Soulboy

 

 Soulboy was a working class, english youth culture. It came to light throughout the late 1970s.

Members of the Soulboy subculture were fans of and influenced by American Soul and Funk music.

Soulboy emerged in North West England as a 'Northern Soul' event. Northern Soul was a music and dance event, which consisted of African American soul music. Northern Soul generally avoided Motown or Motown influenced music; it focused on lesser known music artists.

Soulboy members who attended 'Northern Soul', developed a particular interest in the modern funk and jazz of music artists such as Lonnie Liston Smith and Ron Ayers.

There was a development of Soulboys at nightclubs in South East England. Clubs like 'Goldmine', in Canvey Island and 'Royalty', in Southgate. 

DJs of the soulboy scene included Chris Hill, Robbie Vincent, Greg Edwards and Froggy.

By the 1980s, Soulboy had become huge. As the subculture was mainly working class it received less media coverage than the  more middle class youth cultures, which occured simultaneously e.g. the new romantics.

In 2010 a film titled Soulboy, directed by Shimmy Marcus was released. The film was based on a boy coming of age at the time when the subculture became popular.