Sidney Barnes has had an amazing career, taking in songwriting for Motown's New York office, producing for Sue Records also in the Big Apple, making records in Detroit with his long time pal George Clinton, becoming part of Rotary Connection at Chess, and then doing backing vocals for Parliament and Funkadelic. Along the way he turned down the offer of becoming lead singer for Earth Wind And Fire.
For Rare Soul enthusiasts it is his series of 1960's compostions and productions on himself and various artists that have made him legendary.
His finest recording is surely the anguished "I Hurt On The Other Side". The cover version by Jerry Cook is itself a Northern Soul standard, but it's Sidney's original that wins the day. It was recorded during his stay at New York's Brill Building working for Leiber-Stoller as was the flip "You'll Always Be In Style", a Northern Soul must-have in its' own right too.