Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. The band wore mod-style "1960s period rude boy outfits ". Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk. Lyrically, their work presented overt political and social commentary.
More Specials is the second album by English ska band the Specials, released by 2 Tone Records in September 1980. After the success of the band's debut album, band member Jerry Dammers assumed the role as the band's leader and stirred them into expanding their 2 Tone sound into other genres of music, most prominently a lounge music and easy listening style inspired by Muzak. Several band members disagreed with Dammers' vision and brought their own influences to the album, including from northern soul and rockabilly, contributing to an eclectic sound palette. The relations between band members continued to sour into the album's accompanying tour and most of the band departed in 1981.
Two-tone or 2 tone, also known as ska-rock and ska revival, is a genre of British popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae music with elements of punk rock and new wave music. Its name derives from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of the Specials, and references a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain: many two-tone groups, such as the Specials, the Selecter and the Beat, featured a mix of black, white, and multiracial people.
Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band the Specials and later the Spatial AKA Orchestra. Through his foundation of the record label Two Tone, his work blending political lyrics and punk with Jamaican music, and his incorporation of 1960s retro clothing, Dammers is a pivotal figure of the ska revival. He has also been acknowledged in his work for racial unity.
The Bodysnatchers were a seven-piece all-female band involved in the British 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The Specials is the debut album by British ska revival band the Specials. Released on 19 October 1979 on Jerry Dammers' 2 Tone label, the album is seen by some as the defining moment in the UK ska scene. Produced by Elvis Costello, the album captures the disaffection and anger felt by the youth of the UK's "concrete jungle"—a phrase borrowed from Bob Marley's 1973 album Catch a Fire—used to describe the grim, violent inner cities of 1970s Britain. The album features a mixture of original material and several covers of classic Jamaican ska tracks.
"Ghost Town" is a song by the British two-tone band the Specials, released on 12 June 1981. The song spent three weeks at number one and 11 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.
Too Much Pressure is the debut studio album by English 2 tone ska revival band the Selecter. After the band's official formation in 1979 in Coventry, following the release of a song entitled "The Selecter" by an unofficial incarnation of the band, the band's hit single "On My Radio" prompted their labels 2 Tone and Chrysalis to ask the band to record their debut album. Working with producer Errol Ross, the Selecter recorded the album at Horizon Studios over two months. The album contains original material, mostly composed by band founder and guitarist Neol Davies, as well as numerous ska and reggae cover versions, in a similar fashion to the Specials' debut album.
Dance Craze is a 1981 American documentary film about the British 2 Tone music genre.
Dick Cuthell is a British musician and record producer. He plays flugelhorn, cornet, and trumpet, amongst a range of other brass instruments, including tenor horn and valve trombone. Cuthell is best known for his work with The Specials and Rico Rodriguez. He also collaborated with bands such as Madness, Eurythmics, Fun Boy Three, XTC, Level 42 and The Pogues. In addition to a range of horns, Cuthell also plays bass, keyboards and percussion and is a composer and arranger.
In the Studio is the third studio album by British ska revival band the Specials. It was released under the name the Special AKA in June 1984, their only album under that name. The album took over two years to produce before finally seeing release, by which time the original Specials had long since disbanded.
"Nelson Mandela" is a song written by British musician Jerry Dammers, and performed by the band the Special A.K.A. with a lead vocal by Stan Campbell. It was first released on the single "Nelson Mandela"/"Break Down the Door" in 1984.
John "Brad" Bradbury was an English drummer and record producer. He is best known for having been the drummer in the English ska group the Specials.
Rhoda Dakar is a British singer and musician, best known as the lead singer of The Bodysnatchers, who were signed to the 2 Tone record label. She also worked with The Specials/Special AKA, and also other 2-Tone artists.
"The Boiler" is a single by Rhoda Dakar with The Special AKA. It was released in January 1982 on 2 Tone Records.
"Let's Do Rock Steady", also known as "(People Get Ready) Let's Do Rock Steady" and "People Do Rock Steady", is rocksteady song by Dandy Livingstone that was first released in October 1967 as the flip side to his single "We Are Still Rude". It was then released in early 1968 on his album Rock Steady with Dandy as "People Do Rock Steady". The song is better known for being covered by the Bodysnatchers in 1980.
The Apollinaires were a British 2 Tone/post-punk group from Leicester, England, signed to 2 Tone Records.
