KEITH RYLATT was born 1950 in Rotherham, UK. After a diet of mainstream R&B, soul and Motown during the 60s, Keith left his native
Yorkshire aged eighteen to attend Manchester College of Art and, much to the frustration of his tutors, the infamous Twisted Wheel Club.
In the early 70s he moved to Kent, in the south of England, which was then something of a soul wasteland, but school days’ friend Bob Foster helped to keep him in touch via a regular supply of soul music cassettes. Bob was one of the country’s leading Detroit soul collectors and became a great influence. Keith began to import Detroit 45s in bulk from Martin Koppel in Toronto for his own mail order set-up, Premium Stuff, which in turn brought him into contact with other Detroit connoisseurs such as Tom Creeden and Lars Nilsson.
As well as collecting and selling soul 45s, Keith also DJed and wrote articles
for fanzines such as Hot Buttered Soul and Midnite Express and in the early 80s, along with a small band of other Detroit enthusiasts, contributed to
The Collector’s Guide to Detroit, which until now has remained the main reference for Detroit soul. He went on to edit his own fanzine, Come & Get
These Memories as well as amassing a large collection of Detroit 45s, many of which were obtained on trips to the USA.
By the start of the 90s Keith began researching for a book about the Twisted Wheel Club, universally regarded as being the cradle of the Northern Soul scene and along with co-author, Phil Scott had the book published in 2001. CENtral 1179 is unfortunately now out of print.
Since then he has become a regular columnist for Manifesto magazine and devoted the rest of his time to researching and producing Groovesville USA.
“Thank you to the authors of CENtral 1179 for blasting me back to the mid 60’s. Living in London for the past 34 years I recall how often I told family and friends that my club-life ended the day I left Manchester and how I would tell them about this club – The Twisted Wheel – that I used to go to. I was beginning to wonder if I had imagined half my stories… My stories were wild and crazy and few believed them… until
this book arrived on my doorstep.”