‘I will hang onto the great memories of Terry Hall making history’: Bandmates pay tribute to The Specials singer who died aged 63 from ‘brief illness’ after pioneering British ska scene and rising to fame with mega-hits Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young
- The lead singer of The Specials, Terry Hall, has died at the age of 63
- The band paid tribute to ‘one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls’
- The Specials made a name with their ska and rocksteady style in the late 1970s
Terry Hall’s bandmates from The Specials shared a tribute to the lead singer following his death from a ‘brief illness’ at the age of 63.
The band reminisced over Hall’s music and his performances which ‘encapsulated the very essence of life’ when they announced his death on Twitter on Monday, December, 19.
The Specials were formed in Hall’s home city of Coventry in 1977, by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter – with Hall, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers and John Bradbury joining a year later.
The band said their goodbyes to their fellow band member by sharing some of their memories with fans on Twitter.
Announcing Hall’s death on Twitter, his bandmates said: ‘It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced.
‘Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love.
Terry Hall, lead singer of The Specials, has died at the age of 63, the band has announced
The singer-songwriter rose to fame as part of the band, who were pioneers of the ska scene in the UK
The Specials performing at the Hope and Anchor, London 1980 (centre, Terry Hall)
The band made a name with their ska and rocksteady style, and for providing a musical backdrop to economic recession, urban decay and societal fracture in the early 1980s
In February 2019, The Specials released Encore, their first album of new material in 37 years (Pictured: Terry Hall at the Brit Awards in 1997)
The Specials performs live on stage during their 30th Anniversary reunion tour at Hammersmith Apollo on November 24, 2009
A HISTORY OF SKA: FROM 1950s JAMAICA TO 1980s BRITAIN
Ska is a combined musical element of Caribbean Mento and Calypso with a bit of American Jazz and also Rhythm and Blues.
It separates itself from other musical genres due to its walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, Ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with the other communities as well, including the British Community.
Ska music was made for dancing. It stand out because the music is upbeat, quick and exciting.
Musically, it can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4 time) and with the guitar hitting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats.
Traditional Ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, horns with sax, trombone and trumpet being most common.
Music historians typically divide the history of Ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s (First Wave); the English 2 Tone Ska revival of the late 1970s (Second Wave); and the third wave Ska movement, which started in the 1980s and rose to popularity in the US in the 1990s.
Without a doubt Ska has set a musical standard for genres that follow it such as Reggae and Rocksteady.
Source: Jamaicansmusic.com
‘He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity.
The singer-songwriter rose to fame as part of the band in the late 70s with hits such as Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young – and were pioneers of the ska scene in the UK.
Terry often left the stage at the end of The Specials’ life-affirming shows with three words…’Love Love Love’.
‘We would ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy at this very sad time.’
Bandmate Neville Staples tweeted he was ‘deeply saddened’ to hear about Hall’s death, saying: ‘We knew Terry had been unwell but didn’t realise how serious until recently. We had only just confirmed some 2023 joint music agreements together. This has hit me hard.’
He added: ‘In the music World, people have many ups and downs, but I will hang onto the great memories of Terry and I, making history fronting The Specials and Fun Boy three together. Rest easy Terry Hall’
When Hall was 12 he was kidnapped by a teacher, he told The Spectator in 2019: ‘I was abducted, taken to France and sexually abused for four days.
‘And then punched in the face and left on the roadside.’
He said the incident left him with life-long depression and caused him to drop out of education at the age of 14, after becoming addicted to the Valium he had been prescribed.
‘I didn’t go to school, I didn’t do anything. I just sat on my bed rocking for eight months.’
Music was some form of solace and Hall joined a local punk band called Squad, receiving his first writing credit on their single Red Alert.
The Specials were formed in Hall’s home city of Coventry in 1977, by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter – with Hall, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers and John Bradbury joining a year later.
The band were originally called The Automatics, before changing their name to The Coventry Automatics, The Specials AKA The Automatics and finally, in 1978, settling on The Specials.
The band made a name with their ska and rocksteady style, and for providing a musical backdrop to economic recession, urban decay and societal fracture in the early 1980s.
The band split in 1981, after which Hall, Golding and Staple went on to form Fun Boy Three, while Dammers and Bradbury released an album under the moniker The Special AKA, which spawned the hit single Free Nelson Mandela in 1984.
The band were originally called The Automatics, before changing their name to The Coventry Automatics, The Specials AKA The Automatics and finally, in 1978, settling on The Specials
Hall was was originally spotted by The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, who recruited him as a frontman
The band gained national attention after Radio 1’s John Peel played their debut single, Gangsters
The band made a name with their ska and rocksteady style, and for providing a musical backdrop to economic recession, urban decay and societal fracture in the early 1980s
‘At 12 I got abducted by a paedophile ring’
Terry Hall hall was described being abducted by a paedophile ring when he was 12 in France as a ‘real eye-opener’ while speaking to Richard Herring on his podcast in 2019.
The singer said he lived with depression as a result and dropped out of school at 14.
‘I was sort of drugged up then on Valium for about a year and I didn’t go to school,’ he added.
He then spent time working odd jobs like bricklaying before joining a punk band called Squad.
He said the traumatic event in his childhood has affected him his whole life.
The abduction was mentioned in Fun Boy Three’s song Well Fancy That – which detailed how the abuse was at the hands of a teacher.
The lyrics included, ‘You took me to France on the promise of teaching me French’.
He said in 2019: ‘It’s unfortunate it happened to me but you can’t just let it destroy your life, it’s not good.’
Fun Boy Three achieved four UK top 10 singles during their time together, until Hall left the band in 1983 to form The Colourfield with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale.
After undertaking a variety of solo and collaborative projects – Hall worked with the likes of Lily Allen – it was announced in 2008 that The Specials would be reforming for a number of tour dates and potential new music.
In September that year, Hall and five members of the band performed at Bestival music festival under the name Very ‘Special’ Guests.
In 2009 he reflected on the performance, saying: ‘Bestival was a trial run. We did an unannounced slot so we could just could turn up, nameless. It was perfect.’
The Specials embarked on a 2009 tour to celebrate their 30th anniversary and in 2018 supported The Rolling Stones during a concert at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.
In February 2019, The Specials released Encore, their first album of new material in 37 years.
Upon release, the album went straight to number one on the Official UK Album Chart, marking their first number one album, and the first time they had topped the charts since their classic track Ghost Town in 1981 and since their single Too Much Too Young became a number one in 1980.
The album’s lead single, the politically-themed Vote For Me, was considered by some fans as a follow-on from Ghost Town, which was hailed as a piece of popular social commentary having been released during the riots across England in 1981.
Hall told The Big Issue magazine in 2019: ‘I find myself in awe of the mess, nightly listening to politicians giving their opinion and thinking, I don’t necessarily trust any of you, really.
‘It is pretty sad. I grew up aligned to a party, the Labour Party, quite strongly. Until Tony Blair made Noel Gallagher prime minister I knew exactly where I stood.’
His last record was an album of covers inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Released in October 2021, ‘Protest Songs’ charted at number two and featured new versions of Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up; and The Staples Singers’ Freedom Highway amongst others.
Hall is survived by his wife, the director Lindy Heymann. They had one son, while Hall has two older sons with his ex-wife, Jeanette Hall.
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