America,” says Barratt. Quickly embracing the early releases on labels like Trax and DJ International, Hazel echoes what Greg Wilson said about house being part of the electro-funk continuum. “It was a continuation of a revolutionary sound,” he says. “We never really classed it as this new music; it was just funk that we could dance to, and the same dancers who were doing their moves to the syncopation of something like Strafe’s ‘Set It Off’ were now dancing to Adonis’s ‘No Way Back.’” Started by Amrik Rai, the FON record store on Division Street in the city centre became the outlet for both Chicago house and Detroit techno. “About 1987, ’88, all the Transmat stuff started coming over and the Nu Groove and Big Shot and all these exciting labels from the States,” recalled Steve Beckett (who ran the shop with Rob Mitchell and Robert Gordon) in How Soon Is Now . Heading up the dance section was Winston Hazel. “Dance music was massive in Sheffield, and the shop was really needed at that time,” he says. Under the production moniker FON Force, Mark Brydon and Rob Gordon produced the U.K.’s first chart hit house record with Sheffield duo Mark Gamble and Cassius Campbell aka
Krush. Recorded at FON Studios with singer Ruth Joy, “House Arrest” was a forerunner to similarly pop-house productions from the likes of S-Express. This was followed by Brydon and Barratt’s 1988 hit “Hustle! (To the Music…)” by Funky Worm, recorded with Julie Stewart and Carl Munsen and also released on FON Records. In the summer of ’88, Jive Turkey became home to big raves with over two thousand people coming to Sheffield City Hall from across the U.K. But unlike other cities like London and Manchester where house and Balearic became dominant, Sheffield retained its eclectic soul and jazz-rooted soundtrack. “The core of Sheffielders that brought E (or X as we first knew it) from Ibiza into the city were fans of soul music going right back to [famous Northern Soul clubs] Samantha’s, KGBs, and the Clifton Hall,” says Barratt. “So we got the jolt of energy they brought with the drug without any demand that the music should straighten out or change.” Despite the success of Funky Worm, Barratt’s head was already in another place after hearing U.K. dance music’s most pivotal record of 1988. “[A Guy Called Gerald’s] ‘Voodoo Ray’
87
( above ) Funky Worm at the “Hustle (To the Music)” single promo session, 1988. (left to right) Richard Barratt, Julie Stewart, and Carl Munson.
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