Terry Hall, The Specials singer, dead at 63
Terry Hall, a musician who was the lead singer of The Specials and contributed to the development of some of the key post-punk British sounds, has passed away. He was 63.
After a brief illness, the band revealed late on Monday that Hall had passed away. One of the greatest singers, songwriters, and lyricists this nation has ever produced, he was referred to as "our wonderful friend, brother, and one of the most brilliant."
In the late 1970s, during a period of racial conflict, economic depression, and urban unrest, Hall joined the band that would eventually become The Specials in Coventry, an English city in the Midlands. The band rose to prominence in the anti-racist 2 Tone label ska revival movement thanks to its mix of Black and White musicians and its Jamaican-inspired look of smart suits and porkpie hats.
Their ominous Ghost Town, which depicts urban ruin, is their most well-known song in the UK. It reached the top of the charts in the summer of 1981 as police and primarily Black youth clashed in Brixton and other British cities.
While Hall's bandmate Neville Staple took the lead vocals on that song, Gangsters, Rat Race, and Too Much Too Young featured Hall prominently. They were arguably best known in North America for their cover of Dandy Livingstone's A Message To You, Rudy from the 1960s.
Before Terry Hall, Staple, and Lynval Golding departed The Specials in 1981 to establish Fun Boy Three, they had seven U.K. Top 10 songs.
Because there were seven members, you'd wander into different tiny factions, and they'd alter constantly, Hall explained the dissolution to Mojo Magazine in 2014.
Happy Boy It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It and The Tunnel of Love were two of the three British hits.
In a previous social media post on his wife's account, Staple stated that "this news has hit hard and must be tremendously hard for Terry's wife and family." "People in the music industry experience many highs and lows, but I will cherish the wonderful memories of Terry and I fronting The Specials and Fun Boy Three together and creating history. Terry Hall can relax."
Worldwide hit
When the American band was touring the UK in support of The Specials, Hall and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos co-wrote the song Our Lips Are Sealed for Fun Boy Three.
The Fun Boy Three's version peaked at number 10 in the UK, while The Go-version, Go's which served as their debut song, peaked at number 20 on the Billboard pop charts in the US and at number five in Canada.
Hall was "a charming, sensitive, talented, and distinctive person," Wiedlin said.
"The song Our Lips Are Sealed, which was inspired by our incredibly brief relationship, will always link the two of us in music. I'm really sorry to hear this, "She tweeted something.
After forming The Colour field, Hall covered the 1960s song Can't Get Enough of You Baby, which garnered airplay on alternative stations in North America.
He has worked with a variety of musicians over the years, including Tricky, Damon Albarn, and DJ Mushtaq, the latter of whom produced an album with Middle Eastern influences in 2003.
Jerry Dammers, who had founded the 2-Tone label, was not a founding member when The Specials reformed in 2008. The reasons why the break happened after they had assembled for rehearsals were the subject of contradicting press statements from Hall and Dammers.
The Specials would go on a tour to celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2009, and in 2019 they would release a new album called Encore, which would become their first U.K. No. 1 record. Protest Songs 1924–2012, the follow-up, was published in 2021.
In 2019, Hall told Uncut magazine he was encouraged by the response the band has gotten since reforming. He was very honest about being kidnapped and being sexually assaulted as a young child. Even while Hall acknowledged that he had battled depression on occasion during his life, "it's been so essential for me to underline that there is a recovery, there is a route out of it," he said.
On Monday, singer-songwriter Billy Bragg also expressed his sympathy.
"The Specials were a celebration of how Caribbean immigration infused British society, but their lead singer's onstage demeanor served as a reminder that they were in the serious business of challenging how we thought of ourselves in the late 1970s. Adieu, Terry Hall "Bragg said.