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Grapevine
was the brainchild of John Anderson, a Glasgow-born soul collector exiled
in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. John built up an impressive contact list, including
a Philadelphian named Bernie Binnick, who’d worked at Swan Records in the
60s. In 1977, the two men founded the Grapevine label. One of Anderson’s
keenest customers was influential Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling, who
worked in RCA’spromotions department in Manchester. Searling persuaded
his bosses that Grapevine could help them capitalise on a brand of music
impossible to create in-house. Grapevine had found a distributor and manufacturer.
Searling’s role as a DJ was vital, in spinning the label’s forthcoming
attractions to ready-made audiences at all-nighters. He’d play a new discovery
at the Wigan Casino, and within two months, it would be available on Grapevine.
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