R.I.P. Terry Hall (The Specials, Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, more)

(photo- courtesy The Times)

Terry Hall with Fun Boy Three Read More The Specials UK 2 tone ska legends The Specials will be stopping by First Avenue this June 7th. The Specials, along with The Beat, Selecter, and Madness, have influenced a generation of ska bands. …

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We’re gutted at the news just coming out that Terry Hall, lead singer of the influential UK ska-New Wave band The Specials, has passed away at the age of 63.

Word was posted on the band’s social media accounts, only alluding to “a brief illness” which took the singer’s life. We had just seen the band in the summer of 2019 headlining First Avenue in Minneapolis, noting “The new songs, such as “Vote for Me” and “10 Commandments”, sounded like classic Specials songs and went over well with the audience. The completely packed dance floor had the crowd jamming to hits like “A Message to You, Rudy” and “Too Much Too Young”.

In addition to his work with The Specials, Hall released two solo albums and was a part of bands Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas, and others.  Hall was born in Coventry, England in March 1959, eventually joining punk bands in his teens as the area’s music scene grew in stature.

Hall would go on to front The Coventry Automatics in 1977 which would soon evolve into The Specials, coming to more widespread prominence in 1979 when revered DJ John Peel began playing their single, “Gangsters”. One of the band’s biggest hits, “Ghost Town” topped the UK charts for three weeks in June 1981.

Leaving the band soon after, Hall helped form Fun Boy Three, who had success in the 80’s collaborating with Bananarama and Madness, and whose co-written version of “Our Lips Are Sealed” would become a massive radio hit two years after The Go-Go’s version, even besting their performance on the UK charts.

In the Fall of 2008. The Specials made their live return to the stage as the surprise guest at UK’s Bestival and after some forty years, released the album Encore in 2019, which would become their highest-charting success, going on to release their ninth album in 2021, Protest Songs 1924-2012.

The band’s statement reads in part, “our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced,” saying Hall’s music and performances “encapsulated the very essence of life…the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly love. Love, love, love.”

 

John C ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com