Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of a clergyman who went on to become Dean of Bristol . Just over 30 years ago, in March 1984, Jerry Dammers released Free Nelson Mandela with his band the Special AKA, and this straightforward, cheerful but angry demand for the release of South Africa's most celebrated political prisoner became a top 10 hit in the UK, a bestseller across Europe and a no 1 in New Zealand. Ghost Town, though, felt properly revolutionary, the kind of record that no one had the right to expect anymore. It was a boys jolly., In Toxteth, eye-witnesses recalled the brazen calmness of the looters, In Toxteth, eye-witnesses recalled the brazen calmness of the looters, who were almost using the rioters as a human shield. The 1980s riots were devoured so much by the international media that the burning oil drum became as much a part of modern British iconography as the white suits in the 1981 television adaptation of Evelyn Waughs Brideshead Revisited and for a while seemed to appear in any film about the British underclass, surrounded by a gang of Rada-trained professional cockneys and a smattering of generic gangsters, drug dealers and punky fishnets molls. Rest in power Terry Hall.". This is costly for our community reputation. It would have been difficult to imagine the residents displaying the same sentiments in 1981 or indeed in 1985. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. "It's a fantastic honour and it's amazing that it's remembered in South Africa. Begging you, begging you please. 20th February 2009. The looters concentrated on the electrical shops, on the ghetto blasters, television sets and radios. She was, though, when she claimed that money couldnt buy either trust or racial harmony. One policeman said it looked like World War III. After his long musical profession, the craftsman also received the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award in 2014. Like all great records about social collapse, it seems to both fear and relish calamity. He was highly intelligent, had a very mischievous sense of humour which could be very funny, and he played the drums with an incredible amount of energy which was a very important part of the Specials sound and live shows. The New Rock Revolution what happened next? Yes, there was a royal wedding, in sharp juxtaposition to inner-city decay, a wedding that would produce a genuine royal superstar, yet the riots the worst for a century would resonate throughout the country for years. Thank you Jerry Dammers for bringing this to the world. It was clear that something was very, very wrong."[4]. Photograph: Jo Wiser, ANC's glory fades as South Africa's 'born free' generation votes, 'I'm more mature than South African democracy itself', Theborn free generation: 20-year-olds in South Africa prepare for first vote video, Jerry Dammers: how I made Free Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the triumph of the protest song. However, I also thought he might turn out to be our generations John Barry, scoring important movies with solemn yet iconic orchestral themes, balancing Jacques Derrida with Francis Lai, Scott Walker with Dr John. As the streets of London go into lockdown, The Specials Ghost Town and the feverish social background against which the song was written feels more resonant than ever. Just over 30 years ago, in March 1984, Jerry Dammers released Free Nelson Mandela with his band the Special AKA, and this straightforward, cheerful but angry demand for the release of South. Its only the most extreme people who appear to still be out there. Free Nelson Mandela. The camera was probably worth two grand, while the booze probably wasnt worth more than 100 tops. There would be no woolly thinking in Mrs Thatchers government. The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. We wanted to play 2,000 to 3,000-sized venues. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. People at the time would pay good money to see bands they enjoyed in their youth, sometimes regardless of how many original members they contained. Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, although all three were cleared by the court of appeal in 1991 after it emerged evidence had been tampered with (Silcott remained in prison for the separate murder of another man, Tony Smith, finally being released in 2003). Their first, a live recording of Too Much Too Young, was essentially The Sex Pistols Bodies gone ska, but the intervening year saw The Specials ditch that punky-reggae template. I knew Dammers extremely well for about five years in the 1980s. It certainly didnt feel empowering, as the sensation of being alone was intensified by being in the city. Inspired by Live Aid, this song ultimately led to the Mandela Seventieth Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988 and helped add to the groundswell of support that led to Mandelas release from prison in February 1990. The next morning, Brixton looked as though it had been turned inside out, as everything that was usually inside someones house appeared to be outside, all the household detritus that looks so pathetic and parochial when removed from its natural habitat. Hall has now reacted to Dammers claims, saying he was involved in initial plans for the reunion and said he has no idea why he didnt want to be part of the band. Written by Specials keyboard player Jerry Dammers, "Gangsters" is a reworking of Prince Buster's 1964 ska classic "Al Capone." It samples the car sound effects that open the original song. The family moved to England, and Jerry was raised and schooled in Coventry. In March 1981, Jerry Dammers heard the reggae song "At the Club" by actor and singer Victor Romero Evans played on Roundtable, the singles review show on BBC Radio 1. To check the availability of The Specials tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/GIGS now, or call 0871 230 1094. Billy Bragg paid tribute to Bradbury, writing on Twitter: A bad day for good music. The Special AKA perform Racist Friend. Living in London you certainly got the feeling you were somehow living under siege. He also founded 2 Tone Records. The aural landscape is so vast that each member sounds disconnected from the next, says Dorian Lynskey, in his history of protest songs, 33 Revolutions Per Minute. Jerry Dammers is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. I was friends with Brad and the two of us shared a house some time before the Specials . Free Nelson Mandela feat. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Dammers and others you may know. For me and for so many others at the time, my support network was the black economy, acting as a cocktail barman at Brixtons chi-chi nightclub The Fridge one minute and bunking the tube the next. A little more give and take and a few more people skills, it could have definitely worked out better.. They were gigs, after all. More importantly, it was heard in South Africa where it was banned but became an anthem in the fight against apartheid. But a wicked sense of humour. Wrong!'"[4]. The four main riots occurred in Brixton in London, Handsworth in Birmingham, Chapeltown in Leeds and Toxteth in Liverpool, although there were disturbances in at least 20 other towns and cities, including Derby, Bristol and, almost unbelievably, High Wycombe. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. I would regularly hitch up to Coventry to sit in sullen working mens clubs with him and his extraordinary circle of friends and acquaintances, discussing socialism (we differed), the provenance of Prince Buster and the validity of Heaven 17. They turned up with supermarket trolleys, safe in the knowledge they would never be caught. Member of The Specials Buy. This situation was particularly fraught in the London borough of Lambeth, where over a quarter of the population were black, while 40 per cent of those were under 19. The Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham, in North London, a week later, was dominated by two deaths. Seventeen months separate The Specials' two No1 singles and a million musical miles, wrote Simon Price of the Independent On Sunday. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. The streets werent just empty of people, they were empty of life. Tributes from friends, fellow musicians and famous fans have been pouring in via social media. A premiere will be held simultaneously in London at Bafta. It does not seem like he is in a relationship either. Biography. Compared to the two-speed society of the tweenies (as economists are still trying to describe the second decade of the 21st century) 1985 seemed almost quaint. I had a friend who was chased down Gresham Road near Brixton Police Station by some of his black neighbours just because he happened to be white at the wrong time of day. And breaking that silence wasnt just the sound of petrol bombs and broken glass, it was the sound of Ghost Town by the architects of the recent two-tone revolution, The Specials. 5th September 2015. Evoking themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities, the song is remembered for being a hit at the same time as riots were occurring in British cities. Many consider The Specials' Ghost Town, with its depiction of poverty and injustice in Thatcher's Britain, the song of the 1980s. We were watching a live TV broadcast of the Brixton riots and saw this bloke smash a camera shop window and grab the biggest camera he could find, which looked like a Nikon with a motor drive, says my friend Chris Sullivan, the former owner of the Wag Club. I felt as though Id stepped out of one of those British TV science fiction programmes they made in the 1960s back in a land of bowler hats, umbrellas and red phone boxes those austere black and white ones when London had been the target of a neutron bomb, the ones that killed all the people but left the buildings intact. She gives the civil servants hell, said one observer soon after she became prime minister. Urban deprivation for us was a backdrop to a new world, one in which we knew we were going to have to fend for ourselves. In the space of just two years, from 1979 to 1981, the original Specials managed to embody the new decades violent energies, morals and conflicts though always with an ironic and often sardonic detachment that kept the band cool as the 1980s grew increasingly hot. Actualmente, son una banda de culto para todo venezolano que guarde relacin con la movida musical alternativa en Venezuela, siendo uno de los proyectos de mayor alcance y duracin que se hayan visto en Latinoamrica dentro del ska y la msica mestiza. Dud Thud. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. No, really. The ska . Jun 26 2010. Why The Specials' Jerry Dammers was the Lennon and McCartney of ska, Why Swing Out Sister's Kaleidoscope World is an overlooked classic worth revisiting in 2020, Why Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is such an extraordinary record. The record does not so much end as lose the will to go on, sinking back into the fog. The song was as much about the dissolution of the band as much as deindustrialisation and the toxicity of the streets. Uncut: the spiritual home of great rock music. Now I was attuned to everything, including the sound of looters breaking in through the front door of our building. 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