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Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to the Specials: A Life of Crime and Music
The Specials' vocalist offers his inside take on the 2 Tone era, his experiences producing such bands as No Doubt and Rancid, and the Specials reunion in this raucous and charming autobiography
The Specials were the undeniable leaders of new music in the late 1970s and 1980s and this chronicle tells their story and that of a musical era. In 1979, Thatcher's Britain was 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 Specials burst on to the scene. 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, five-year-old Neville was sent to England to live with his father, a man for whom discipline bordered on child abuse. As he recounts here, growing up black in the Midlands of the 1960s and 1970s wasn't easy, and his youth was marked by scuffles with skins, compulsive womanizing, and a life of crime that led from shoplifting to burglary and eventually prison. But throughout there was music, and Nev reveals how he became part of the most important band of the 1980s. He remembers sound system battles; the legendary 2 Tone tour with the Selecter, Madness, and Dexy's, and their clashes with white nationalist thugs. He recalls the band's increasing tensions and eventual split; his subsequent foray into bubblegum pop with Fun Boy Three; and a newfound fame in America as godfather to Third Wave ska bands. Finally he reflects on the Specials' reunion and how even now, 30 years later, they can't help tearing themselves apart.
The Specials were the undeniable leaders of new music in the late 1970s and 1980s and this chronicle tells their story and that of a musical era. In 1979, Thatcher's Britain was 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 Specials burst on to the scene. 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, five-year-old Neville was sent to England to live with his father, a man for whom discipline bordered on child abuse. As he recounts here, growing up black in the Midlands of the 1960s and 1970s wasn't easy, and his youth was marked by scuffles with skins, compulsive womanizing, and a life of crime that led from shoplifting to burglary and eventually prison. But throughout there was music, and Nev reveals how he became part of the most important band of the 1980s. He remembers sound system battles; the legendary 2 Tone tour with the Selecter, Madness, and Dexy's, and their clashes with white nationalist thugs. He recalls the band's increasing tensions and eventual split; his subsequent foray into bubblegum pop with Fun Boy Three; and a newfound fame in America as godfather to Third Wave ska bands. Finally he reflects on the Specials' reunion and how even now, 30 years later, they can't help tearing themselves apart.
350 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 27, 2011
Unapologetic thief, womanizer, and sperm-bank. Neville Staple, champion toaster of The Specials is not a very likable chap by my standards. His whole "being a rude boy is in my DNA" shtick tires quickly. I really would be more interested if Lynval Golding wrote a memoir as he seems more grounded than this man who brags endlessly about his infidelity and ability to pull chicks with his ugly mug.
However, his stories of Sound-systems battles, his entry into the Specials, along with his account of the economic downturn in mid- late 70's Britain which promoted racial strife and violence make it a decent read.
However, his stories of Sound-systems battles, his entry into the Specials, along with his account of the economic downturn in mid- late 70's Britain which promoted racial strife and violence make it a decent read.
November 16, 2015
There's a few too many mentions of Neville's "massive libido" than would allow a 3 star rating.
September 28, 2018
It is fair to comment that Neville Staple has had an interesting and eventful life and, if it wasn't for the Specials, he might have spent a fair bit of his life behind bars. Taken out of his home country of Jamaica at a young age to be brought up my a father who ruled with a rod.
An entertaining read. Neville has lived and I mean lived. Too much, too young? Probably but it makes a fascinating read. Long may he live.
Ray Smillie
An entertaining read. Neville has lived and I mean lived. Too much, too young? Probably but it makes a fascinating read. Long may he live.
Ray Smillie
February 14, 2021
A very entertaining tale of life in the 70s and beyond, being in The Specials, Fun Boy Three, and making a living out of music for 40 years. Obviously the best bits are when it all starts to take off for The Specials and the whole Two Tone scene, but it’s also fascinating on how their tour of the US in the early 1980s sparked a massive ska movement in the US that led to bands as diverse as No Doubt and Rancid.
January 7, 2023
As a very young Rude Boy in the 80’s the Specials have always been in my heart. Gangsters was the song that lit my passion for music and has always been my favourite song. This book made me smile with memories, laugh at a true Rude Boy’s antics and also shed a tear over the loss of Terry Hall.
Boys, I salute you all.
Boys, I salute you all.
June 28, 2020
wasnt reallt for me
January 6, 2025
a must for Specials fans
An interesting story behind the legends, and the journey of Neville. Maybe after reading this it was good for us Jerry never returned. How bizarre is that.
An interesting story behind the legends, and the journey of Neville. Maybe after reading this it was good for us Jerry never returned. How bizarre is that.
January 22, 2015
In the early 80's I bought an imported vinyl (4 times the cost of everything else) from a long defunct record shop in Hawera, a small rural servicing town in the middle of New Zealand. And discovered a new world of music full of rhythm and underlying social and political messages.
But all that was a long time ago. After reading Neville Staples' autobiography, the nostolgia returns as I think back to The Specials, The Beat (and all the variations!), The Selector, The Bodysnatchers and so many others - bads that others hadn't discovered singing about things we didn't know (in the days before the Internet in a country like New Zealand, how else could a young man learn about Nelson Mandela, the downside of the Thatcher Governtment, or rascism in the UK? Those things weren't on our local news...). And even after spending way too much time on Youtube hunting down some of the old videos, the music is still great...
For anyone who was vaguely interested in Ska, or music in general, this is essential. For me, it was a mix of a different world in a far away place, and music that had been part of my lifestyle. Some of it seem fantastical (and scary!) from so far away (in time and space) but it is easy and engaging reading of a story of a man who lived for excesses, but always with a desire to entertain and please others, and throughout it all loved music and people.
This book is a fantastical and engaging story of a different age - for anyone interested in music.
But all that was a long time ago. After reading Neville Staples' autobiography, the nostolgia returns as I think back to The Specials, The Beat (and all the variations!), The Selector, The Bodysnatchers and so many others - bads that others hadn't discovered singing about things we didn't know (in the days before the Internet in a country like New Zealand, how else could a young man learn about Nelson Mandela, the downside of the Thatcher Governtment, or rascism in the UK? Those things weren't on our local news...). And even after spending way too much time on Youtube hunting down some of the old videos, the music is still great...
For anyone who was vaguely interested in Ska, or music in general, this is essential. For me, it was a mix of a different world in a far away place, and music that had been part of my lifestyle. Some of it seem fantastical (and scary!) from so far away (in time and space) but it is easy and engaging reading of a story of a man who lived for excesses, but always with a desire to entertain and please others, and throughout it all loved music and people.
This book is a fantastical and engaging story of a different age - for anyone interested in music.
May 14, 2019
Fascinating read
What a life from stealing to survive, being beaten to the extreme by his father, being imprisoned in many establishments for wanting a better life, living life in the meanest of times as a black youth and man in the UK, to becoming a major player and big part of the Uk's most influential Ska band The Specials this was a sad, sometimes funny, nostalgic read, loved it 👍
What a life from stealing to survive, being beaten to the extreme by his father, being imprisoned in many establishments for wanting a better life, living life in the meanest of times as a black youth and man in the UK, to becoming a major player and big part of the Uk's most influential Ska band The Specials this was a sad, sometimes funny, nostalgic read, loved it 👍
May 19, 2013
The world according to Neville Staples is something else. Made me want to go and read similar accounts by Jerry and Terry as always the truth lies somewhere in between,
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews