Fact #178060
When:
Short story:
Ranking Roger (Roger Charlery) of The Beat dies of lung cancer, aged 56, at his home. His death also followed a stroke and the discovery of two brain tumours.
Full article:
Jerry Dammers(founder of 2 Tone Records) : A very sad day indeed . Roger was the youngest contributor to the British ska movement, his talent, boundless bouncing energy , humour , common sense politics , and very positive and friendly attitude, was an inspiration to anyone who ever met him or saw him perform, he was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.
I first met Roger when The Specials supported a punk band at Barbarellas Night Club in Birmingham . Roger was toasting lyrics from punk songs and against the National Front, Jamaican patois style , over heavy reggae rhythms supplied by the DJ. He was only sixteen. A crowd were invited to an after party at another nightclub but the bouncers would not let Roger in, I suspected racism on their part, so I didn't go in, and chatted to Roger who told me he also toasted with a band ,who soon morphed into The Beat. As soon as I saw them I asked them to please put out a record on our new 2 Tone label. The Beat were a fabulous band and wrote and performed some of the very best songs in the British ska genre, with Roger's lively toasting interjections providing the perfect foil to Dave Wakeling's vocals. If one person had to be picked to epitomise everything that was good and positive about the British ska movement and its youthful spirit, I think it would have to be Roger.
(Source : official statement.)
Sting : The mid seventies was one of the most influential periods in the history of British pop music. The merging of Caribbean rhythms and the tropes of the immigrant West Indian experience alongside young white bands struggling to find an identity in Thatcher’s disunited kingdom produced what would become the second wave of British dominance in popular music across the world. My friend Roger, as a founding member of the English Beat was at the centre of this febrile and explosive clash of cultures, uniquely placed to document the excitement of those times, the heady joy of success, the political turmoil, the inherent racism at all levels of our society as well as the brotherly bond of musicians struggling to make themselves heard within it. Thank you, Roger. You will be missed.
(Source : posting on Sting's website)
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I first met Roger when The Specials supported a punk band at Barbarellas Night Club in Birmingham . Roger was toasting lyrics from punk songs and against the National Front, Jamaican patois style , over heavy reggae rhythms supplied by the DJ. He was only sixteen. A crowd were invited to an after party at another nightclub but the bouncers would not let Roger in, I suspected racism on their part, so I didn't go in, and chatted to Roger who told me he also toasted with a band ,who soon morphed into The Beat. As soon as I saw them I asked them to please put out a record on our new 2 Tone label. The Beat were a fabulous band and wrote and performed some of the very best songs in the British ska genre, with Roger's lively toasting interjections providing the perfect foil to Dave Wakeling's vocals. If one person had to be picked to epitomise everything that was good and positive about the British ska movement and its youthful spirit, I think it would have to be Roger.
(Source : official statement.)
Sting : The mid seventies was one of the most influential periods in the history of British pop music. The merging of Caribbean rhythms and the tropes of the immigrant West Indian experience alongside young white bands struggling to find an identity in Thatcher’s disunited kingdom produced what would become the second wave of British dominance in popular music across the world. My friend Roger, as a founding member of the English Beat was at the centre of this febrile and explosive clash of cultures, uniquely placed to document the excitement of those times, the heady joy of success, the political turmoil, the inherent racism at all levels of our society as well as the brotherly bond of musicians struggling to make themselves heard within it. Thank you, Roger. You will be missed.
(Source : posting on Sting's website)