Musician Terry Hall, who helped create of the defining sounds of post-punk Britain as lead singer of The Specials, has died. He was 63.
The band announced late Monday that Hall had died after a brief illness. They 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 anti-racist 2 Tone ska revival movement.
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,” “Rat Race” 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.
