Peterborough "legend" recalls experiencing "little piece of America" at USAF base during the disco era
A celebrated writer, social historian and former DJ from Peterborough has spoken of his experiences at a USAF base as part of a black history project.
As the disco era of the 1970s was emerging, a teenage Del Singh was getting to experience what he called “a little piece of America” on his doorstep.
It was the British-born Sikh’s first experience of the music and culture – and one that he says ‘ignited a spark’ in him.
Along with his father and brother, Del had been trading at Alconbury air base near Huntingdon – supplying all things “trendy and chic” to the airmen – from lava lamps and tapestries to African-inspired clothing and crafts.
It was an experience that created a lasting memory for Del, now 63, whose father owned several businesses in Peterborough – including Super Bazaar in Fitzwilliam Street.
He has now shared his account of that time through a pioneering cultural heritage project called Black USAF: Cultural Connections in Cold War East Anglia. Since launching in June 2025, the project has been capturing first-hand reflections from people across the region on how the presence of Black American service members shaped their lives and local communities.
“It was quite amazing because I guess it was almost like somebody dropped a piece of America into the middle of East Anglia,” Del recalls. “So you had this fantastic little 51st state of America dropped into the UK that was a world of its own. People drove on the wrong side of the road inside Alconbury and their signs were all spelled incorrectly - American English!
"For me as a teenager to go on into that world in around 1975 when I was about 13 years-old, and experiencing that - it was quite the revelation. It was like being in the States, but you could pop back home again – 30 minutes up the road.”
It was Del’s first taste of the emerging disco culture of the ‘seventies – one where he soon picked up on the American airmen’s “crazy fist bumps” and “jive-ass talking”.
He explains: “They were kicking the music and they'd have a DJ, and they'd be playing all those great disco hits from the ‘70s, the sort of Candy Staton and The Emotions and The Miracles and The Temptations, all this really good stuff, and Marvin Gaye. And you’re thinking ‘whoa, what's this?’ And then they'd start dancing! And they were bloody brilliant! These guys could bust a move, you know?
"They were high on life. What wasn't there to like about that part of American culture?”
Outside of the base, Del admits that the influence of that culture, and the way their DJ could command a room, "lit a spark” in him.
This, coupled with a new opportunity that arose, lead Del and his brother David to follow the music, culminating in Peterborough’s famous 24-hour disco in 1979.
“For me, I was a school kid,” Del explains. “I was at Jack Hunt School in Peterborough in the sixth form around ‘78 when this thing was breaking. We always did an annual thing to raise money for charity, and it was just a happy accident where somebody suggested “why not do a 24 hour disco?”
Del and David ended up hiring all the equipment and DJ-ing themselves. Their prowess behind the decks became legendary in the city – with the duo receiving multiple requests to play at various events.
The brothers later launched the Singh Brothers Rock Roadshow and became local legends throughout the 1980s music scene. They later went on to run The Park nightclub during the 2000s – hosting musicians such as Coolio and Tinie Tempah .
As previously reported in the Peterborough Telegraph, their story is now set to become a stage show.
Speaking at the time, Del said: “I can assure you that nowhere in the UK, the world or indeed the universe in the ‘80s was there turban-wearing Sikh lads playing heavy rock records to hundreds of bikers, rockers and metal-heads, week-in, week-out. DJs just didn’t look like this,” he added, pointing at his turban.
To listen to Del’s account in full, visit the ‘Black USAF’ website.