Keith Hughes reports on a unique night featuring some genuine legends of Motown

Question: where in Oxford on February 9 could you have heard 11 soul stars from four decades performing their greatest hits live on stage?

Answer: the Oxford Union, in Frewin Court off Cornmarket.

And how many people actually did? – roughly 200. For a very lucky few, this was a day to remember.

It all started when the Union invited media personality David Gest, best known in the UK for his 2006 appearance on I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! to address the union, following in the footsteps of the Dalai Lama and Margaret Thatcher (to name but two).

Gest was about to bring a troupe of Legends Of Soul artists to the UK for a tour, and suggested that instead of hearing him lecture about his life, students might prefer to see and hear his stars.

“It was an experiment, but we thought we’d try it”, the union’s Press Officer Rob Natzler told the Oxford Times. It’s surely one they’ll repeat.

Sheila Ferguson of the Three Degrees (Prince Charles’s favourite group) opened the show with the Philly Soul No.1 hit When Will I See You Again. A trio of Motown stars – G.C. Cameron of the Spinners, Kim Weston and Brenda Holloway – followed, the most notable performance being that of Kim Weston, who suffered a nasty fall on her way to the stage, yet brought the crowd to their feet for the first of many standing ovations with her Northern Soul favourite Take Me In Your Arms.

Southern Soul was represented by Percy Sledge performing the classic soul anthem When A Man Loves A Woman, while fans of an earlier era were delighted to hear Shirley Alston deliver her first hit with the Shirelles, 1961’s Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

Billy Paul gave us Me and Mrs Jones from 1973, Deniece Williams nudged the memories of 80s soul fans with Let’s Hear It For the Boy, and Peabo Bryson rerpised his 1992 hit Beauty And The Beast. Perhaps the biggest reception was given to Martha Wash of the Weather Girls, who shook the rafters (and challenged the acoustics) of this august venue with the classic It’s Raining Men, though Candi Staton as headliner managed to follow her successfully with her massive hit You Got The Love.

Backing was provided by Arden Hart and the Heartbeats, a combo put together for the tour and comprising four UK musicians and four who’d travelled from the States with the stars.

Arden commented that despite the gruelling schedule – particularly hard on the older stars – it had been a happy and successful tour, and they were already missing Martha Reeves, who’d had to leave early to meet commitments in the States, and were sorry that Eddie Floyd had been taken ill just before the tour commenced but is now, happily, making a good recovery.

One senior member of the university staff, who asked not to be identified, told us afterwards, “I only came along to bring my husband, who though he’d never get to hear Percy Sledge performing live unless he came”.

He surely will not have been disappointed. More soul soon please, Oxford Union!

That set list in full:

Sheila Ferguson (Three Degrees) – When Will I See You Again (#1, 1974); G.C. Cameron (Detroit Spinners) – It’s A Shame (#20, 1970); Kim Weston – Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me For A Little While) (#50 US, 1965); Brenda Holloway – When I’m Gone (#25 US, 1965); Billy Paul – Me and Mrs Jones (#12, 1973); Deniece Williams – Let’s Hear It For The Boy (#2, 1984); Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman (#4, 1966); Shirley Alston (Shirelles) – Will You Love Me Tomorrow (#4, 1961); Peabo Bryson – Beauty And The Beast (#9, 1992); Martha Wash (Weather Girls) – It’s Raining Men (#2, 1982); Candi Staton – You Got The Love (#4, 1991)