’Stick By Me Baby’: the story of an impossibly rare northern soul classic
From its early days in the mod nightclubs of the 1960s to its modern-day renaissance, northern soul has always been a scene with overlooked, underappreciated, and impossibly rare records at its core. Even some of the most seasoned of northern soul vinyl collectors, however, have never held a copy of ‘Stick By Me Baby’ in their hands.
Northern soul in itself is a pretty miraculous subculture, having emerged from the industrial surroundings of northern England, fueled by American soul sounds that by all rights should have never reached English shores. They were, after all, largely flops, misses, and off-cuts from various labels across America that were ultimately unwanted by the masses, but coveted by this niche group of record collectors and DJs populating the dancehalls and nightclubs of Manchester, Blackpool, Wigan, and Stoke, among various other cities and provincial towns.
With that miraculous nature comes a multitude of miraculous stories from the pages of northern soul history, though some remain shrouded in mystery, as in the case of The Salvadors. Reportedly, the Philadelphia vocal group first emerged towards the back end of the 1950s, while they were still in high school, but they never attracted much in the way of mainstream attention, and their story becomes a little murkier as it moves into the 1960s.
The earliest known recording by The Salvadors, ‘Daddy Said’, hit the airwaves in 1961, via the Chicago-based Nike Records, which, in case you needed clarification, had nothing to do with the trainer brand. Then, after various line-up changes and sonic switch-ups, Chicago’s premier R&B DJ, E Rodney Jones, recruited the outfit to record ‘Stick By Me Baby’ in 1967 for the Wise World label.
Ultimately, the single was widely ignored by audiences, either in Chicago or their native Philadelphia, and The Salvadors dissolved soon thereafter. However, its thumping rhythm, blaring horns, and that Latin-infused drumbeat meant that the song was more or less tailor-made for northern soul dancefloors.
As with a lot of now-iconic northern soul tracks, it is not known with any certainty how copies of that Wise World single made it over to the UK, or who was the first to ‘discover’ its footstomping potential – although there is some discussion which suggests that the first copy was discovered through Bostock’s record stall on Bradford Market (which, as a proud Bradfordian, I am willing to accept).
Either way, it didn’t take long for ‘Stick By Me Baby’ to become one of the defining records of mid-1970s northern soul, with those horns routinely blasted out over the PA at Wigan Casino. For DJs back in the day, the only problem was how on earth to get ahold of copy, given its impossible rarity and mysterious backstory.
Inevitably, then, the track began to pop up on the market as a bootleg, since original copies were far too difficult to find. Even today, those bona fide originals remain unbelievably scarce, and more than a few people have been duped by convincing bootlegs over the years. Even if you can find a true copy, though, expect it to set you back as much as £8000, depending on condition.
That price tag isn’t quite so eyewatering when you take into account other northern soul gems – Frank Wilson’s ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’, for instance, could rake in ten times that amount with ease. However, its combination of enduring obscurity and timeless appeal, still being a guaranteed floorfiller to this day, does go some way to explaining that hefty sum, which is undoubtedly more than The Salvadors themselves ever made from the recording.
