Terry Hall, longtime lead singer for British ska greats the Specials, has died. The band introduced Hall’s passing on Instagram, writing that Hall just lately died “following a brief illness.” No explanation for loss of life has been revealed. Hall was 63.
Terry Hall grew up within the West Midlands metropolis of Coventry, and he dropped out of college at age 14. (Later, Hall claimed that he’d left college after being depressed as a result of he’s been “abducted by a pedophile ring in France” when he was 12.) Hall labored menial jobs as a young person, and he joined the band then referred to as the Automatics, changing authentic singer Tim Strickland, in 1977. The Automatics went via a number of totally different names earlier than turning into the Specials.
The Specials have been on the forefront of the British ska-revival style referred to as 2-Tone, a time period coined by Specials keyboardist Jerry Dammers. The band was biracial, and so they introduced their very own twist to the ska and rocksteady that the musicians had been listening to since they have been youngsters. The Specials weren’t a punk band, however they sang about the identical go-nowhere working class youth identification that animated the primary wave of British punk bands. They additionally had a robust aesthetic, with their checkerboard emblem and their sharp garments. Terry Hall, lean and good-looking and perpetually bored, made for a putting frontman in a putting band.
The Specials caught an early break after the Clash’s Joe Strummer noticed them reside and invited them to open for his band. The band shaped their very own 2-Tone label and launched their debut single “Gangsters,” a transforming of Prince Buster’s 1964 Jamaican ska basic “Al Capone,” in 1979. “Gangsters” was a top-10 hit within the UK. More hits adopted, because the Specials’ first six singles all made the highest 10 of their homeland. Elvis Costello produced the band’s 1979 debut, a straight-up basic that manages to be indignant, enjoyable, and determined abruptly.
With their 1980 sophomore album More Specials, the Specials grew loungier and extra experimental, and so they adopted that LP with their eerie 1981 smash “Ghost Town,” a #1 hit within the UK. But tensions throughout the band have been rising insufferable, and instantly after “Ghost Town,” Terry Hall and his bandmates Lynval Golding and Neville Staple all left the group to kind a brand new trio referred to as Fun Boy Three. Fun Boy Three recorded a few hit collaborations with Bananarama, and so they additionally launched a 1983 model of “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Terry Hall co-wrote that tune with the Go-Go’s’ Jane Wiedlin. The Go-Go’s’ model of that tune had already been an enormous American hit, and Fun Boy Three took it into the highest 10 within the UK.
In 1984, Terry Hall left Fun Boy Three and began a brand new wave band referred to as the Colourfield with members of the Lightning Seeds. Hall additionally contributed to the Lightning Seeds’ data, collaborated with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart in a short-lived challenge referred to as Vegas, launched a collaborative EP with Damon Albarn, and got here out with a number of solo albums. In 2001, Hall appeared on the Gorillaz/D12 monitor “911.” In 2009, he rejoined the Specials, and he continued to carry out with them till his loss of life. The Specials launched their most up-to-date album Protest Songs 1924–2012 final 12 months, and so they performed at a lot of festivals this previous summer season.
Below, take a look at a few of Terry Hall’s work.