Terry Hall, lead singer of band ‘The Specials,’ dies at 63

Terry Hall, vocalist of ‘The Specials’, a British group formed in the late seventies, has died at the age of 63, as reported by the band on their Twitter account. ‘The Specials’ was formed in the English city of Coventry in 1977, by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter, while Hall, Staple, Roddy Byers and John Bradbury joined a year later.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, after a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the brightest singer-songwriters of this country has ever produced,” says a note from the group.

Terry Hall was a “wonderful father” and one of the people “kinder, funnier and more authentic”, adds the statement, which highlights the music created by the singer. “He will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him,” but he leaves “remarkable music” and “his deep humanity of him” behind.

His bandmate Neville Staple tweeted that he was “deeply saddened” upon learning of Hall’s death. “We knew Terry wasn’t doing well, but we didn’t realize how serious he was until recently,” she added. The band was originally called The Automatics, before changing their name to The Coventry Automatics, The Specials AKA The Automatics and finally, in 1978, settling on The Specials.

The band became famous in the midst of a deep economic recession, urban decay and social fracture at the beginning of the decade of the past eighties. During their time together, the group The Specials produced a string of hits, including A Message To You, Rudy, Rat Race and Ghost Town, which all reached number one.

The band broke up in 1981, with Hall, Golding and Staple going on to form the Fun Boy Three, while Dammers and Bradbury released an album under the name The Special AKAwhich spawned the hit single Free Nelson Mandela in 1984.