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1979. The dawn of Thatcher' s Britain. It' s a country crippled by
strikes, joblessness and economic gloom, divided by race and class
- and skanking to a new beat: 2-Tone. The unruly offspring of white
boy punk and rude boy ska, the new music' s undeniable leaders were
The Specials. Bursting out of Coventry' s concrete jungle, their
lyrics spoke of failed marriages, petty violence, crowded dance
floors, gangsters and race hate - but with a wit that outshone
their angry punk forebears. On stage they were electric, and at the
heart of this energy was the vocal chemistry of the ethereal Terry
Hall and Jamaican rude boy Neville Staple. In 1961, aged only five,
Neville was sent to England to live with his father - a man for
whom discipline bordered on child abuse. Growing up black in the
Midlands of the Sixties and Seventies wasn' t easy, but then Nev
was hardly an angel. His youth was marked by scuffles with skins,
compulsive womanising, and a life of crime that led from
shoplifting to burglary and eventually borstal and Wormwood Scrubs.
But throughout there was music, and now Nev tells how a very bad
boy became part of the most important band of the Eighties. He
remembers sound system battles; the legendary 2-Tone tour with The
Selecter, Madness and Dexy' s - and their clashes with NF thugs. He
recalls the band' s increasing tensions and eventual split; his
subsequent foray into bubblegum pop with Fun Boy Three; and a new
found fame in America, as godfather to bands like Gwen Stefani' s
No Doubt. Finally he reflects on The Specials' reunion and how even
now, thirty years on, they can' t help tearing themselves
apart.Raucous and charming Original Rude Boy is the story of a man
who done too much, much too young. Neville Staple was a frontman
with The Specials, a member of the hugely successful pop trio Fun
Boy Three and now tours the world with own his own ska act The
Neville Staple Band. Visit him at: www.nevillestaple.co.uk Tony
McMahon is a journalist and TV producer living in south London.
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