I've been reading the tributes to Randy on the site and although I never met him, I was prompted to write this.

I, like many others, got into soul music through the mod scene. I was a latecomer to the joys of soul - northern or otherwise - having gone to my first mod club a week after my 16th birthday in 1985. From then on I was hooked. The records being played on the Dublin scene back then were predominantly Kent compilations with an odd few aspiring DJs spinning the rarer, original variety. I remember being enthralled by the sleeve notes of Harboro Horace and the artwork of Ian Clark but it was the sounds, thumping from my speakers which really blew me away, usually accompanied by a chorus of "lower down that mad music" from my parents.

The club we went to was "Bubbles"; just a teenage disco on a Wednesday night but for us, it was our Wigan Casino and we were content with it. That would soon change though as I remember picking up a copy of "Dancing Till Dawn" with all that lovely Scepter Wand stuff and the fabulous "Sherlock Holmes going to the 100 Club" story on the back accompanied by a picture of a guy doing a handstand on Oxford Street. Suddenly "Bubbles" wasn't enough for me.

I was closeted in the tight little world of the Dublin scene lamenting being too young to have gone to Wigan but now, here was something I could go to. The 100 Club!

It was about a year and a half later that I finally made it to Oxford Street, being slightly underage but I was a good boy and didn't drink (much!). I can't remember who DJd that night apart from Ady. All I remember is never having danced so much in my life and Ady playing Edwin Starr's "I Have Faith In You" commenting that "You won't get a better double-sider than this". If my birth into soul music happened at Bubbles, my baptism was certainly at the 100 Club. A couple of months later, heavily influenced by what I'd been listening to on Kent compilations and heard at the 100 Club, I started promoting soul nights. Almost 17 years later I'm still at it. People talk about Wigan and what it did for the scene and not having been there, I can't really comment on it. But what I do believe is that no other club has had a bigger influence on soul music worldwide than the 100 Club. For everybody into Northern soul across the globe it is the Mecca. Everything else pales in comparison.

I was DJing at the Rimini weekender last year and in a moment of very drunken madness, told Ady how much he influenced me, what he meant and had done for me and what he had done for the northern scene worldwide was immeasurable. I think I embarassed him. Having gushed so uncontrollably the previous night was quite embarrasing for me in the cold light of day - it's not something you really come out and say to someone - but you know what, I'm not embarrassed about it now and don't regret saying it.

Reading the tributes to Randy who, unfortunately, I never met, made me think about it. Why leave it till someone's gone to show your appreciation?

The influence of Randy Cozens on the northern scene worldwide eclipses anything anyone else has ever done. The pure fact that he was co-founder of 6Ts and the obvious influence he's had over Ady has benefitted us all. Without his intervention would we have been as well off as we are? 24 years on the go and still knocking out cracking soul nights is a testament to both Randy and Ady's commitment to the music, the scene and the people who love it.

After years of pestering, Ady finally agreed to DJ at one of my allnighters last October and it was a dream come true for me. When I first stepped into the 100 Club in 1987 I never would have guessed that years later I too would be promoting soul nights and allnighters and it was unthinkable that Ady would be DJing for me! It's their persistance and passion for the music that sets an example to all promoters in all the countries that northern soul has touched to keep doing it. It's a thankless task. It's a major headache. It's a pain in the arse more often than not but there is no greater joy to be felt than when you see so many people having a good time and sharing the music that you love.

A long, long time ago, before I was a twinkle in my father's eye (me being only 33 summers), this great scene of ours kicked off and who'd have thought that 40 years later it would still be going? If it wasn't for the passion of people like Randy Cozens, it probably wouldn't have lasted and spread outside the boundaries of the UK - Cleethorpes on a Saturday afternoon shows their legacy. They took it an English working class scene and made it global. Here's to another 40 years!

Paul Davis
Dublin Soul Club