Terry Hall, the frontman of socially conscious ska band The Specials, has died at the age of 63.
Known for his dour image and sharp wit, the singer found fame in the 1970s and 80s with hits like Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young.
He left The Specials in 1981 to form Fun Boy Three with fellow-bandmates Neville Staples and Lynval Golding, scoring another run of hits.
The singer died after a brief illness, The Specials said in a statement.
“Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls,” they wrote.
“His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love.
“He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity.”
Abducted aged 12
The musician was born in 1959 and raised in Coventry, where most of his family worked in the city’s then-booming car industry.
But his life took a dark turn when, at the age of 12, he was kidnapped by a teacher.
“I was abducted, taken to France and sexually abused for four days,” he told The Spectator in 2019. “And then punched in the face and left on the roadside.”
Hall said the incident left him with life-long depression and caused him to drop out of education at the age of 14, after becoming addicted to the Valium he had been prescribed.
“I didn’t go to school, I didn’t do anything. I just sat on my bed rocking for eight months.”
Music was some form of solace; and Hall joined a local punk band called Squad, receiving his first writing credit on their single Red Alert.
He was spotted by The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, who recruited him as a frontman by deploying a terrible pun.
“He worked in a stamp shop” the musician told Mojo magazine. “I told him, Philately will get you nowhere'”.
