IF I SING THE TRUTH

Terry Hall, ‘Brilliant’ Lead Singer of The Specials, Dies at 63

After surviving an abduction at age 12, the caustic songwriter helped rocket his socially conscious 2 Tone and ska band to the top of the British charts.

Terry Hall, the lead singer and songwriting powerhouse behind the English band The Specials, has died, his bandmates confirmed Monday. He was 63. Without specifying a cause beyond “a brief illness,” The Specials announced Hall’s death on social media, calling him “our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced.” After surviving a difficult childhood in Coventry—including a four-day abduction by a teacher who sexually abused him at age 12—Hall turned to music as a balm. He was recruited to 2-Tone ska group The Specials by keyboardist Jerry Dammers in 1977, with the band’s hefty founding lineup also including vocalist Neville Staple; guitarists Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation; bassist Horace Panter; drummer John Bradbury; and horn players Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez. The Specials, a multi-racial group that combined socially conscious misanthropy with a uniquely British strain of joy, recorded seven consecutive U.K. top 10 singles between 1979 and 1981, including “Too Much Too Young,” “Gangsters,” and “Ghost Town.” Staple told the BBC Monday that Hall’s death “really hit me hard… Terry, he will surely be missed.”