant rip off on her "Love Sensation" tune on their "Ride on Time" release. To be fair, Black Box didn't know what they had on their hands but there is no doubt that "Ride on Time" would have been nothing without Loleatta.

The culture of sampling has changed a lot since in our more legally aware music industry but the good thing about house music and even the charty dance music that Black Box made is that it brought a greater awareness of the pioneering disco sounds back to a new generation. Loleatta helped embrace this herself with a number of collaborations and she finally got more respect too for her amazing back catalogue from her disco career. The likes of herself, Jocelyn Brown and many more great singers have now found a much more favourable place in music history, and that can only be a good thing. As for Whitney, even if the rest of the album was bad she would have delivered one of the singles of the year for me and it is really refreshing to hear the disco sounds I love on mainstream TV and radio.

Southern Soul and Disco Festival returns to Cork 2011

No sooner is the Decades Festival over that talk turns to another music festival and the announcement this week that will be welcomed by loads of Cork music fans. The Southern Soul and Disco Festival, which last ran in Cork in 1999, is returning in 2011 and will provide a big boost for the city.






The Southern soul and disco weekends were a product of the Mor Disco and Simply Delicious nights that ran in Cork for many years and all of the operators have been keen for many years to get them back up and running. The original weekends drew great crowds to see some amazing acts, and a certain DJ and production duo called Basement Jaxx were one of the big names who went on to become very well known in music circles. Legendary diva’s such as Jocelyn Brown and Gwen Dickey of Rose Royce also played here, as did acts as diverse as the Jungle Brothers, Hot Chocolate, Trevor Nelson, Norman Jay, Rae and Christian and many more.


It was perhaps the under the radar names which defined the festival best however, and DJ’s from all over Ireland and Britain played in different pubs and clubs throughout the weekend. Mr Scruff was a regular visitor to Cork but back then not nearly as well known while the Idjut Boys, Harri, Future Homosapiens, Fila Brazilia, Tim Love Lee, Chubby Grooves and the Unabombers, plus a whole host of Irelands finest, performed here too. For a certain generation of clubbers in Cork, these weekends were pivotal, and during the 10 year hiatus it has become noticeable that such a weekends absence leaves a gaping hole in the musical calendar here. Details of 2011’s Festival will no doubt be announced in future months but it promises to be a good one!






One of the Festivals DJ’s who has gone to great things since returns to Cork this Saturday for a show in the Pavilion. Luke Unabomber will be joined by Robin Keys on Saturday night while across the road in the Vineyard tomorrow Crtl-Alt-Delete hosts Encrypter, Wife, Robin Renwick, Newah, Thotbott and Severane. N Dubz play Savoy tonight while Exit Pursued by a Bear do a free show at the Crane Lane on Saturday.


All of the people involved in the music scene in Cork received a great boost last week with the official announcement of something that I mentioned earlier in the summer; that Plug’d records is set to re-open on August 28th. The ESB substation in Caroline St will be the temporary home until the Triskels new renovated ChristChurch building opens next year. The Triskels backing is essential and they deserve great credit for having to foresight and faith in the record shop which was at the hub of the Cork music scene in recent years. The extra floor space will also enable more visual art, design, film, magazines and books so from a cultural point of view the benefits are going to be huge for Cork!