"Skiing In The Snow" is an American

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

song which became adopted by 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 ...

subculture in the UK, written by

Sandy Linzer Sanford Roy Linzer (born 1941) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Denny Randell and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including " A Lover's Concert ...

and

Denny Randell Dennis Joel Rafkin (born 1941), known professionally as Denny Randell, is an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits i ...

.Originally recorded in October 1964 in a surf style by American group The Beach Girls (also known as The Rag Dolls), their version was released on Dynovox Records in February 1965 but failed to chart. The group consisted of Jean Thomas, Mickie Harris and Susan Lewis.

The Invitations version

The song was then re-recorded a year later by American group The Invitations in a

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

style, and released on Dynovoice Records (an alias of Dynovox) a year later. This version also failed to chart. The song was then forgotten and became 'rarer than a green dog', according to one source 'no one had actually seen a copy or heard it', and it was only 'rumoured to exist'. It is unclear whether it ever obtained any radio play at the time of its release. In the 1970s, this song was rediscovered by

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, DJ, and prominent Doctor Who fan. A populariser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of hi-NRG, he has co-written and co-produced records with sa ...

while in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and became an extremely popular dance track in

clubs in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was subsequently re-pressed in the UK unofficially. Even though the song was nominally about

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

, many of those in the clubs interpreted some of the lyrics as drug references, perhaps a reason for its popularity. The Invitations (at the time of the song's release) consisted of Roy Jolly (lead singer), Billy Morris, Robert Rivers, and Wilson 'Gary' Gant. The group also recorded 'What's Wrong With Me Baby', 'Written On The Wall', and 'Hallelujah', none of which were successful, however 'What's Wrong With Me Baby' did receive some radio play in the US on release and was also used in the Northern soul subculture in the UK later on.

Wigan's Ovation version

In an attempt to capitalise on the song's popularity in the Northern soul subculture and 'put Northern soul on the music map for the industry', Russ Winstanley met up with a pop group from

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

called Sparkle, who renamed themselves Wigan's Ovation and covered the song (with slightly modified lyrics) in 1975. On 20 March 1975, the band performed the song on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', and went on to perform on the show 13 times. They appeared in baggy trousers decorated with Northern soul badges, and the performance was widely derided as 'uncool' and 'an imitation'. This recording was extremely controversial and was widely panned by those in the Northern soul scene, who described it as a 'terrible cover version of The Invitations' classic', 'trash', 'bad for Northern soul', ' nembarrassing novelty single', 'crassly commercial', 'selling out', 'horrible', 'even worse than

Footsee "Footsee", credited to Wigan's Chosen Few, was a British hit single in 1975, reaching number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. It is notable as being one of the first commercially successful remixes of a previously released recording. By late 1974, th ...

', 'dire', 'awful', 'annoying', 'our Vietnam flashback moment', and 'a fucking travesty'. 'Furious' enthusiasts were 'disgusted' that their cover had been blown and particularly disliked the fact that the band's name contained the name of their town, as for many people this performance was their first encounter with the subculture which had previously been kept underground, and many in the industry see the release of this record as a pivotal moment in the decline of Northern soul (the night of the ''Top of the Pops'' airing was described as 'the night that

Wigan Casino The Wigan Casino is the colloquial name for the nightclub the Casino Club, that operated in Wigan between Friday, August 27 1965 (with Shirley Bassey topping the bill) and 1981, associated with the Northern Soul movement in the UK. The club's end ...

died'). Soon after the release of this record, attendance at the Wigan Casino rapidly increased forcing the venue to stop accepting new members, many of those attending only recently becoming aware of the subculture through the television broadcast.

Stuart Maconie Stuart John Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark Radc ...

described the song as 'a bland, modernised, easier to license version of a classic Northern tune originally by US artists', and said it 'really stuck in the purists' craw even then'. Even though the recording 'horrified the purists', the song entered the UK Singles Chart and reached a peak of number 12 on 15 March 1975, and stayed in the chart for 10 weeks. The band had later hits with "Per-so-nal-ly" and "Super Love", reaching 38 and 41 in the UK chart respectively, however this did not stop the band splitting up in 1976. The band then reformed in 1977 and continued performing until the suicide of their manager in 1984.

Chart performance

References

{{Reflist American soul songs 1975 singles Northern soul songs 1964 songs