Ska

Terry Hall: his 10 greatest recordings with the Specials and beyond

The singer’s musical free spirit scored him hits with everyone from the Specials and Fun Boy Three to collaborations with the Go-Go’s and Bananarama

Dave Simpson

20, Dec, 2022 @5:25 PM

Terry Hall: lead singer of the Specials dies aged 63

Having survived a tough childhood in Coventry, Hall became one of pop’s defining voices at the turn of the 80s, chronicling British decline and disfranchised youth with the 2 Tone band

Laura Snapes

19, Dec, 2022 @10:41 PM

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep! Why singalong 70s pop was edgier than you think

A new book, In Perfect Harmony, explores the pop hits of the 70s, long derided as mainstream and meaningless. But there was more to it, argues its author

Will Hodgkinson

20, Sep, 2022 @7:00 AM

An up-to-date picture of single-parent life | Letter

Letter: Despite the difficulties, it’s time we changed some of the outdated narrative of total despondency, says Lucy Smith

Letters

11, Aug, 2022 @5:03 PM

Another brick in the wall for bees | Brief letters

Brief letters: The buzz about soft clay | Reviving Arturo Ui | Sober evaluation | Chanelling Frida Kahlo

23, Jan, 2022 @5:00 PM

Michael Smiley’s teenage obsessions: ‘I heard the Beat and came back to Belfast a rude boy’

The comedian and actor on dancing with his mother to Ray Charles, the power of Seamus Heaney’s poetry and how Richard Pryor showed him his future

As told to Tom Seymour

19, Aug, 2021 @1:09 PM

The return of Jimmy Cliff: ‘Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people’

As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae’s foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian samba and the chaotic bravado of The Harder They Come

Lloyd Bradley

06, Aug, 2021 @5:00 AM

David Arquette: ‘Marlon Brando thought I was going to give him a cold’

The actor recalls how he got into graffiti, his love of punk and sitting in the back of his teenage idol’s car

As told to Rich Pelley

24, Jun, 2021 @3:00 PM

Cars, bicycles … and 14 Lady Godivas: Coventry kicks off year of culture

‘We are a city built on ashes, this is our chance to rebuild again,’ say organisers as celebrations get under way

Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent

06, Jun, 2021 @7:45 AM

Coventry, from Ghost Town to City of Culture

As it starts its reign as UK City of Culture, two new exhibitions celebrate the groundbreaking multicultural music born in the Midlands that became the soundtrack for a generation

Gavin McOwan

28, May, 2021 @1:10 PM

Pork pie hats and politics: Coventry pays tribute to 2 Tone legacy

Major exhibition charts rise of record label that spawned musical and cultural movement in late 1970s