Tony Cummings takes a look at the Northern Soul classic "Lord What's Happening To Your People" by KENNY SMITH

Kenny Smith

Cincinnati, Ohio may not be up there as one of the USA's great music epicentres like Memphis, Nashville or Detroit but down the decades it has still produced its share of milestone artists. Figures as diverse as Bootsy Collins, Doris Day, the Isley Brothers and Kenny Smith. Kenny Smith? Instant recognition of that name will mean that you are a devotee of Northern Soul. In that field, Smith is a hero whose records "Go For Yourself" and his classic "Lord What's Happening To Your People" are danced to wherever Northern Soul enthusiasts gather. Kenny is a part of Northern Soul history.

Back in the '60s a few clubs in the north of England began playing unsuccessful soul singles for no other reason than they were better for dancing to than the hits that most radio stations and discos were playing. No one could have imagined that this "rare soul" scene would be thriving 60 years on. In fact, Northern Soul is today internationally popular with events regularly happening in countries like Australia, Sweden and even the USA (where, of course, soul music originated).

Over the years thousands of singles and a few album tracks from the 1960s and 1970s have been heralded Northern Soul floorfillers by the scene's influential deejays and its devoted legion of dancers and record collectors. In the '60s, Northern Soul was dominated by "stompers", records with an on-the-fours rhythm which was recorded for Motown Records in Detroit, or sounded like they were. By the late '60s/early '70s black America had moved to different rhythms and dance music production approaches. In Britain, thanks to the pioneering efforts of Blackpool Mecca deejays Ian Levine and Colin Curtis, different, funkier records were delighting the dancers.

A pivotal man in keeping Northern Soul fans dancing was Simon Soussan - a Casablanca-born, Leeds-based wheeler dealer who relocated to Los Angeles, began searching record shops and warehouses holding unsold soul singles, finding potential floorfillers and sending copies or acetates to the scene's Wigan Casino. Then, when dancer demand had been created, he would send over a consignment of a thousand or two. If he couldn't find a quantity, he would simply bootleg a record - often with fictitious artist names or label credits to hide their origins.

In America, record companies and soul singers were blissfully unaware of Soussan's dubious activities. All over the US soul artists were striving to make the big time, hoping that small gigs would lead to records which would lead to fame and fortune. Such an artist was Cincinatti's Kenny Smith.

Smith was born in Maysville, Kentucky in 1938. Growing up in Cincinnati when doowop was hitting, while attending high school he'd started a vocal group and by the time he'd graduated the music bug had bitten deep. With his group The Loveliters he'd won a local talent contest, the prize being an expensive watch which they sold and split the proceeds among themselves. In 1962 he was spotted singing with another group by Carl Edmondson of Fraternity Records. Fraternity had put the city on the music industry map when they enjoyed a smash hit instrumental by Lonnie Mack. Fraternity released three singles by Kenny Smith & The Loveliters and then, when the group broke up, the first of a long stream of Smith solo efforts - "Dee Dee Darlin'" and "Summer's Gone" in 1963 and in 1965 "Deep In My Heart". But they couldn't get a hit for the enthusiastic soul singer. Neither could Kenny find success for other Fraternity artists he produced.

The music scene was continually changing and in 1971 it became aware of the music emerging from the Jesus Movement. Thousands upon thousands of young people, disillusioned with the poisoned chalice handed them by the music-driven exhortation to tune in and drop out, were turning to radical Christian faith. The movement spread from California across the USA, made the cover of Time magazine and suddenly Joni Mitchell and The Byrds along with dozens of newly converted rock bands eager to sing about their faith were singing songs for or about "Jesus freaks." Magazines were using the phrase "Christian rock" and songwriters, both Christian and non-Christian, were writing songs about God, the Church and themes a long way from most pop and R&B lyrics with their focus on romantic love and hedonistic lust.

At that time Kenny wrote a song originally called "Lord What's Happened". A gifted songwriter, Kenny turned his attention to the turmoil on the streets and the hypocrisy he could see in parts of the African American church. He wrote, "Crime in the streets y-all (Yeah)/Sin and corruption, tell ya/A scene like we're on the brink (yeah) /Of total destruction/It's a hell of a way, I tell ya, (yeah) we treat each other/Brother fights brother, yes they do (yeah)/They got no respect for mother/Oh Lord what's happening to your people/(When will this hatred end?)/When will this hatred end?/When will they love again? /Heaven help us/We need it/Everybody wants money (yeah) Yeah/Money is the power/Lord they be willing to kill/Yes they are (yeah)/And go against your will/They go to church on Sunday/Yes they do/And raise hell on Monday/I, I know the solution/What we need is a love revolution (yeah)/Oh Lord what's happening to your people?"

He recorded the song with a slow gospel arrangement featuring some churchy organ. It was duly released on Kenny's GoldSpot Records. But nobody noticed or cared. The following year, though, a new version was concocted with an insidious dance rhythm. This version was duly sent to a major label, General American Records. The executives there thought it sounded like a hit and for a moment they thought it would catch the ear of the radio gatekeepers and make them and Kenny some money. But like other Kenny Smith records, once leased to big labels like RCA and Chess, "Lord What's Happening To Your People" flopped. The resilient Smith tried once more with a new release on GoldSpot. But then came Soussan's visit and his offer to release it in the UK on Soussan's Soul Galore label. What Soussan failed to tell Smith was that the "promotional copies" that he would press as mentioned in the contract would in fact be sold without the need to pay royalties. So all Smith received was a meagre $300 advance. It was a poor deal for Smith but a good one for Soussan as deejay Colin Curtis had built up a big following for the song.

Kenny went on to record numerous more singles and even released a Christmas CD, 'Kenny Lives For Christmas'. In 2006 Shake It! Records released the compilation 'One More Day', featuring tracks Smith had recorded for many labels down the years. Time finally ran out for Smith in 2022. "Lord What Is Happening To Your People" to this day continues to pack the dance floors wherever Northern Soul fans gather. In 2025 Britain's Soul City Records released a 7" vinyl of both the slow and the fast versions of the song.

"Lord What's Happening To Your People" was featured in the 2026 critically acclaimed documentary Northern Soul: Still Burning and the soundtrack album that Charly Records have now issued. Kenny's Northern Soul classic will continue to delight dancers at Blackpool's International Soul Festival, at London's Deptford Northern Soul Club and at venues around the globe. The message of a song about a broken world where "everybody wants money" still carries a prophetic truth 54 years after it was recorded.