JJ Barnes

James Jay Barnes was born on 30th November 1943 in Detroit, Michigan. He built his reputation with a series of powerful Detroit soul records in the 1960’s and is better known to us on the Northern Soul scene than he is as a commercially successful artist in his native land. A former member of the Halo Gospel Singers, Barnes' first single was Won't You Let Me Know' (1960) recorded on Kable and later singles followed on Mickays and Ring with no success.

He signed with Ric Tic in 1965 and three remarkable releases followed: 'Please Let Me In' (1965), Real Humdinger' (1966, US R&B Top 20 and pop number 60) and 'Day Tripper' (1966) which was a George Clinton production of the Beatles classic. In 1966, Barnes, as part of Holidays, an ad hoc group that also included Edwin Starr and Steve Mancha, had a big hit with I’ll Love You Forever. Barnes' contract and masters were acquired by Motown in 1966 but the company never released any of his recordings. In 1967, he moved to Don Davis's Groovesville, where he achieved two hits, 'Baby Please Come Back Home' and 'Now That I Got You Back' sounding uncannily like Marvin Gaye

In 1968 Barnes switched to a companion label, Revilot, which yielded one of Northern Soul’s classic records, 'Our Love (is in the pocket). Recognition in northern soul circles resulted in an album and several singles recorded in the UK in the late 70s and early 80s that were of much lesser merit than his Detroit output.

In 1991 he released two singles and one album for Ian Levine's Motor City label.