TERRY HALL: A Soulful Rebel (Biographies of Musicians)

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Horace: We learned how to present a show while on tour with the Clash. You would see how they go on stage and it was just like, Bang. We learned to give 100%. Not just shamble on stage and “If you don’t mind, we’d like to play a few songs.” We were totally different after that tour. I always say that we started that tour as civilians but ended it as a group. Horace: I think age has filtered a few things. The only thing I watch on television is the news, really.

Terence Edward Hall (19 March 1959 – 18 December 2022) was a British musician who came to prominence as the lead singer of the 2-tone band the Specials, and later recorded with groups such as Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka, and Vegas. [1] They embarked on a 30th anniversary tour in 2009 and performed at the 2012 London Olympics closing concert, but faced the death of drummer John Bradbury, and the departure of vocalist Neville Staple and guitarist Roddy Radiation over the next few years. Terry Hall and Neville Staple performing with The Specials in 1980. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns However, when recording Ghost Town for an appearance on Top of the Pops, Hall and his bandmates Neville Staple and Lynval Golding announced they were leaving the band, as the result of internal personality clashes. They went off to form Fun Boy Three. EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Kate Middleton stayed home to help George with exams as William travelled to Singapore this month. Now, proud parents face a dilemma over whether to send their elder son to single-sex school nextTerry 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. Perry, Andrew. "The Specials reunion, interview with Terry Hall and Lynval Golding". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 August 2013 . Retrieved 5 September 2017.

They released their debut single, Gangsters (a reworking of Prince Buster’s Al Capone) in 1979, which reached No 6 in the UK singles chart. They would dominate the Top 10 over the next two years, peaking with their second No 1 single, and calling card, Ghost Town, in 1981. The lyrics, written by the band’s main songwriter, Jerry Dammers, dealt with Britain’s urban decay, unemployment and disfranchised youth. Terry's voice was the perfect instrument for the true and necessary songs on "The Specials". That honesty is heard in so many of his songs in joy and sorrow. My condolences to his family and friends.' His political awakening came in his teenage years “when I discovered that working men’s clubs had a colour bar on their doors. You could only get in if you were white. That really shook me. I couldn’t work it out.” Lynval: I think having Nikolaj Torp Larsen, we’re really fortunate to have a kid like that who’s so talented. I was one of the last ones to work with Jerry, I enjoyed working with him. If you’re going to make music, you want to make music with people that you respect as musicians. I do respect him a lot. Fun Boy Three achieved four UK top ten singles. Hall left the band in 1983 to form The Colourfield with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale.But the singer, who pioneered the British ska scene, became seriously ill just weeks before they were due to fly to the US. The Specials released a new studio album entitled Encore on 1 February 2019. Upon release it went straight to the number one spot on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the highest-charting album ever released by the Specials. [26] Personal life and death

Lynval: “Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights” by Bob Marley, because it was around the time when we started having our own identity. We started getting away from the colonial ways that were forced on to us. And that’s when the Rasta theme started coming up, something we can call our own, you know? That really hit me. But Hall, he says, helped to spearhead a change in attitudes. “People are more aware now of their own health, and people are starting to realise that their wellness is really important being on tour,” says Ficek. In recent months artists including Arlo Parks and Sam Fender have cancelled shows to focus on their mental health. Traditional ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, and horns with sax, trombone and trumpet being most common. In 2008, inspired by the Pixies’ reunion in 2004, Hall announced that he would be reforming the Specials for a tour and new music, albeit without founding member Jerry Dammers, who claimed he had been forced out.So as well as breaking down barriers with his socially-inclusive 2-Tone ska revival music, Hall also broke them down when it came to one of the biggest and least understood health issues of modern times. “Terry was incredibly brave to be so open and honest about these things. He never shied away from talking to anyone about it,” says Langan, who says she and her colleagues are “devastated” at his death. Simpson, Dave (6 June 2003). "CD: Junkie XL: Radio JXL – A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin". The Guardian. Meghan told King Charles there are TWO 'royal racists' who spoke about Archie's skin colour - while Harry asked his father: 'Don't you want to see your grandchildren any more?' in row over Frogmore Cottage, according to explosive new book If no one was going to rank 2019’s Encore or 2021’s Protest Songs over Specials and More Specials, they were far better than a naysayer might have suggested a Specials album would be without the input of Dammers, who after all had been the band’s architect, chief songwriter and de facto leader in their heyday. Both albums were admirably uninterested in simply warming over the old Specials sound: you got the feeling that the same restless spirit that had powered Hall’s solo career was behind their diversions into everything from funk to Frank Zappa covers. Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s and Hall’s former partner wrote that she was “gutted”. “He was a lovely, sensitive, talented and unique person. Our extremely brief romance resulted in the song Our Lips Are Sealed, which will forever tie us together in music history. Terrible news to hear this,” she tweeted.