His group had revived ska with innovative and engaged mixing in post-punk England.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
Terry Hall, singer of the British group The Specials, died at 63, announced on Monday, December 19, the ska group founded in the late 1970s.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death, after a brief illness, of Terry, our magnificent friend, brother and one of the brightest singers, authors of songs and lyricists that this country has ever produced”, said the group on several social networks, including Twitter and Facebook.
“His music and his performances coated the true essence of life … Joy, pain, humor, struggle for justice, but especially love”, writes the group, which rents its “music Remarkable and its deep humanity “.
” Ghost Town “, world tube
Born in 1959 and from Coventry, in Warwickshire (west of England) Terry Hall became known with the specials in the late 1970s. In 1981, their emblematic song Ghost Town ranks several weeks sales in the United Kingdom.
Hall had entrusted our journalist Stéphane Davet in 2019: “I have suffered from maniacodepressive crises since the age of 12”. He then revealed, in the song The Life and Times (of A Man Called Depression), having been the victim of pedophilia during a school trip to France.
Solo career
He had experienced other musical experiences outside the specials, before the group reformed late and occurred on stage in variable formats. Last year, these veterans of the British scene had released an album of covers from their protest songs.
During his career, Terry Hall also collaborated with other artists such as rapper Tricky, Gorillaz or even Lily Allen.