Ray Pollard - The Drifter

Ray Pollard's "The Drifter" was one of the most beloved records of all time to the entire Northern Soul scene, even though it wasn't strictly speaking true Northern Soul, being more of a Sixties beat ballard. It was all because the late lamented Les Cokell always claimed it was his all time favourite record, so much so that, rather morbidly, his copy of it was buried with his ashes, when he died in 1996. Ray Pollard started out with The Wanderers on Savoy, then on Decca, Onyx, Cub, MGM, and finally on United Artists, where Ray then went solo and recorded "The Drifter" and "Its a Sad Thing". He then signed to Eddie Singleton's Shrine Label, and released one single "No More Like Me". He then signed to Decca for two singles, and then joined the Joe Cuba Sextet in 1972, and also had one last solo single, on the Omnipotent label, in 1973. He became aware of his Northern Soul following, and made a couple of visits to England. In 1999, my dear friend Ralph Tee went to Las Vegas, and we rerecorded him doing "The Drifter", and filmed it in a huge trucking area, with Ray even dressed as a Drifter. I needed it for my mega-documentary, "The Strange World Of NorthernSoul" as a tribute to Les Cokell, who had been the main DJ who first pioneered the Northern Soul Scene as we know it today. Ray had lost one arm, and had a prosthetic, so as an actor, he became very prolific in film and TV, anytime they needed a one armed man, including Harrison Ford's remake of The Fugitive. Sadly he died of cancer in early 2005. A really lovely man, and a true gentleman, who would do anything for anyone at any time.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Northern-Soul
• Sixties-Soul
• Rare-Soul
• Male-Soul-Singers
• Classic
• Soul
• Motorcity

[TheCarpCatcher]

Yes a nice video of a great singer but lacks the passion of his live performance's in front of a crowd, i prefer the 100 club video of him which alas seems to have been taken down:-(

What are the chances of you getting the video of his 100 club performance up here Ian?

[IanLevine]

"What are the chances of you getting the video of his 100 club performance up here Ian?" - Absolutely ZERO. I only post videos up here which I have produced myself. This is the Ian Levine YouTube Channel, of MY videos. Sorry - end of story.

[tlharris]

Ray Pollard died in 2005.

[IanLevine]

I did say that in my blurb to the right of the video. Unfortunately, YouTube, unlike MySpace, only show the first line of the blurb, and you actually have to go to the trouble of clicking on it to read the rest.

[1mcsource]

I notice you dont add the artists name in tags, any reason for this? Was this ever pressed to 45?

[IanLevine]

Probably because they're my own legal copyrights and my own personal work, not just sharing some old videos that anyone can pick up on the web. "The Drifter" was of course originally a 45 in 1965, but not this later 1999 version that I produced.

[baconsplace]

Thankyou Ian for posting this

I was made aware of deep soul, northern soul music when I was a student in Leeds, way back in the early 80's I first heard this on a compilation from the brilliant Kent records.

It is amazing to see the man perform it, in the correct setting .

Wonderful.

[lammyman3]

always did and always will bring a lump to my throat.. the best northern tune ever..

[nthsoul]

many an all nighter was ended with this a northern soul classic

[bitampi]

A valuable piece of soul music history! Fantastic video! So many thanks for postin' it!!!!

Van B. (Greece)

R.I.P. mr. Pollard...

[Czechmate1967]

That is so beautiful.

[StagTowner]

didnt know ray had passed bye........god bless the driffter

[EdgardosGirl81204]

Don't think Ray was ever with Joe Cuba-He was lead singer on Hector Rivera's "At the Party"which was a big Latin Soul hit in the 60's

so maybe this is what he was referring to.

[ctlazar]

Man, this tune is so profound. How many of us cry while dancing to this one, eh?

[franner2002]

Like this guy,

[franner2002]

I wish I was a drifter...