Frontman of The Specials, Terry Hall, died Monday aged 63.
Hall died after a brief illness, the band said in a statement shared on social media. The Specials rose to fame in the 1970s and 80s and are best known for their international hit song “Ghost Town.” Hall left the band in 1981 to form Fun Boy Three with two of his bandmates, according to the BBC.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced,” the band said of Hall.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/qJHsI1oTwp
— The Specials (@thespecials) December 19, 2022
Hall was born and raised in Coventry, England, where his family worked in the motor industry, the BBC continued. When Hall was 12, a teacher kidnapped him and took him to France, where he sexually abused Hall for four days, punched in the face and left him on the side of the road.
The horrific abuse left Hall with lifelong depression, the BBC reported. Music was his way out of that darkness, though he claimed that his band’s success was simply an accidental by-product of the punk movement that emerged at that time. (RELATED: College Linebacker Luke Knox, Brother Of NFL Player Dawson Knox, Dead At 22)
“Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life … the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love,” the band said of Hall, noting that “he will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.”