A Guy Called Gerald

Gerald Simpson grew up in Moss Side and made one of the most important dance records this country has ever produced. Voodoo Ray came out on Rham! Records in 1988 – a bubbling, hypnotic acid house track built around a Roland 303 bassline and a vocal sample that sounded like it was beaming in from somewhere else entirely. It reached the top 20 and became the unofficial anthem of Manchester’s acid house explosion.

Simpson was part of 808 State briefly – he played on Newbuild – but left before Pacific State. The story goes that there were disagreements about money and credit. He went solo and Voodoo Ray happened almost immediately. The track was made on cheap equipment in his bedroom, which is part of the point. You didn’t need a studio or a record deal. You needed a drum machine, a sampler, and an idea.

His debut album, Hot Lemonade, followed. Then Black Secret Technology in 1995, which moved into jungle and drum and bass territory and is genuinely one of the great electronic albums – darker, more complex, ahead of its time. It didn’t sell the way it should have. Simpson ended up moving to London, then New York, then Berlin. Manchester’s story with its electronic pioneers often ends with them leaving.

But the impact of Voodoo Ray on Manchester is hard to overstate. It proved the city could produce dance music that competed with Chicago and Detroit. It came from Moss Side, not from a fancy studio. Simpson still DJs and produces, still respected by anyone who knows the history. One bedroom, one drum machine, one record that rewired British music. Moss Side should have a plaque. It probably won’t get one, which tells its own story.