Neville Staple

Neville Staple
Neville Staple - Dundee Doghouse - 2007
Background information
Birth name	Neville Eugenton Staple
Born	(1955-04-11) 11 April 1955 Manchester, Jamaica
Origin	Coventry, England
Genres	2 Tone, ska, New Wave
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocalist
Years active	1977–present
Labels	2 Tone, Chrysalis
Associated acts	The Specials Fun Boy Three The Neville Staple Band Special Beat
Website	www.nevillestaple.co.uk

Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955) is an English 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.

Early life

Staple was born in Manchester, Jamaica. At the age of five, Neville left Jamaica to live in the English town of Rugby, Warwickshire but later moved to Coventry. He was initially active in the sound system scene forming his own crew called "Jah Baddis". Neville was a regular fixture at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry where he met its resident DJ, Pete Waterman. Pete was heavily involved in the seventies reggae scene before going on to become a major pop producer in the 1980s. Pete has written the foreword to Neville's biography - "Original Rude Boy" - and briefly managed The Specials.^[1]

The Specials

Neville's first involvement with The Specials was when they were still called The Coventry Automatics. He initially joined as their roadie but at a gig supporting The Clash, Neville took to the stage and never looked back. For a while, The Specials were managed by The Clash's manager Bernard Rhodes of whom Neville used to toast "Bernie Rhodes knows don't argue" at the beginning of the Specials hit single "Gangsters".^[2]

Neville's vocal style is toasting or chanting over a rhythm. A forerunner of rapping which was brought to Britain in the 1960s by musicians from Jamaica. Neville honed his toasting skills on the sound system scene in Coventry during the 1970s. Later in his solo career and with the reunited Specials, he would sing as well as toast. When he joined the Coventry Automatics, the line up already included Jerry Dammers, Horace Panter and Silverton Hutchinson on drums. Terry Hall subsequently came in as vocalist, replacing Tim Strickland, and Roddy Radiation on lead guitar. John Bradbury would later take over on drums from Silverton.^[3] Neville participated in a reunion line up of The Specials from 1993 to 2001, and again from 2009 to 2012, when he left the band due to health concerns.^[4]

Fun Boy Three

When The Specials split up, Neville departed with Terry Hall and Lynval Golding, to form Fun Boy Three. They had a string of chart hits, some in collaboration with the all-female trio Bananarama.^[5]

Third wave

In 1990, Staple joined Ranking Roger from The Beat to form Special Beat, a revival group playing hits from both former two-tone bands. This was in response to the huge explosion of interest in ska in the United States. The so-called "Third Wave" of ska. Neville moved to California in the 1990s to work with many of these new American ska acts. Bands he collaborated with included No Doubt, Rancid and Unwritten Law. Neville also featured on the song "Explosive" by the Canadian ska band, The Planet Smashers.^[6]

In 2000, Staple's re-recordings of hits by The Specials and Fun Boy Three were released as The Very Best of the Specials and Fun Boy Three, though without being prominently labelled as a solo work by Staple.

Solo career

In 2004, Neville returned to the UK and formed "The Neville Staple Band", releasing the critically acclaimed^[7] album The Rude Boy Returns, with contributions from Clash guitar man Mick Jones and Damned drummer Rat Scabies, with Flipron's Joe Atkinson's on organ. The group featured former members of the British ska band Bad Manners with Warren Middleton (trombone), Andy Perriss (guitar), Stephen Armstrong (bass) Joe Atkinson (from Flipron, keyboards) and Patrick Pretorius (from The Talks)/Matty Bane (drums).^[8]

Since 2004, Neville has relentlessly toured the UK, Europe, The Middle East, Australia & New Zealand with his own band, as well as several successful tours and shows alongside Ranking Roger of The Beat and Pauline Black of The Selecter as Special Beat and Legends of Ska.

He has a daughter Sheena Staple, who currently lives in the U.S., and is working on a solo album, and a son Darren Simms, who is the lead singer in a U.S. reggae / rock band named "DreadStarr" and a male model.

Original Rude Boy

In April 2009, Neville Staple set out on a reunion tour with The Specials.^[9][10][11] The same month also saw the launch of his biography Original Rude Boy published by Aurum Press. The book covers Neville's involvement with the 1970s sound system scene and childhood in Jamaica. Then how a chance encounter with Jerry Dammers and The Specials led to his involvement in that band and Fun Boy Three. Neville collaborated with former BBC journalist Tony McMahon on the book and both are registered with the Blake Friedmann literary agency.^[12]

Solo discography

Albums

• 1998 - Skanktastic (Six-song EP) (Moon Records)
• 2000 - Ghost Town: 13 Hits of the Specials and Fun Boy Three (Anagram - Cherry Red Records)
• 2001 - Neville Staple from the Specials (525 Music Production)
• 2002 - Ska Au Go-Go (as "Special Skank Ft. Neville Staple") (Cleopatra)
• 2004 - The Rude Boy Returns (Rude Boy Records)
• 2005 - The Rude Boy Returns: Neville Staple Live (DVD) (Asian Man Records)

Compilations and guest appearances