Terry Corridor, lead singer of The Specials, has died on the age of 63, the band has introduced.
The singer-songwriter rose to fame as a part of the band within the late 70s with hits corresponding to Ghost City and Too A lot Too Younger – and had been pioneers of the ska scene within the UK.
The band paid tribute to steer singer Terry Corridor in an announcement launched on social media following his dying on the age of 63.
The assertion mentioned: ‘It’s with nice unhappiness that we announce the passing, following a short sickness, of Terry, our lovely good friend, brother and some of the good singers, songwriters and lyricists this nation has ever produced.
‘Terry was a beautiful husband and father and one of many kindest, funniest, and most real of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the enjoyment, the ache, the humour, the battle for justice, however principally the love.
Terry Corridor, lead singer of The Specials, has died on the age of 63, the band has introduced
The singer-songwriter rose to fame as a part of the band, who had been pioneers of the ska scene within the UK
The Specials performing on the Hope and Anchor, London 1980 (centre, Terry Corridor)
The band made a reputation with their ska and rocksteady fashion, and for offering a musical backdrop to financial recession, city decay and societal fracture within the early Eighties
In February 2019, The Specials launched Encore, their first album of recent materials in 37 years (Pictured: Terry Corridor on the Brit Awards in 1997)
The Specials performs dwell on stage throughout their thirtieth Anniversary reunion tour at Hammersmith Apollo on November 24, 2009
‘He might be deeply missed by all who knew and liked him and leaves behind the reward of his exceptional music and profound humanity.
Terry usually left the stage on the finish of The Specials’ life-affirming exhibits with three phrases…’Love Love Love’.
‘We’d ask that everybody respect the household’s privateness at this very unhappy time.’
Bandmate Neville Staples tweeted he was ‘deeply saddened’ to listen to about Corridor’s dying, saying: ‘We knew Terry had been unwell however did not realise how severe till just lately. We had solely simply confirmed some 2023 joint music agreements collectively. This has hit me arduous.’
He added: ‘Within the music World, folks have many ups and downs, however I’ll grasp onto the nice recollections of Terry and I, making historical past fronting The Specials and Enjoyable Boy three collectively. Relaxation simple Terry Corridor’
When Corridor was 12 he was kidnapped by a instructor, he instructed The Spectator in 2019: ‘I used to be kidnapped, taken to France and sexually abused for 4 days.
‘After which punched within the face and left on the roadside.’
He mentioned the incident left him with life-long melancholy and triggered him to drop out of schooling on the age of 14, after changing into hooked on the Valium he had been prescribed.
‘I did not go to high school, I did not do something. I simply sat on my mattress rocking for eight months.’
Music was some type of solace and Corridor joined an area punk band referred to as Squad, receiving his first writing credit score on their single Pink Alert.
The Specials had been shaped in Corridor’s residence metropolis of Coventry in 1977, by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter – with Corridor, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers and John Bradbury becoming a member of a yr later.
The band had been initially referred to as The Automatics, earlier than altering their title to The Coventry Automatics, The Specials AKA The Automatics and at last, in 1978, selecting The Specials
Corridor was was initially noticed by The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, who recruited him as a frontman
The band gained nationwide consideration after Radio 1’s John Peel performed their debut single, Gangsters
The band had been initially referred to as The Automatics, earlier than altering their title to The Coventry Automatics, The Specials AKA The Automatics and at last, in 1978, selecting The Specials.
The band made a reputation with their ska and rocksteady fashion, and for offering a musical backdrop to financial recession, city decay and societal fracture within the early Eighties.
The band cut up in 1981, after which Corridor, Golding and Staple went on to type Enjoyable Boy Three, whereas Dammers and Bradbury launched an album beneath the moniker The Particular AKA, which spawned the hit single Free Nelson Mandela in 1984.
Enjoyable Boy Three achieved 4 UK high 10 singles throughout their time collectively, till Corridor left the band in 1983 to type The Colourfield with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale.
After enterprise quite a lot of solo and collaborative tasks – Corridor labored with the likes of Lily Allen – it was introduced in 2008 that The Specials could be reforming for various tour dates and potential new music.
The band made a reputation with their ska and rocksteady fashion, and for offering a musical backdrop to financial recession, city decay and societal fracture within the early Eighties
In September that yr, Corridor and 5 members of the band carried out at Bestival music pageant beneath the title Very ‘Particular’ Friends.
In 2009 he mirrored on the efficiency, saying: ‘Bestival was a trial run. We did an unannounced slot so we might simply might flip up, anonymous. It was excellent.’
The Specials launched into a 2009 tour to rejoice their thirtieth anniversary and in 2018 supported The Rolling Stones throughout a live performance at Coventry’s Ricoh Enviornment.
In February 2019, The Specials launched Encore, their first album of recent materials in 37 years.
Upon launch, the album went straight to primary on the Official UK Album Chart, marking their first primary album, and the primary time they’d topped the charts since their traditional observe Ghost City in 1981 and since their single Too A lot Too Younger grew to become a primary in 1980.
The album’s lead single, the politically-themed Vote For Me, was thought of by some followers as a follow-on from Ghost City, which was hailed as a chunk of well-liked social commentary having been launched in the course of the riots throughout England in 1981.
Corridor instructed The Massive Concern journal in 2019: ‘I discover myself in awe of the mess, nightly listening to politicians giving their opinion and pondering, I do not essentially belief any of you, actually.
‘It’s fairly unhappy. I grew up aligned to a celebration, the Labour Celebration, fairly strongly. Till Tony Blair made Noel Gallagher prime minister I knew precisely the place I stood.’