The Specials: A Lifelong Journey through the Dark Sides of History, Death and Death Towards Freedom: A Memories From a Blessed Father
The post called Hall “our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced,” going on to say that “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.”
The original lineup of members included Hall, who replaced vocalist Tim Strickland shortly after The Specials’ formation, along with Jerry Dammers, Roddy “Radiation” Byers, Neville Staple, John Bradbury, Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez.
The band’s most iconic song is the melancholy, menacing “Ghost Town,” which topped the U.K. music charts in the summer of 1981 as Britain’s cities were erupting in riots.
The band is known for its opposition to racial injustice, and it frequently commented on politics and social reform. The Specials are a band that was formed forty years ago and has a description on their website that says they were from a dispossessed UK town.
Hall later formed The Colourfield and collaborated with artists including The Go-Go’s – co-writing the group’s 1981 debut single, “Our Lips Are Sealed.”
In 2008, most of the Specials were reformed and in 2009, the band released an album of new material, “Encore” which became the band’s first album in the UK. A follow-up, “Protest Songs 1924-2012,” was released in 2021.
In songs such as “A message to you, Rudy,” “Rat Race” and “Too much Too Young,” The Specials captured the uneasy mood of the times.
The Specials and Elvis’s Song “The Specials” – A Memorino with a Stranger, Brighter Than Light
Our brief romance resulted in a song which will forever tie us together in music history. She wrote that she was terrible to hear it.
Elvis said Terry’s voice was the perfect instrument for the real and necessary songs on “The Specials.” That honesty is heard in so many of his songs in joy and sorrow.”