The Specials‘ Horace Panter has shared a press release on Facebook outlining the weeks main as much as bandmate Terry Hall‘s demise on December 18.
The Specials confirmed Hall’s passing yesterday (December 19), sharing that he had died following a “brief illness” on the age of 63, and remembering their frontman as “a beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced”.
In Panter’s assertion, posted to Facebook earlier right now (December 20), the bassist mentioned he, Hall and Specials guitarist Lynval Golding had been planning to file a reggae album in Los Angeles in early November, with flights booked and studio time and lodging organised.
“Terry had the framework for 8 tunes. Confidence was high. We were set to meet up with Nikolaj [Larsen, Specials keyboardist] and make magic. This was in September. Terry e-mails everyone and says he’s in bed with a stomach bug and can’t do the first week of pre-production sessions. No big deal, we can knock everything back a week. We’re not due to fly out until November 4th.”
Panter goes on to say that the next week, Hall had not but recovered, and was in hospital. On October 2, Panter acquired a cellphone name from the band’s supervisor, Steve Blackwell, informing him that Hall had been recognized with most cancers of the pancreas which had unfold to his liver.
“This is serious. Like life-threatening serious. He has developed diabetes due to his pancreas being attacked. This has to be treated first, then it’s a regime of chemotherapy. There is nothing anyone can do. Everything is put on hold. Terry is emphatic that no-one be told about this. If anyone asks, he’s managing his diabetes,” Panter wrote.
“The chemo treatment starts favourably but it seems that it would be March 2023 at the earliest before we’d be in any position to work. He is in and out of hospital to stabilise the diabetes issue and also to manage pain. It then goes quiet.”
By early December, Hall had “lost a lost of weight” and was “very frail”. Panter writes that Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds visited Hall in hospital, and knowledgeable Blackwell that he was anxious Hall was “slipping away”. On December 15, Blackwell drove as much as London to go to Hall.
“He calls me on his return journey and says things are not looking promising. Terry is dying,” Panter mentioned. “The subsequent day he’s placed on morphine and is more-or-less unconscious for more often than not. I assumed it could be finest for me to go and go to however Lindy, his spouse, advises in opposition to it.
“She has held her phone to Terry’s ear so that his sisters and Lynval can say their goodbyes. She suggests I do the same. So, I did. It was tough. Terry died around half past 5 the next evening, Sunday 18th December. The world has lost a unique voice and I have lost a good friend.” See Panter’s full submit under:
The Specials. Terry. This is what occurred. We had all of it deliberate out. Make the album we have been going to do in 2020 – a…
Posted by Horace Panter on Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Hall, was born in Coventry in 1959, and joined the Specials as their vocalist shortly after the band’s formation in 1977. He remained lively with the band into this 12 months, along with his final present happening as a part of the Beautiful Days competition in Devon this August. The band’s final launch with Hall was the compilation ‘Protest Songs 1924-2012’, which arrived in September 2021.
After information of his demise emerged, tributes poured in for Hall. Among those that honoured the legendary frontman was former Specials bandmate Neville Staple. “I was deeply saddened to hear about Terry Hall’s passing on Sunday,” Staple tweeted. “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.”
Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn additionally paid tribute to Hall, sharing a video of himself enjoying a solo piano rendition of the Specials’ 1980 hit ‘Friday Night, Saturday Morning’. “Terry, you meant the world to me,” he wrote. “I love you.”
Others who’ve paid tribute to Hall since his passing embrace Sleaford Mods, Billy Bragg, The Libertines, New Order, Rowetta, Lol Tolhurst of The Cure and plenty of extra.