The English Beat

About the band:

The English Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics.

The English Beat were formed in Birmingham, England in 1978, during a period of high unemployment and social upheaval in the United Kingdom. Ranking Roger, one of the band's vocalists, added a Jamaican vocal flavour to the band's sound with his toasting style. Jamaican saxophonist Saxa added a Jamaican ska instrumental sound. Saxa had played saxophone with Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken and Desmond Dekker in the first wave of ska (as well as with The Beatles in their Liverpool days). He joined The Beat to record their first single, "Tears of a Clown", a cover version of the Motown hit by Smokey Robinson.

Although The English Beat's main fan base was in the United Kingdom, the band was also popular in Australia, partly due to exposure on the radio station Triple J and the TV show Countdown. The English Beat had a sizeable following in North America. The English Beat toured the world with well-known artists such as David Bowie, The Clash, The Police, The Pretenders, REM, The Specials, and Talking Heads. Members of the band often collaborated on stage with The Specials.

After the break-up of The Beat in 1983, Dave Wakeling (guitar, vocals) and Ranking Roger (vocals) went on to form General Public, while Andy Cox (guitar) and David Steele (bass guitar) formed Fine Young Cannibals with vocalist Roland Gift. Everett Morton and Saxa formed The International Beat fronted by Tony Beet. Ranking Roger also briefly joined Mick Jones' post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite and performed at several live shows with the band. However, the band broke up shortly after he joined when its last album was shelved by the record company. Meanwhile, the Beat's song "Rotating Head," remixed and renamed "March of the Swivelheads," was famously used in the climactic chase scene of 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the band was listed in the end credits as "The English Beat".

In 2003, The Beat's original line-up, minus Cox and Steele (but with the addition of Junior), played a sold-out one-off gig at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2004, the VH1 show Bands Reunited tried unsuccessfully to reunite the original line-up. As of 2005, The Beat has reformed with Roger, Blockhead and Morton of the original line-up, and Ranking Junior on vocals.

Band's website

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