In the mid sixties you had major recording companies such as Tamla Motown, Stax & Atlantic producing there own brand of Soul records.

Stax Records, began as Satellite Records in Memphis in 1959. Founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. During the next few years Stax, with its house rhythm section, better known as Booker T & the MG's, produced great recordings for artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, both on its own records and as a base of operations for Atlantic artists such as Don Covay and Wilson Picket. There were other household names recording for Atlantic at that time, based in Muscle Shoels, Alabama, which included Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge and Aretha Franklin AKA the Queen of Soul. This was known as Southern Soul, due to it's geographical base in the south of the US. At Coast to Coast you will be able to hear a few examples of this type of Soul such as "Memphis Train" Rufus Thomas and "Respect" Aretha Franklin.

In 1959 Berry Gordy, encouraged by his Top 10 hit as a songwriter (Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops") launched the Tamla Record Company on a 800 dollar family loan. The first release was Marv Johnson's "Come to Me", shortly followed by Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" both released on Tamla Records and both reaching the Top 30 pop charts. A year later in 1960, Gordy changed his young company's name to Motown Records Corporation and settled in it's first headquaters in West Grand Bvd, Detroit.

By the mid sixties Motown was to take the world by storm. This was the sound of black America, the sound from the ghettoes that would reach everyone, the racial divide in the US, across Europe and especially in the UK. Everyone loved Motown. Legends had emerged such as Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Little Stevie Wonder, the Temptations all had a string of number 1 or Top 10 Hits. This was a golden era in Soul Music. At Coast to Coast you will be able to hear and enjoy the selected best of those Motown Classics such as "It's the Same Old Song" the Four Tops, "Uptight" Stevie Wonder, "Helpless" Kim Weston, "The Tears of a Clown" Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "Get Ready" the Temptations, "Love Is Like An Itch In My Heart" the Supremes, "This Old Heart Of Mine" the Isley Brothers, "Nowhere to Run" Martha Reeves & the Vandelles, "Heaven Must of Sent You" the Elgins, and "Baby I Need Your Loving" the Four Tops.

As a result of Motown's success, there were thousands of other entrepeneurs trying to capitalize on the sound that Berry Gordy Jr made famous with his Motown label. All over the US, there were small independent record labels all attempting to get a sizable hit on their own artists in the style of the Four Tops or the Temptations. Many were unsuccessful, but in the UK, this style of Soul music was in such demand that the DJs got tired of playing the same old Motown hits and clubs all over England, particularly in the North, were playing these lesser known records and underground scene had developed.

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