Were there any restrictions?

Yes, I didn’t get enough Stevie tracks on there, because I was told you can only put one by him on a Motown compilation. Stevie has it well sewn up, he’s got his eye on the ball. Part of me really respects that and thinks that’s good as it means he doesn’t end up on every cheap budget compilation but in my case I found that really frustrating because there would have been two or three by him at least. But it’s good for discipline, so I thought I’d limit myself to only one song by each artist but then I couldn’t as you need a couple by Marvin and Smokey on there. And anyway those three – Stevie, Smokey, Marvin – are involved on about 10 of the tracks on this compilation in other ways than singing. If I could have had another Stevie track it would have been As but on this day Sugar just won out. And I got away with a Syreeta track as that was only featuring Stevie.

When and how did you first discover Motown?

Well when I was five and six I got into punk through my older brothers. Then I got into Two Tone through me really and one of my cousins. The Specials’ Ghost Town was the first record I ever bought in Weybridge in Surrey, probably from WH Smiths, I think for £1.49. When I was nine years old my whole world was turned upside down by them, The Beat and Madness. Then it was reggae through looking at the credits on those Two Tone records, I loved The Wailers, then by the time I was in my early teens it was The Style Council and through them I discovered Motown. I was really bowled over by them and checked out all their influences, hence Motown. I bought my first Motown record in 1987, Tamla Motown Presents 20 Mod Classics, and I started buying Motown from there. I used to buy my records in Kingston, Surrey, they’d all be £3.99, £4.99, £5.99 at a push. I started with compilations and Smokey and Marvin and Tammi LPs. Some friends of my sister’s, John and Terry, two soul boys in Brighton also made me this Motown tape with loads of stuff on it that I didn’t have, well most of it I didn’t have. It was a real education for me, it was the first time I heard Ball Of Confusion, It’s A Shame, so many things that are now staples in my soul.