Motown On The Mersey
Tuesday 6th March 2007
8.30p.m to 9.30p.m.
BBC Radio 2

Craig Charles looks back at Liverpool's Mardi Gras Club and the special
relationship,
it had with Sixties soul music.

The Mardi Gras opened in Liverpool in 1957 and went on to become a gathering
place,
for a post-war generation of young music fans. Even though "De Mardi", as it
was called
in local patois, pre-empted the Northern Soul movement, it was during its
"silk sax" years,
that the cavernous, former cinema presented a royal rosta of suited guests,
with the likes
of Ben E King, Al Green and Arthur Conley taking to the stage.

The Mardi Gras also became home to Brian Epstein's most famous "lost" act:
Toxteth-raised
doo-wop masters: The Chants. The "Members Only" Mardi also developed into a
highly
competitive DIY academy for aspiring local outfits, such as The Vocal
Perfection, later to
become chart-toppers: The Real Thing. In keeping with the "scally" culture
of the city, the club
can claim to be the forerunner of the tribute band phenomenon, as The Mardi
Gras, regularly
hosted, "The Fabulous Temptations" and "The Original Drifters".

Craig tells the story of a time, when the black and white youth of Liverpool
mixed and strutted
 together, on the same dance floor, and hears the vivid recollections of
musicians: Geno Washington,
Eddie and Chris Amoo, and Kenny Ball, music journalist Paul Du Noyer and the
legendary comperes,
during those "Tamla Nights", Billy Butler and Chris Wharton.

Presenter: Craig Charles. Producer: James Crawford.

For more information, please go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/

Enjoy the show!

Thank you.



Marie Birch
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