Jerry Dammers left The Specials in 1981, following the band’s split.
Who Is Jerry Dammers?
Jerry Dammers is a singer and pioneer songwriter of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials or The Spatial AKA Orchestra.
Born on May 22, 1955, Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India, Dammers had been in The Cissy Stone Soul Band, and later graduated from Coventry University.
Dammers founded 2 Tone Records, and campaigned against apartheid and eventually wrote the song “Free Nelson Mandela”.
In 1985, Dammers alongside members of The Special AKA, UB40, Madness, The Pioneers, and The Beat, also released the well known single “Starvation”, following the famine in Africa at the time.
Dammers has collaborated with a number of jazz artists like Zoe Rahman, Larry Stabbins and Denys Baptiste. Aside singing, Dammers plays as a DJ in nightclubs in Britain.
Some of his hit songs and albums include “Too Much Too Young”, Under The Influence, “What I Like Most About You is Your Girlfriend”, “Merry Go Round”, and lots more.
Dammers even wrote and produced songs for the likes of Robert Wyatt, The Untouchables, UB40 and Junior Delgado.
Dammers has received a number of awards and recognitions such as the Q magazine’s Q Merit Award, an honorary degree from Coventry University, the South African Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo in silver award, a national honour, and an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University.