1977:
-
Gerald Dankin, aka Jerry Dammers (keyboards),
-
Lynval Golding (guitar) and
-
'Sir Horace Gentleman' b. Horace Panter
(bass)
form a punk/reggae fusion band,
the Coventry Automatics, in the summer of 1977. After incorporating ska
into their sound, they change their name to the Coventry Specials, and
then to the Special AKA. By now, the line-up had expanded, with
-
Roddy 'Radiation' Byers (guitar),
-
former roadie Neville Staples (percussion/vocals),
-
Silverton (drums; later replaced by
John Bradbury) and
-
Terry Hall (vocals).
Ca. 1978:
The band is playing in their classic
line-up.
1979:
Jerry Dammers sets up the band's
own label to record a debut single, "Gangsters" (the £700
loan could only stretch to one song, so the B-side was given over to soon-to-be
label mates The Selecter), and designes the 2-Tone logo - a reference
to the band's multiracial line-up.
The follow-up, "A Message To
You, Rudy" (1979), was another Top 10 hit, while their Elvis Costello-produced
debut album, The Specials, got to #4. Jamaican-born trombonist Rico
Rodrigues now becomes a permanent fixture in the band.
1980:
In February, a live EP credited
to the Special AKA give them their first #1, with "Too Much Too Young",
ein Titel, der für Verhütungsmittel wirbt, being the radio DJs'
favourite track. More hit records follow: "Rat Race" and "Stereotypes"
continue a run of Top 10 hits, and
More
Specials go to #5. Having single-handedly started a ska revival
the previous year,
More Specials sees the band venture into new
territory - 'lounge music'.
1981:
The lyrics of "Ghost Town"
sound eerily prophetic. It is their second #1, but their last hit together.
Later the group dispand, Terry Hall,
Lynval Golding and Neville Staples form the Fun Boy Three, Roddy
Radiation forms his own band while Dammers reverts to the old Special
AKA name, and drafts in new members Gary McManus (bass), John
Shipley (guitar), Egidio Newton (vocals), Stan Campbell
(vocals) and Rhoda Dakar (vocals).
1982:
The group is supporting Rico who
is going to release his Single "Jungle Music" as Rico and The Special
AKA. His second LP for 2Tone, Jama Rico is also mainly backed by
the group.
1984:
"Free Nelsom Mandela" brings
Dammers and the group back to the Top 10 in the UK. In
The Studio is finally released as a result of a recording process
which took two years. The band has an definit end.
1993:
In 1993, with the 2-Tone revival
in evidence, Desmond Dekker joins Staples, Golding, Radiation and Gentleman
on King Of Kings, a release on the Trojan Records label.
1995:
Golding reforms the group, without
Dammers and Hall, with some three albums resulting that never reached the
artistic quality Dammers assured to his work.
Besetzung:
-
Roddy Byers
-
Neville Staples
-
Horace Panter
-
Lynval Golding, dazu
-
Aitch Hyatt (dr,voc)
-
Adam Birch (tr,po,fl) und
-
Mark Adams (key,voc)
"Sadly, Hall was busy promoting
his solo career, and the first output from the resurrected outfit was a
lacklustre cover version of Bob Marley's "Hypocrite". True to their former
political idealism, the song title was written over a cover picture of
British prime minister John Major. The band attended that year's Labour
Party Conference and MPs including Tony Banks and Ian McCartney were photographed
wearing T-shirts of the same design. An album followed, again with the
accent heavily on cover versions of Toots And The Maytals, the Clash and
the Monkees. Panter later teamed up with Neol Davies (Selecter) and Anthony
Harty (ex-Style Council) in Box Of Blues. The flexible line-up of the Specials
at the end of the century featured Staples, Radiation, Panter, Davies,
Anthony Harty (drums), Justin Dodsworth (keyboards), Leigh Malin (saxophone),
Steve Holdway (trombone) and Paul Daleman (trumpet)." (Quelle: muze via
vh1.com)