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Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials: A Life in Crime & Music


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials: A Life in Crime & Music

Contributors:

By (Author) Neville Staple
With Tony McMahon

ISBN:

9781845135423

Publisher:

Quarto Publishing PLC

Imprint:

Aurum

Publication Date:

25th May 2010

UK Publication Date:

25th May 2010

Country:

United Kingdom

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Other Subjects:

Popular music

Dewey:

782.42166092

Physical Properties

Number of Pages:

368

Dimensions:

Width 129mm, Height 197mm

Description

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.

Reviews

A fascinating but harrowing tale of an uneasy life


Theres a charm and often downright cheek- in everything this Rude Boy made-good has done Theres more than enough colourful behaviour to keep you smiling


The book offers an insightful account of 1970s Britain; a time crippled by joblessness and economic gloom, but also uplifted by the new sound of the time: 2 Tone.


A fascinating but harrowing tale of an uneasy life

There s a charm and often downright cheek- in everything this Rude Boy made-good has done There s more than enough colourful behaviour to keep you smiling

The book offers an insightful account of 1970s Britain; a time crippled by joblessness and economic gloom, but also uplifted by the new sound of the time: 2 Tone.

Author Bio

Neville Staple is a singer for the two-tone ska band, The Specials, as well as his own combo, the Neville Staple Band. Along with Ranking Roger, he also sings in Special Beat.

Neville Staple is a singer for the two-tone ska band, The Specials, as well as his own combo, the Neville Staple Band. Along with Ranking Roger, he also sings in Special Beat.

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