Dave Wakeling was the front man of the British ska combo The Beat and here is a self-portrait he penned when the band was at the height of its fame
Dave Wakeling was the front man of the British ska combo The Beat and here is a self-portrait he penned when the band was at the height of its fame
1979 and 1980 were the glory years of the so-called “second wave” of ska music – first wave in Jamaica twenty plus years before and now the 2Tone wave came crashing out of Coventry. The Specials seized the charts by the scruff of the neck with a string of hits. And even WH Smith felt …
Night clubs still operating a race bar in the 70s and 80s
The 1970s were a stormy decade in politics and music and Tony McMahon sets out to find how the 1970s died
Missing Words – The Selecter and Pauline Black
Walk down Oxford Street today and it’s impossible to avoid glimpsing the ever present influence of 2Tone whether it’s the black and white check patterns, porkpie hats, tonic suits, etc, etc. The style pioneered by The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat has proved to be timeless. Don’t believe me – look at these images …
Backstage passes for gigs by The Specials from 1979 to 1981
1981 saw a riot in Coventry after the murder of Asian teenager Satnam Singh Gill that led to The Specials putting on a unity gig in the city
Pauline Black and The Selecter
Four Coventry black British heroes of the late 1970s and early 1980s should be immortalised argues author Tony McMahon