The man who coined the term ‘Northern Soul’ will be recognized with the unveiling of a blue plaque in Sheffield.

Dave Godin, who was born in London in 1936 but moved to Sheffield to study in the 1980s, is also credited with bringing Tamla Motown to the UK.

Chris Rogers, who has campaigned for 15 years for Godin, who died in 2004, to be honored in Sheffield, said his cultural contribution “should be recognized and celebrated”.

The plaque will be unveiled on Sunday at the former site of The Anvil, an arthouse cinema that Godin campaigned and ran for many years.

The Anvil was the first council-run art cinema outside London and was known for showing independent films in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr Rogers, who is from Sheffield, explained that although Mr Godin was the owner of the Soul City record shop in Deptford, London, he had noticed that people from the north of England, often football fans who followed their teams to games in the capital, they came to his store looking for high-energy soul music from black American artists.

As a result, Godin told his staff not to waste time suggesting other types of Soul records to those customers, but instead to show them the special items he had reserved.

“They were looking for a particular type of record, a particular type of rhythm,” Rogers said.

“I basically had a box of these records, imported directly from the United States, 45s on vinyl.

“He referred to this box as ‘Northern Soul,’ because it was primarily purchased by northerners.”

What became widely known as Northern Soul reached its peak in the 1970s, with DJs at famous clubs in places like Wigan and Blackpool playing only that style of music.

Rogers said Godin was also “known as the man who brought Tamla Motown to the UK on their first tour outside the US.”

“He became great friends with many of the great artists, including Marvin Gaye, who regularly called Dave Godin at his home in Sheffield,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Godin is also credited with being involved in the career of the musician then known as Reg Dwight, who was a customer at his store and to whom he offered the opportunity to play keyboards for a band as a session musician.

Dwight became the global superstar best known as Elton John, and this incident appears in the biographical film Rocketman, with Godin played by actor Aston McAuley.

Moving to South Yorkshire in the mid-1980s to study film as a mature student and then settling in Sheffield, Godin also made an important contribution to the culture in his adopted city, Rogers said.

Film was one of Mr Godin’s great passions and he pushed for and then ran The Anvil Civic Cinema in Sheffield, he explained.

Rogers said: “A long-time vegan, he became a tireless activist against animal cruelty in film production, speaking out against film censorship and protesting with numerous anarchist and anti-capitalist organisations.”

The blue plaque marking the life and achievements of Mr Godin, which was funded by Terry Lee, a Sheffield businessman and DJ, will be unveiled at the former site of The Anvil on Charter Row at 3pm GMT on Sunday.

Rogers, who now lives in France, said the event would be the culmination of a long campaign to commemorate Godin’s achievements, which had even attracted big-name supporters such as Martha Reeves of the famous Motown group Martha and the Vandellas.

“His contribution to British and American culture must be recognized and celebrated,” Rogers said.

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