A Disabled Songwriter’s True Expression of Love & Desire Led To Him Writing A Much Loved Drifters Song That Lives On Today. Plus Take A Listen To Our ‘Powerful Representation & True Social Reflection’ Debate!
Soul Kinda Wonderful
Soul Kinda Wonderful
Soul Kinda Wonderful
The Band Are The UK’s No.1 Tribute Band To The Drifters And Have Won The National Tribute Music Awards Three Times (2013, 2016 & 2017). They Have Style, Charisma And A Great Reportoire of Drifters Tunes & More From Yesteryear.
Frontman & Former Physics Teacher Richie Sampson, Who Formed The Band In 2013, Told The Story of How The Much Loved Drifters Song ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’ Came To Be Written By Doc Pomus, And It Was Very Moving.
The Song Was Written In 1960. Pomus Was Living With A Devastating Diagnosis of Polio (A Viral Infection Which Predominantly Weakens The Leg Muscles And Can Cause Paralysis). He Was Married. And Told His Wife He Did Not Mind Her Having Fun And Dancing About When They Were Out So Long As She Remembered They Were Together And They Would Share The Last Dance With Each Other. That Song Is Now A World Wide Classic Love Song www.britishpolio.org.uk
It Just Shows The Power of Words, The Importance of Writing, And The Positive Outcomes One Can Get From Expressing One’s True Feelings.
Soul Kinda Wonderful Have Performed All Over The World, Including In Amercia (Hence Richie Is Looking Forward To The Aforementioned Soultasia Festival). And As Well As Boisdales They’ve Also Performed At Central London Live Music And Dining Venue ‘Pizza Express Live’ In Holborn. Although They Have Not Performed There Yet The Famous ‘Jazz At Pizza Express’ In Soho, Is Part of The Same Live Music & Dining Group.
The First Ever Pizza Express Was Opened In 1965 In London’s Wardour Street Soho By British Born, Cambridge Educated, Romainian Founder Peter Boizot. He Wanted To Merge His Love of Pizza (Then Relvatively New To London) So He Set Up A Number Live Music Pizza Restaurants, Including The Famous Kettners Also In Soho And ‘Pizza In The Park’ (Oppostie Hyde Park, Knightsbridge).
The USP of The Restaurant Group Was That Whilst Pizza Was A Speciality And Offered Customers Menu Consistency & Simplicity, Each Restuaruant Had Its Own Style, Layout & Individuality. This Is How Holborn And Soho Were Able To Build Up Their Own Unique Status As High End Music & Entertaiment Venues. @richard.sampson.336
The Record ‘Tears of A Clown’
[By Smokey Robinson}
[On the Motown Record Label]
Was The Record That Made Me Want To Be A Professional Muscian.
Soul Music Is What I Love, What I Grew Up On, What I Listen To.
South African Born Musician
And Musical Director(MD)
Tonight The Band Was Formed of Three Members, Richie, Roy & Tauray (Outlined Above In This Short Video).
But Whilst Richie Is Always The Lead Singer The Band’s Composition Can Change From Three Singers To Four Singers And Can Also Have Different Musicians Too Depending On Geographical Sensitivities & Varying Venue Locations.
Below Is A Clip From Their Showreel With Them Performing As A Quartet. How Cool Is That Percussionist On Drums? Apparently He’s Related To Jazzie B of Soul to Soul @jazziebobe
Double Cool!
Talking of True Expression (Last Paragraph, Opposite Column), It Seemed Both A Curious Artistic & Marketing Choice In 2023 That The New Album Cover (of ‘Closer & Closer’), From A Modern Day, Award-Winning, Drifters Tribute Band, Honouring Soul Legends of Yester Year, Is A Rather Generic Blue Sky With A Caucasion Pair of Hands In The Shape of A Love Heart. Nice. (But Dull? Self-Inflicted Musical Misappropriaton? And Missing A Huge More Authentic And Contemporary Promotional Opportunity?)
During Our Interview With Band Founder Richie Sampson, TO.P Felt Compelled To Ask Him About This Choice. Especially As He Is Undoubtedly A Handsome Guy, Just Like Each of His Fellow Band Members – Which In This Quartet Features Richie & Roy Joined By Craig Christopher With Dreads And Andy Williams With Black Tie – Slipped Inside The CD Case Itself, With The Black & Gold Lettering On The Inside [We Are After All An Online, Educational, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Magazine And He Is A Former Science Teacher. So We Figured We Might Glean Some Insight In The Name of Social Science By Raising The Issue.]
The Late Award-Winnning Songwriter Burt Bacharach Wrote ‘The Cash Box Rhythm & Blues Chart’ No.1 Love Song ‘Walk On By’ In 1963 For Dione Warwick.
She Never Featured On Some of The Covers At That Time Due To Racism (Above She’s Pictured On A Much Later Album Cover). Some People Never Knew She Was Black Until They Saw Her Singing On Television. Incidentallly She Is Related To The Late Whitney Houston.
In One of The Many Music Documentaries We’ve Watched Over The Years We Saw Explained That In The 1960s When Dionne Warwick First Came To Britain To Perform In Concert (Because People Here Loved Her Music – Which They’d Heard On The Radio) They Were Surprised To Discover That She Was A Black Woman Because She Was Not On The Record Cover. But As We Said, Its 2023 Now!
Just Below Is Another One of Our ‘Pods On A Page‘ Where You Can Listen To Our Great Interview.
As Well As Being An Online Educational Magazine, We Are Also Developing A Debating Society And We Believe This Marketing Discussion Would Make A Great Topic of Debate. See What You Think.
On This Debate The Jury’s Still Out On Whether It’s Convinced! But It Was A Great Chat And Richie Made Some Good Points. Ultimately The Music’s Great And He Legally Owns Soul Kinda Wonderful Via Trademark And We Duly Respect Him for That.
Do Please Follow Us On Instagram @TheOrator.Press.on.Insta For More Interesting Articles & Debates. Including The Rest of Our Interview With Richie, Where In A Black History Special (Next Month), We Discuss The Most Poignant Moment of His Teaching Career, After Hearing About The Racist Murder of His Former Student, Stephen Lawrence. It Was A Tragedy That Shocked The Nation And Was To Historically Set A New Higher Standard For Policing & Race Relations In Britain.
They’re Pioneers.
Tonight I Stand On The Shoulders of Giants.
I Thank All Those People Who Came Before Me Who Struggled.
I Thank Dionne Warwick
I Thank Charlie Pride
I Thank Ray Charles
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 