Terry Hall, singer with The Specials, dies at 63
- Hall and his deadpan vocals helped create defining ska sounds of post-punk Britain, a time of racial tension, economic gloom and urban unrest
- The Specials, with black and white members, had hits including the melancholy ‘Ghost Town’, which topped UK music charts in 1981 as cities erupted in riots
Musician Terry Hall, who helped create the defining sounds of post-punk Britain as lead singer of The Specials, has died. He was 63.
The band announced that Hall had died after a brief illness. It called him “our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced”.
Hall joined the band that would become The Specials in the English Midlands city of Coventry in the late 1970s, a time of racial tension, economic gloom and urban unrest.
With its mix of black and white members and Jamaica-influenced style of sharp suits and porkpie hats, the band became leaders of the ‘2-tone’ ska revival movement, 2-tone referencing a desire to transcend and defuse racial friction.
With Hall’s deadpan vocals setting the tone, The Specials captured the uneasy mood of the times in songs including “A Message to You, Rudy” and “Too Much Too Young”.
The band’s most iconic song is the melancholy, menacing “Ghost Town”, which topped the UK music charts in the summer of 1981 as Britain’s cities were erupting in riots.