Terry Hall, the lead singer of The Specials, who helped define the sound of post-punk Britain, has died. He was 63.
The band announced Hall’s death late Monday after a brief illness. “Our beautiful friend, brother, and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters, and lyricists this country has ever produced,” it said of him.
In the late 1970s, Hall joined the band that would become The Specials in the English Midlands city of Coventry, during a period of racial tension, economic gloom, and urban unrest. The band became leaders of the anti-racist 2 Tone ska revival movement with its mix of Black and white members and Jamaica-influenced style of sharp suits and porkpie hats.
The Specials captured the uneasy mood of the times in songs like “A Message to You, Rudy,” “Rat Race,” and “Too Much Too Young,” with Hall’s deadpan vocals setting the tone.
The band’s most famous song is the melancholy, menacing “Ghost Town,” which topped the British music charts in the summer of 1981 when Britain’s cities were erupting in riots.
The Specials had seven Top 10 hits in the United Kingdom before Hall and fellow band members Neville Staple and Lynval Golding left in 1981 to form the electropop group Fun Boy Three. It had hits like “It Ain’t What You Do (It’s How You Do It”) and “The Tunnel of Love.”
Hall later formed The Colourfield and other bands, and worked with artists such as The Go-Go’s, co-writing the group’s 1981 debut single, “Our Lips Are Sealed,” which Fun Boy Three also recorded.
Jane Wiedlin, the guitarist for the Go-Go’s, remembered Hall as “a lovely, sensitive, talented, and unique person.”
“Our brief romance produced the song Our Lips Are Sealed, which will forever link us in music history. This is terrible news to hear “She tweeted about it.
Elvis Costello, a singer-songwriter, also expressed his condolences on Twitter, writing: “Terry’s voice was the ideal instrument for ‘The Specials’ true and necessary songs. That honesty can be heard in so many of his songs, both happy and sad.”
The majority of the original Specials reformed in 2008, staged a 30th-anniversary tour in 2009, and released an album of new material, “Encore,” in 2019, which became the band’s first No. 1 album in the United Kingdom. In 2021, “Protest Songs 1924-2012” was released as a follow-up.
Hall’s bandmates stated that he was “a wonderful husband and father, as well as one of the nicest, funniest, and most genuine souls. His music and performances captured the essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humor, the fight for justice, but most importantly, the love.”
“All who knew and loved him will miss him greatly, and he leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity. Terry would frequently leave the stage at the end of The Specials’ life-affirming performances with three words… ‘Love Love Love.'”
