Neville Staple with be headlining the Plymouth Armed Forces Day Evening Concert on 25 June, find out all about him and his top class band!
The Legendary Front Man From The Specials, Fun Boy Three and Special Beat performs with his top class band. Also known as The Original Rude Boy, Neville celebrates 40 years of his super music career, and of the beginning of the 2-Tone movement.
Awarded with an Honorary Doctorate by Arden University in July 2019, Dr Neville Staple is credited with changing the face of popular music not only once but several times. His UK and International career in the music industry, is well documented and started out from the early days with Ray King, Pete Waterman (OBE), The Coventry Automatics and his Jah Baddis Sound System, before taking to the stage as a frontman of The Specials for the famous tour with ‘The Clash’ and Bernie Rhodes. He has performed, written or produced, highly acclaimed and hit albums and singles, along with TV and film soundtracks, including performing on a songs for blockbusters and independent films and more music releases in 2022 and beyond. His musical awards also include MOJO, NME, several Gold, Silver & Platinum Discs and a lifetime achievement award from Foxford School in his home City of Coventry (birthplace of the 2-Tone Movement).
He is celebrated as a living legend. Neville’s latest highly celebrated album ‘From The Specials & Beyond’ is out in 2022, along with his 40 Years of Ghost Town Tour.
Neville states, “I remember the massive reactions to the hit songs like Ghost Town, Too Much Too Young and Gangsters, and fans still write to me about my rugged, energetic and fun stage presence. The way we bring ska to the mainstream is by mixing Jamaican music with the English punky style. I love performing live and always include my Specials hits, along with other classics and career favourites. Every show is like a massive party, where the brilliant fans love to dance, stomp or sing-along. I was so proud to become an official Doctor of Music recently too. Dr Rude Boy! How cool is that!”
Neville continues to write, perform, collaborate and produce new music, alongside his wife, Christine ‘Sugary Staple’ & friends, and his 2Tone legacy is huge. The music that fused traditional Jamaican ska and reggae music and style, with punk rock attitude, energy, and musical edge. The movement helped to
transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcherera Britain and still resonates in today’s Brexit uncertainties. The actual black and white chequered imagery of 2 Tone has become almost as famous as the music itself. Neville has with other top worked International and mainstream artists too and his work is regularly shared on mainstream TV, Films, Radio, and exhibitions, reflecting his highly successful career. His best-selling autobiography, THE ORIGINAL RUDE BOY, was published by Aurum Press in 2009. Neville and the band are currently promoting racial unity and anti-knife crime, during their UK and International tours, which follows the highly publicised and recent fatal stabbing of Neville’s 21-year-old grandson. Neville Staple and Sugary also
work with schools, charities, and youth groups, providing awareness talks, performance tips, music lessons-guest-tuition and fund-raising activities. He is also a patron of the Coventry Music Museum at the 2Tone Village, Cefovid Uganda and is an ambassador for various charities including Musicians Against Homelessness.
Sugary Staple (aka ‘Christine ‘Sugary Staple’) has been writing, producing, and performing in film, video and music since her teens and is also the wife and manager of the Original Rude boy, Neville Staple (From the Specials & Fun Boy 3). She is especially known for bringing energy, charisma, and fun to the stage during tours and shows and is currently celebrating her critically acclaimed new joint song productions (with Neville) and writing soundtracks for videos, as well as her artwork designs and graphics. Sugary was awarded an Historic Coventry UK City 2021 Accolade and Title of ‘Modern Day Lady Godiva’, in recognition of her activism, campaigning and charitable work raising thousands of pounds for vulnerable families in the UK, Caribbean and Africa, plus artwork auctions and support for Zoe's Place Baby Hospice, knife-crime, Homelessness and others.
Sugary, is usually found performing songs from her joint ska/punk/reggae albums, as a front women and along-side husband Neville Staple. However, she has spent recent months campaigning for the music and arts industries, severely affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic and providing personal dedication music shows, DJ sets and videos to isolated and hospital admitted fans. Sugary came from a difficult and harsh childhood and early adult life, but still managed to graduate in Business Management and Health and Safety, as well as pursue her creative dreams in theatre, film, literacy, and music. Neville Staple was her teen pin-up who she later married.
Sugary spearheaded the famous Skamouth Festivals, works with celebrated artists from the UK and
across the World, plus with schools, colleges & charities. She is an official patron of the 2Tone Village in Coventry and Cefovid Uganda, as well as an Ambassador for Musicians Against Homelessness. Sugary recently wowed audiences with her stage presence and performances during huge headline sets at Rewind, Let's Rock, Boomtown and Rebellion Festivals and won a Frizzle TV Award in 2015 for her iconic looks of natural mixed dreadlocks, twists and curls. She also takes on regular roles for film and TV and her 2022 work includes producing brand-new music, appearing on TV series Shakespeare & Hathaway (BBC), Without Sin (ITV), Horrible Histories (CBBC), and writing, running events, touring globally, and continuing special music projects with the young people of Coventry, including student discussions, guidance and mentoring.
Other details
Neville Staple’s collaborations and joint tours / shows, have included all of the bands & artists shown, plus work with Amy Winehouse, Rancid, Save Ferris, No Doubt, Planet Smashers, Desmond Dekker, The Undertones, The Clash, UB40, The Jam, Sting, Madness, Midge Ure, Kim Appleby, Leee John, Toyah, Hazel O’Connor, Ferry Aid Collective, Bob Marley’s Estate, Bananarama, Dreadzone, Derrick Morgan, Clint Eastwood, Roy & Yvonne, Stranger Cole, Dub Pistols, plus many more, over the decades.
Sugary Staple has worked with or performed with Reggae and Ska legends from the UK, Jamaica and globally, along with punk bands and rocksteady greats. She is loved and respected by so many, including Derrick Morgan, Toots Hibbert (late), Jimmy Cliff, 2-Tone originals, The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers and so many more, all of which she has worked/performed with.
Both Neville Staple and Sugary have written and produced a variety of music works and projects, but have also enjoyed working with many top producers, including Mike Bennett and Tom Lowry.
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