In the 1970s, this song was rediscovered by Ian Levine while in Miami and became an extremely popular dance track in Northern soul clubs in England, and was subsequently re-pressed in the UK unofficially.
[2] The Invitations (at the time of the song's release) consisted of Roy Jolly (lead singer), Billy Morris, Robert Rivers, and Wilson 'Gary' Gant.
[13] 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',[14] Russ Winstanley met up with a pop group from Wigan called Sparkle,[15][7] who renamed themselves Wigan's Ovation and covered the song (with slightly modified lyrics) in 1975.
[9] 'Furious' enthusiasts were 'disgusted'[7] that their cover had been blown and particularly disliked the fact that the band's name contained the name of their town,[16][19] as for many people this performance was their first encounter with the subculture which had previously been kept underground,[14] 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 died').
[7] Stuart Maconie 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'.