Even better than the Real Thing? Liverpool's forgotten Black music scene of the 1970s

In 1976, "You to Me Are Everything" became the first UK No 1 single by a Black British band. The song was performed by the Real Thing, a group that emerged from a thriving but largely overlooked funk and R&B scene in Liverpool's Toxteth area during the 1970s.

Lead singer Chris Amoo says he and many of his peers were inspired not by Liverpool icons like the Beatles, but by American acts such as the Jackson 5 and the Temptations, seen on television. DJ Les Spaine, now regarded as a godfather of the UK funk scene, grew up in a household devoted to Black American music. Black US soldiers from the nearby Burtonwood airbase brought the latest records to Toxteth on weekends.

The Timepiece club

A nightclub called the Timepiece, run in part by Spaine, became a haven for Toxteth's Black community at a time when many other venues enforced an informal "colour ban". The club screened imported music films and drew a smartly dressed crowd, with people travelling from across the country for its all-night events.

Liverpool has been home to Black communities since the 18th century, tracing back to the transatlantic slave trade and later to West African sailors who settled in Toxteth. The area's warmth and solidarity existed alongside poverty and police discrimination, factors that contributed to the Toxteth riots of 1981.

Another act from the scene, the vocal group Distinction featuring Barbara Phillips, became the first Black British female group signed to a major label. Unlike the Real Thing, however, they never achieved comparable success, partly because the recording industry and record buyers were not yet ready to embrace Black British artists.

Both Amoo and Spaine note that many talented Toxteth groups never received the backing given to American acts, and that even the Real Thing's achievements are often overlooked. Their 1977 song "Children of the Ghetto" has since been covered by several prominent American artists.