Mary Chapman (4)

Mary Chapman was affectionately known as "The Queen Of Northern Soul" and was promoter (and DJ) at Cleethorpes Winter Gardens in the UK Much has been written about this lady, she is immortalised in many personal accounts that went to print, and a CD dedicated to one of her legendary venues and many a top named D’jay speak about her with respect and fondness. Mary’s name always went hand in hand with her husband Colin (RIP July 12th 2019), the both of them together created one of the scenes most iconic venues, Cleethorpes Pier. In the beginning Mary quickly became a force to be reckoned with in this new exciting venue. Mary and Colin would travel the breadth and length of the UK, handpicking DJ's (and those recommended by the dancers) to come and play at the pier, none of whom at the time knew what they were about to embark on. Mary would ensure that the DJ's were paid well for the spots that they did and in the words of another ‘’she never made a penny, bless her, she paid the best wages to her DJ's as she knew they would put the money to good use to make sure the best records money could buy would get played" Dave Godin, a name that derived the term ‘Northern Soul’ had to find out himself what the buzz about the pier was, and became a frequent visitor and became close friends with Mary and Colin. It is stated that Dave quoted during an interview, that he ‘admired and respected’ Mary, an extremely high accolade at the time, that made even more sit up and take notice, especially the ‘chin stroker’ reader of Blues and Soul and Black Echoes that they too had to find out what this unknown woman from Lincoln had created.