Obituary
Genuinely shocked by this news – the 2009 reunion gig at the Brixton Academy was in my top 3 gigs of all time. So many great memories of The Specials, then the Fun Boy 3 soundtracking my adolescence. Terry was an essential part of that movement, that sound, that zeitgeist.
Baron Harkonnen says
Shocking news, he was only 63. R.I.P. Terry
h2triple says
Ditto – terribly shocked and saddened by this news. The man was a legend. Another one of the good guys has left the building … fuck 🙁
seanioio says
Genuinely gutted about this. I saw them 4 times on that reunion tour and a few times since. One of the most important bands there is from these isles IMHO and one I go back to regularly.
I’ve never worked out how someone could look like they couldn’t be arsed and didn’t want to be there, yet be one of the greatest frontman there is.
I’ve had this FB3 track on today and it’s an absolute cracker.
KDH says
Waiting is an absolutely brilliant album, start to finish.
Leedsboy says
Terrible news. The Specials were important. RIP.
Colin H says
Blimey.
dai says
Bit of a shock. RIP
Vince Black says
The bit in the BBC article about him being abducted at the age of 12 was new to me and genuinely shocking. That might explain a lot about his demeanour. RIP Terry Hall.
dai says
Yep, me too. Appalling
fentonsteve says
This is not an easy listen. FB3 – Well Fancy That:
Steve Walsh says
I’d never heard that before. It’s unbearably grim.
seanioio says
Same here too. I was really shocked to read that although it explains a lot as you say Vince
robert says
I’d recommend listening to Coventry’s local radio station BBC CWR today (you can access it from anywhere via BBC Sounds). Many from the team of presenters and producers have history with Terry and his bands, and lots of his musical partners and contemporaries are going to want to pay their tributes, share their stories and celebrate his talent during the day, I’m sure. There’s also a re-run of the 40th anniversary 2Tone documentary scheduled from 6pm.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for an excellent tip @robert. A real local hero.
Freddy Steady says
6Music currently playing Our Lips are sealed.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Shocker indeed.
Gary says
Always loved this song:
Black Celebration says
Saw a few posts on Twitter about Terry and then the penny dropped ….very sad news.
Gatz says
Oh wow – I saw he was trending on Twitter but didn’t investigate. What awful news.
Jaygee says
RIP, Terry.
63 is no age at all.
fitterstoke says
Indeed – far too young.
Sorry to hear this news.
salwarpe says
That is so sad. It felt like he never put a foot wrong – I’ve listened to and loved songs by The Specials, FunBoy 3, The Colourfield and his endless collaborations. He seemed to have a magic touch.
Rigid Digit says
No … RIP Terry
retropath2 says
Dreadful. Have some of his solo and similar post-Specials and pre-Specials mk 2 stuff, which will get a whirl in the car.
fentonsteve says
I always loved The Specials music but I was still in primary school at the time and their plentiful fans scared me. I’d send my mum into Tracks Records to buy the singles, as there was always a scary 2-Tone Skin in there.
Ghost Town came out the summer I moved up to big school and I remember watching the video on ToTP with my dad. We both looked at each other with a look of “what was that?” I went into Tracks for the first time by myself the next day. I don’t think I played anything else all summer.
In later years I found myself making a cup of tea for Terry. He was a cold fish, but certainly left an impression.
What a talent. RIP.
Kaisfatdad says
What dreadfully sad news.
As so many have commented, he made a large number of quite impeccable records
And you once made a cup of tea for him, Steve!
Dave Ross says
You’re absolutely right @fentonsteve After Too Much Too Young there was an explosion of skinheads at my school. Almost overnight it became a scarier place. Luckily for me two of the hardest skinheads played in the school football team with me. I know school almost became intolerable for some. For that reason had this strange association with Terry Hall he signified something very intimidating. Then Fun Boy Three. Where did that cone from? Suddenly he was fronting some of the greatest pop songs and Top Of The Pops performances I seen. Tunnel Of Love popped up on a shuffle the other day and blew me away.
A legendary figure from my music listening era. I wish I’d got The Specials but sadly not. He was clearly a reserved yet lovely bloke from what I’ve read. So sad. I expect there’ll be a few middle aged ex skinheads with tears in their eyes today.
Tiggerlion says
I mentioned that there was a dash of the threat of violence at their Barbarella’s big in 1979. It reflected the time. The Labour government had imploded in a Winter of Discontent. Ancient SUS laws, designed to deal with vagrancy, were being applied ruthlessly against Black people, who were disproportionately unemployed. The British National Party was an actual going concern, winning votes. Thatcherism had begun.
The Specials actually posed more of a challenge to the ‘establishment’ than punk had. They deliberately chose West Indian Ska to back their songs. They had a genuine racial mix. They walked the talk. They confronted the working class racists most of all.
Terry was the anti-frontman’s frontman. He defied the lead singer conventions, never smiling, barely engaging with the audience. However, he was more than willing to call the fuckwits out, including at Barbarella’s, when some skinheads got out of hand. A band that could attract both skinheads and rude boys and, on the whole, satisfy them both, deserved the name Special.
Mind you. If you thought Terry and The Specials were scary, you should have seen Pauline from Selecter.
fitterstoke says
“The Specials actually posed more of a challenge to the ‘establishment’ than punk had.”
Not difficult, I would contend…
hedgepig says
Lol, quite!
Alias says
The establishment was quaking in its boots every time a punk or 2 Tone band released a record or played a concert. Bouncers are the establishment, right?
Tiggerlion says
As an avid reader of the Londoncentric music press, my impression was that punk turned the whole country upside down, whereas 2-Tone, based in the largely-ignored Midlands (contrast with Liverpool and Manchester or Glasgow and Edinburgh), was merely a derivative footnote.
fitterstoke says
When did you see through the music press, and realise that your impression was incorrect? I’m guessing…at your first Specials gig?
Tiggerlion says
Probably when I queued up in Wigan to see The Sex Pistols and they didn’t show up.
fitterstoke says
Arf! Ever feel…etc?
Tiggerlion says
Interesting to compare the two vocalists. Bingo rightly pointed out how difficult it is to perform Anarchy. I hesitate to use the word ‘sing’. It is bloodthirsty, spittle-flecked, totally in-your-face, far more than a gauntlet slap. The challenge is overt, gross, over-the-top. Rotten means it, maaan. Terry was laidback, seemingly detached and disinterested, but there is a genuine sincerity and a sensitivity. He sounds like someone you can trust, someone who speaks the truth no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
Rigid Digit says
He also weaved in melancholy and a level of humourousness. No less angry, but equally calling out wrongs
Humouresness? Is that a word?
fitterstoke says
It’s like…poponess!!
Moose the Mooche says
“Oh shit! This is area 7!”
Moose the Mooche says
By the BNP you actually mean either the National Front or the British Movement. The BNP formed later from ex-members of both.
I’ve lived in the East Midlands, I know my Nazis.
Tiggerlion says
Hence the pedantry….
😉
Moose the Mooche says
You’re conflating people who are politically Nazis with people who are Nazis by temperament. ..er…
Twang says
I didn’t like skinheads or their bands so I ignored him/them other than a few singles but as is so often the case, his passing and the enthusiasm shown here makes me want to investigate more.
exilepj says
i loved this duet with Marijne from Salad that featured on the Help album for War Child
https://youtu.be/oY6KMoioSog …. I also love the underrated Terry, Blair and Anoushka album …
chiz says
It really is later than you think. Thinking of You.
hedgepig says
I was just coming here to say the first part of this. It’s hard to say this without sounding like you’re doing a shit pun, but he really was special.
noisecandy says
A friend of mine once asked Terry when the Specials would be playing Northampton. Terry replied, “the last time I was in Northampton, I watched George Best score six against the Cobblers”. RIP Terry.
Vulpes Vulpes says
After qualifying as a teacher, I worked as a houseparent in a council children’s home for a year or so. The kids (12 of them aged from 12 to 17) had a record player in the living room, and some of the kids eagerly hoarded their own individual record collections. One pair of brother and sister stood out in their musical enthusiasm: Tony, at 14 an early adopter of musical trends who won some serious break-dancing competitions, would repeatedly play Africa Bambaataa 12 in singles, but his older sister Leslie had two main obsession; anything by Madness was happily enjoyed, but special love was reserved for the album ‘Waiting’ by Fun Boy Three. ‘Waiting’ probably got 75% of the available needle time in the house, and the thing that made it such a joy was that not only did all of the kids know all of the words for all of the songs, but all of the kids sang along with the entire album as if it had been written and recorded just for them. Which, in a way, it had.
Shocked to read of Terry’s passing; he and his bands made a deep impression in my late twenties, and upon all of the kids I looked after or taught through those years. Condolences to all his family and friends; a great loss, gone too soon.
Lemonhope says
Very sad
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rhlstp-with-richard-herring/id520831548?i=1000590731937
Lemonhope says
Terry Hall – Richard has finally won a TV quiz show and I am afraid he will never stop talking about it again, but he’s nervous as Hell because one of his heroes is on the podcast and he’s sure he’ll screw it up, it’s ex-Fun Boy Three-er Terry Hall.
They discuss the dynamics and disagreements that come with collaboration, the nostalgic sexual time waves of early 1980s fashion, the one occasion when Terry laughed, being mistaken for a ventriloquist by the taxman, why the greatest album of all time only made it to 95 in the charts and why Terry didn’t end up as a hairdresser.
There’s some serious chat about sexual abuse and depression and how Terry had dealt with these traumas and some cruel assessments of the town of Coventry. And can the power of RHLSTP finally get the album Home to number 1 where it belongs? No, I don’t think so. It doesn’t seem to be commercially available.
Moose the Mooche says
Home is fkin fantastic. A big vote for Laugh from me as well. Up there with Stephen Duffy and Nick Heyward at their best.
Feedback_File says
Absolutely agree Moose – both big favourites in the Feedback household
MC Escher says
Home is certainly available on qobuz:
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/home-terry-hall/nnnr5tfi9vguc
fentonsteve says
Re-released for RSD 2019 or thereabouts. Laugh came back out last year-ish.
fentonsteve says
I checked Discogs – 2020 and 2019 respectively.
Nick L says
Just a bit too gutted to comment before now but I can only echo all the positive comments on here. There can’t be many artists who have done albums in different guises but who have all maintained such high quality. I adored The Specials as a kid but as I got older I found much to enjoy in the solo stuff too as it was thoughtful and profound. Will be raising a glass this evening.
Dave Ross says
From 1982 (when else) this is my Terry Hall
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=doHQjoQmr1E
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Never knew this existed before today. Magical
exilepj says
from Channel 4’s ‘A song for Eurotrash
Kaisfatdad says
I went into the library in Kulturhuset in the centre of Stockholm today on a quick errand and was very moved to hear that they were playing the Specials and other Terry Hall recordings.
There was a table with a sign commemorating him
and a selection of relevant CDs.
Terry and the Specials were extremely popular far beyond the Midlands.
Here’s a pic of the Culture House in Sergelstorg.
I spoke to the librarian and told her how moved I was and she said that the decision to honour Terry’s memory didn’t even warrant any discussion.
Three cheers for librarians: the cultural custodians of our time!
Moose the Mooche says
That is very cool.
Junglejim says
Seconded.
Locust says
Sad, sad news.
Big Specials fan, but somehow never listened to anything he did later. Like what I’ve heard on this thread, so will probably investigate…too bad it took this to make me do that.
GCU Grey Area says
I wondered why the trumpeter in the crowd from the ‘Barmy Army’ was playing Ghost Town at the third Test in Pakistan. Hadn’t heard the news before listening to the cricket.
fitterstoke says
It would seem that Terry had pancreatic cancer.
Terry Hall was diagnosed with cancer before his death, his bandmate reveals https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64050002
retropath2 says
Someone asked which death had affected AW’s the most, of the many over the past few years (and more) I couldn’t think of one at the time, but have found myself inexplicably moved by this one, from the kidnapping and abuse backstory, of which I was unaware. The Specials were on my bucket list for their next tour, gutted I missed out the last time around, despite not being a huge fan (in the AW sense, of course, as only 4 albums by the band and the odd scattered Colourfield and FB3), they seemed vibrant over the recent reformation.
I have found myself obsessively reading the obits and reminisces, he seeming a much mellowed man of late. Horace Panter’s comments I found especially moving, as I know just how much of a cunt can the pancreas be when it goes bad……….
Moose the Mooche says
It took Mrs M’s mother – she was dancing on Valentine’s day, but gone before Easter. Unbelievable.
fentonsteve says
And Mrs F’s mum (in a week) and my Best Man’s BIL (a couple of months). Bastard.
fitterstoke says
What Retro said…
Junglejim says
So very sad.
It’s hard to convey just how much of a sensation the Specials were & the debut album was like a stick of Dynamite ( though cool cats preferred the ‘Live At Tiffany’s bootleg).
Terry’s post Specials stuff was great too – I have wonderful memories of seeing Fun Boy 3 at Glastonbury where he was seen by thousands to be actually smiling! (nobody knew then the trauma he’d suffered that doubtless accounted for his sometimes doleful manner).
He was a sensitive soul & a properly good songwriter.
63 is no age at all. Bless him.
Moose the Mooche says
One of the great “last tracks”. The voices, all of them solemn and tired, are perfect.
Junior Wells says
Horace posted this on Facebook. Grim reading really.
The Specials. Terry. This is what happened.
We had it all planned out. Make the album we were going to do in 2020 – a reggae album.
Record in Los Angeles in November. We had the studio booked, flights paid for, accommodation sorted. Roger Rivas from The Agrolites was going to co-produce. Shepard Fairey was going to do the cover. Lynval, still recovering from his spinal surgery earlier in the year, was over in the UK and raring to go. Terry had the framework for 8 tunes. Confidence was high. We were set to meet up with Nikolaj and make magic. This was in September. Terry e-mails everyone and says he’s in bed with a stomach bug and can’t do the first week of pre-production sessions. No big deal, we can knock everything back a week. We’re not due to fly out until November 4th. The next week, Terry is no better and is in hospital. There’s not much we can do except wait for him to get better. Sunday October 2nd and I get a phone call from Manager Steve.
And everything turns to shit.
Terry’s illness is a lot worse than we thought.
He has been diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas which has spread to his liver.
This is serious. Like life-threatening serious.
He has developed diabetes due to his pancreas being attacked. This has to be treated first, then it’s a regime of chemotherapy.
There is nothing anyone can do. Everything is put on hold.
Terry is emphatic that no-one be told about this. If anyone asks, he’s managing his diabetes.
The chemo treatment starts favourably but it seems that it would be March 2023 at the earliest before we’d be in any position to work. He is in and out of hospital to stabilise the diabetes issue and also to manage pain.
It then goes quiet.
Beginning of December and reports are not good. Terry has lost a lot of weight and is very frail. His friend Ian Broudie visits and phones Manager Steve. He fears that Terry is slipping away.
15th December and Manager Steve drives up to London to visit. He calls me on his return journey and says things are not looking promising. Terry is dying. The next day he is put on morphine and is more-or-less unconscious for most of the time. I thought it would be best for me to go and visit but Lindy, his wife, advises against it. She has held her phone to Terry’s ear so that his sisters and Lynval can say their goodbyes. She suggests I do the same. So, I did. It was tough.
Terry died around half past 5 the next evening, Sunday 18th December.
The world has lost a unique voice and I have lost a good friend.
Horace.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Junior. That was indeed a grim read. How awful for his family and bandmates.
Barry Blue says
As if things couldn’t get sadder. Like so many others here, I loved the various phases of his career and was frustrated by the diminishing sales returns post Funboy 3.
There’s a bit more, though, a very personal aspect. Without going into detail, he and I had a partner in common (not at the same time), and both relationships were problematic in similar ways. I know this because he wrote and sang about it beautifully (and quite specifically), with the insight of a true artist. It provided me with solace, and I’ll be forever grateful. May he RIP.
madfox says
Touching tribute from Damon Albarn. Can’t do the link.
Barry Blue says
It’s in here..
https://www.nme.com/news/music/damon-albarn-pays-tribute-terry-hall-meant-world-3369742
fentonsteve says
Heartfelt, marvellous, tribute from… er, Timmy Mallet… and a two-hour guest show featuring Terry playing tunes, from 1985 on Piccadilly Radio, over on Mixcloud:
Freddy Steady says
Listened it on a trip to pick up my MiL.
A lovely listen.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Thanks for the tip-off.
Audacity has ensured that I can listen to this on a quiet afternoon post-Crimble.
fentonsteve says
The FB3 best of was reissued (on coloured vinyl, natch) for June 2022 RSD. Only the other day I was wondering what happened to the FB3 box set mentioned at the time.
“RSD Exclusive LP Green vinyl. The Best of Fun Boy Three contains all their hits remastered for the first time. This release is to coincide with the release of a 4CD/1DVD box set of the band’s output.”