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Coventry and Warwickshire hasn't got too many entries in the history of modern music. The rather grey cultural aura of the area has however had one very checkered highlight - the Two Tone movement of the late 1970's and early 80's. This musical innovation took its roots from Caribbean Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae. It was honed into the multi-racial sound of 2-Tone by bands such as The Specials and The Selecter - both of which came from Coventry. Indeed it was the Coventry-based 2-Tone record label masterminded by Jerry Dammers of The Specials that gave the movement its name and gave a home to many of the groups of the time. The Specials The Specials enjoyed their greatest success between 1979 and 1981 with two number ones - an EP entitled The Special AKA Live / Too Much Too Young, one side of which was recorded at Tiffany's in Coventry, and Ghost Town, written partly in response to the closure of Tiffany's. The Specials, like 2-Tone itself, began to fade in the early '80's. The band split with the departure of three members to form Fun Boy Three. Dammers however kept the group going under its previous name of The Special AKA. The revamped outfit went on to briefly find further success with the anti-apartheid rallying anthem of Free Nelson Mandela. The band reformed in 1996 with a lot of old and new faces, recording the more reggae-oriented Today's Specials. They will be performing on 17 July at the Phoenix Festival, Long Marston. The Selecter Coventry's second major contribution to the 2-Tone music scene was The Selecter. Not quite achieving the same success as The Specials the group was strongly led by 2-Tone's leading female vocalist, Pauline Black. The group's main hits included Too Much Pressure and On My Radio. The group like most of the era split up in the early 80's but has recently been reformed by Pauline Black. |
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