January 1966, London
Over the holiday season of December 1965, I’m busy working at Musicland, the local record store where I’m earning pocket money – and spending it all on rare US imported LPs! The new year begins with an invitation from Dave Godin, still running the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society to meet a boy ‘Wonder’ known as Stevie who is in the UK for his 1st tour (after wowing the small in number but dedicated fans who had seen him the previous year as part of the Motown Revue’s visit to Britain). He appears on ‘Top Of The Pops’ singing “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”. Stevie’s staying at The Cumberland Hotel near Marble Arch where Nina Simone stayed on her 1st visit. Stevie’s there with Hamilton Bohannon, one of Motown’s key musicians who would go on to become an artist in his own right. Also there Stevie’s on the road tutor….
The photos taken appear in the Hitsville USA magazine #12 in February 1966. On my 1st visit to the Motown Museum in Detroit in 1987, I’m stunned to see a copy of that issue as one of the exhibits! I show Esther Edwards the museum curator the inside photo spread, ‘That’s me, aged 17!’ I can’t believe I’m ‘in’ the Motown Museum! And over the years after the photos were taken (where I seem somewhat scared, uneasy with Dave Godin’s hand on my shoulder – check out my expression), I get to do some great interviews with Stevie, by then a legend…
