The King Mojo Club, often known as the Mojo, was a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

Pitsmoor Pitsmoor is a former village, now a suburb of Sheffield, England. The name derives from ''Or-pits'' as, anciently, the main local industry was the mining of ore.J. Edward Vickers, ''The Ancient Suburbs of Sheffield'', p.17 (1971) The village f ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England located at 555 Pitsmoor Road, that operated between 1964 and 1967.

Peter Stringfellow Peter James Stringfellow (17 October 1940 – 7 June 2018) was an English businessman who owned several nightclubs. Early life Stringfellow was born in the City General Hospital, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 17 October 1940, to Elsi ...

and his brothers had been running the Black Cat Club from St Aidan's church hall in the city, which proved a success. In March 1964, they opened a new venture, the King Mojo Club, in a converted house at 555

Road to the north of the city centre.Profiles: Peter Stringfellow
, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 19 June 2008 The house had recently served as Dey's School of Ballroom Dancing and benefited from a sprung dance floor.Nikky Wilson,
Big names at the King Mojo Club
", ''

Burngreave Messenger Burngreave ward—which includes the districts of Burngreave, Fir Vale, Grimesthorpe, Pitsmoor, and Shirecliffe—is one of the 28 electoral wards in Sheffield, England. It is located in the northern part of the city and covers an ar ...

'', February 2007 The club never received a drinks licence, but did have a

coffee bar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

. The club quickly became a venue of the

Northern Soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scene, with popular American acts such as

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

(backed by

Reg Dwight Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

Bluesology Bluesology was a 1960s British blues group, best remembered as being the first professional band of Elton John (then known by his birth name Reginald Dwight). History From about 1960, organist Reginald Dwight – then aged 13 – and his neig ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Ike and Tina Turner Ike or IKE may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ike (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Ike (surname), a list of people * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of ...

, and

Geno Washington Geno Washington (born William Francis Washington; December 21, 1943, in Evansville, Indiana) is an American R&B singer who released five albums with the Ram Jam Band between 1966 and 1969, and eight solo albums beginning in 1976. Background ...

playing. It also hosted

Edwin Starr Charles Edwin Hatcher (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003), known by his stage name Edwin Starr, was an American singer and songwriter. He is best remembered for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the num ...

's first UK gig, and Don Covay and The Goodtimers. Stringfellow experimented with a records-only night on Tuesdays, then an original concept. He advertised the list of records which he would play in advance in the local newspaper. The club hosted up and coming live acts, including

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

and

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

. The

Small Faces Small Faces were an English Rock music, rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966 ...

played their first gig outside London at the Mojo, and

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

worked out the arrangement of "

All Day and All of the Night "All Day and All of the Night" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from 1964. Released as a single, it reached No. 2 in the UK on the ''Record Retailer'' chart and No. 7 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1965. The song was incl ...

" while at the club. The Mojo Club was also known for its art. Its walls were decorated by Dave Manvell and Paul Norton in a pop art style, Stringfellow himself painting African warriors dancing. Colin Duffield designed innovative posters for the club, later using his skills to produce a wide range of posters for other local venues. In 1967, Stringfellow along with his brother Geoffrey decided to refocus the club on

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...

, renamed it the "Beautiful King Mojo", and redecorated it accordingly.1967: The summer of love
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 5 May 2007 they booked

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

, who played despite a complaint about drug use. The Mojo also received complaints about noise, and its licence was revoked later in the year. It was converted into a

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

club and was demolished in the 1980s. As a stopgap before their new club "The Penthouse" opened, Pete and Geoff ran Mojo nights in the basement ballroom at the City Hall. This was a much bigger venue than the old club with a proper stage. Pete played records and introduced live acts including

Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon were an American vocal soul group, prominent in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were fronted by singer Johnny Johnson. They are probably remembered most for the catchy hit, " (Blame It) On the Pony Express" ...

and

Martha and The Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1973 as Martha Reeves & the Vandellas) were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s as a major act for Motown Records. Formed by friends Annett ...

. The Monday club night after

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

's death in December 1967 he played Redding's songs virtually all evening.

References

{{reflist, 2 Music venues completed in 1964 1967 disestablishments in England Music venues in South Yorkshire Nightclubs in Sheffield 1964 establishments in England