Soul glow

I knew if I didn't make too much of a fuss about it, it would happen. And so it came to pass, this morning I met a Supreme.

Mary Wilson, one of the three original Supremes, is in Bath to open a collection of memorabilia to do with the group, the central pieces of which are the dresses they used to wear on stage, and on promotional shoots.

Now, dresses don't really do it for me. Though to be fair, they were impressive. But Motown? Now we're talking.

I was first introduced to Motown, and soul music in general, when I raided my dad's record collection as a young boy of five or six. If I'm honest, I didn't like it immediately. I liked the look of the vinyl though, and used to drive my dad mad by pretending to be a hip hop DJ and scratching with the records on the turntable whenever his back was turned. When we were in the car, he'd put on some Motown and I'd moan and moan and moan until we reached some sort of compromise on the music. Usually the best of Tina Turner, or the single release of Word Up by Cameo. Yep. I was cool even then.

But then, one day, he put on Papa Was A Rolling Stone by The Temptations. And from the moment I heard that fantastic three-note bass line, the haunting strings, the wah guitar and Dennis Edwards' opening vocal (''It was the 3rd of September/That day I'll always remember/'cause that was the day/that my daddy died"), I was hooked.

There was no stopping me from then on. I couldn't get enough of it. I wanted to hear more of this music, discover more artists and songs that made me feel like this. And so began my soul education. James Brown, Smokey Robinson, The Jackson 5, Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin. One after the other, I listened, and I loved. When I heard Stevie Wonder for the first time I was so angry with my dad that he hadn't sat me down and forced me to listen to it, I could have hit him. (We had a similar situation with Jimi Hendrix. When he came back with 'I've always thought he was a load of crap', I very nearly did punch him).

I'm a big fan of music in general. Heavy rock, rap, electronica, proper music with guitars, I love it all. But I've never heard anything that can move me like soul music does.

So, this morning I was unashamedly pleased to meet Ms.Wilson and talk to her. For someone who's been doing this for so long, and who had literally just got off the plane, she was remarkably chipper company. I tried to phone my dad straight after to gloat, but he didn't answer. I think he knew.

That'll teach him for not educating me sooner.

PS There are photos. I'll get them up ASAP.