Neville Staple

Neville Staple served as a driving force in the Specials when the group ignited the British ska resurgence of the 1980s, later sustaining a lengthy trajectory as vocalist and toaster that left its mark on both ska and rock audiences. Though the raw, emphatic character of his delivery seldom cast him as frontman in his various outfits, his commanding personality and stage charisma rendered him indispensable to every project, with his toasting retaining a consistently forceful, roots-oriented edge. Apart from his tenures in the Specials and Fun Boy Three, Staple registers most clearly on the solo albums The Rude Boy Returns in 2004 and Return of Judge Roughneck in 2017.

He entered the world on April 11, 1955, in Christiana, Manchester, Jamaica. His family relocated to England when he turned five, first residing in Rugby, Warwickshire, before establishing themselves in Coventry. Staple entered the local sound-system milieu and captained a crew called Jah Baddis while becoming a regular at Coventry’s Locarno Ballroom, where he forged a friendship with resident DJ Peter Waterman, later renowned as one-third of the Stock-Aitkin-Waterman production team. In 1978 he began working as roadie for the Coventry Automatics, with Waterman briefly acting as manager; the ensemble soon adopted the name the Specials, and Staple advanced from equipment transport to full membership, supplying backing vocals, toasting, and animated dance routines that energized live shows.

Following the release of their inaugural single on the independent 2-Tone label in 1979, the Specials attained major U.K. success and triggered an international ska revival drawn from the Jamaican dance music that had thrived in the 1960s. Internal tensions nevertheless curtailed their lifespan, and in 1981 Staple joined ex-Specials Terry Hall and Lynval Golding in Fun Boy Three, a vocal trio favoring a relaxed, minimalist approach. The self-titled debut album contained four tracks that reached the U.K. Top 20, while the 1983 follow-up Waiting yielded two further hits, yet the group disbanded within a year of the second LP. In 1990 Staple united with Ranking Roger, formerly of the Beat (also known as the English Beat), to form Special Beat, a unit that drew steady crowds on tours throughout the U.K. and United States. A 1994 Specials reunion incorporated several original members but excluded founder Jerry Dammers and lead vocalist Terry Hall; the ensemble toured widely and issued new recordings, among them the 1995 Desmond Dekker collaboration King of Kings and 1996’s Today’s Specials, before dissolving in 2001. Staple also contributed guest vocals to the Soup Dragons’ 1995 album Hydrophonic.

In 2000 he re-recorded signature material for the compilation Ghost Town: 13 Hits of the Specials and Fun Boy Three. Ska Au Go-Go appeared in 2002 under the billing Special Skank featuring Neville Staple, and two years later he released the solo set The Rude Boy Returns, which included appearances by Mick Jones of the Clash and Rat Scabies of the Damned. The complete original Specials lineup minus Dammers reassembled in 2009 for a tour that met with enthusiastic response from fans and the British press; additional dates extended across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Citing health issues and frayed relations among members, Staple exited the reunion in 2012. He formed the Neville Staple Band and issued Ska Crazy in 2014. The Return of Judge Roughneck surfaced in 2017, pairing fresh compositions with renditions of Jamaican ska and reggae standards and appending a bonus disc of dub mixes. The following year Staple and his wife Sugary recorded Rude Rebels, featuring guitar from former Specials bandmate Roddy Radiation. Cleopatra Records re-presented Special Skank’s 2002 Ska Au Go Go in 2021 as a Neville Staple album with updated artwork.