The Specials › Similar Artists

The Selecter - 100% match to The Specials

When Coventry, England’s Specials needed a b-side for their own debut, ‘Gangsters’, they approached fellow local musician Neol Davies. With the assistance of John Bradbury aka Prince Rimshot (drums), and Barry Jones (trombone), Davies concocted the instrumental track ‘The Selecter’. Released on the Specials’ own 2-Tone label, the single took off wi Read more

Bad Manners - 67% match to The Specials

A formidable chart presence when the UK 2-Tone ska revival was at its peak, this north London-based outfit originally came together in 1976 as Stoop Solo And The Sheet Starchers. The unit came to be known as Buster Bloodvessel And His Bad Manners, and then simply Bad Manners, and comprised Buster Bloodvessel (Douglas Trendle, 6 September 1958; lead vocals), Gus ‘Hot Lip Read more

Madness - 63% match to The Specials

This highly regarded UK ska/pop band evolved from the London-based Invaders in the summer of 1979. Mike Barson aka Monsieur Barso (Michael Wilson Barson, 21 May 1958, London, England; keyboards), Chris Foreman aka Chrissy Boy (b. Christopher John Foreman, 8 August 1956, London, England; guitar) and Lee Thompson aka Kix/El Thommo (b. 5 October 1957, London, England; saxophone Read more

Laurel Aitken - 40% match to The Specials

Oliver Stephens, 22 April 1927, Cuba, d. 17 July 2005, Leicester, England. Of mixed Cuban and Jamaican descent, Laurel, with his five brothers (including the veteran guitarist Bobby Aitken) and sisters, settled in his father’s homeland, Jamaica, in 1938. In the 40s he earned a living singing calypso for the Jamaican Tourist Board, as visitors alighted at Kingston Harbou Read more

The Jam - 37% match to The Specials

This highly successful late 70s and early 80s UK band comprised Paul Weller (25 May 1958, Woking, Surrey, England; vocals/guitar), Bruce Foxton (b. 1 September 1955, Woking, Surrey, England; bass/vocals) and Rick Buckler (b. Paul Richard Buckler, 6 December 1955, Woking, Surrey, England; drums). After gigging consistently throughout 1976, the band signed to Polydor Records e Read more

Desmond Dekker - 29% match to The Specials

Desmond Adolphus Dacres, 16 July 1941, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, d. 25 May 2006, London, England. Dacres spent much of his orphaned childhood near Seaforth in St. Thomas before returning to Kingston, where he worked as a welder. His workmates encouraged him to seek a recording audition and, after receiving rejections from leading producers Clement Dodd and Duke Reid, Read more

Fun Boy Three - 29% match to The Specials

When the Specials topped the UK charts in June 1981 with the spellbinding ‘Ghost Town’ few would have guessed that three of their members would depart immediately to form an offshoot group. By October, Terry Hall (19 March 1959, Coventry, England; vocals), Neville Staple(s) (vocals/drums) and Lynval Golding (b. 24 July 1951, Coventry, England; guitar) had launched Read more

The Clash - 29% match to The Specials

The Clash at first tucked in snugly behind punk’s loudest noise, the Sex Pistols (whom they supported on ‘the Anarchy tour’), but later became a much more consistent and intriguing force as possibly the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of the late 70s and early 80s. Guitarist Mick Jones (Michael Geoffrey Jones, 26 June 1955, Brixton, London, England) had Read more

The Slackers - 27% match to The Specials

Sham 69 - 25% match to The Specials

Formed in London, England, in 1975, this five-piece skinhead/punk-influenced band originally comprised Jimmy Pursey (vocals), Albie ‘Slider’ Maskell (bass), Neil Harris (lead guitar), Johnny Goodfornothing (rhythm guitar) and Billy Bostik (drums). Pursey was a fierce, working-class idealist, an avenging angel of the unemployed, who ironically sacked most of the above Read more

The English Beat - 25% match to The Specials

Cock Sparrer - 23% match to The Specials

Stiff Little Fingers - 22% match to The Specials

This Irish punk band was formed from the ashes of cover outfit Highway Star. Taking their new name from a track on the Vibrators’ Pure Mania debut, Stiff Little Fingers soon attracted one of the most fervent fanbases of the era. Present at the Clash’s Belfast gig in 1977, Jake Burns (vocals/lead guitar) led Henry Cluney (rhythm guitar), Ali McMordie (bass) and Brian F Read more

The Business - 22% match to The Specials

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - 17% match to The Specials

Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, during the mid-80s, by Nate Albert (guitar), Joe Gittleman (bass) and Ben Carr (vocals). They were joined by Dicky Barrett (vocals) and Tim ‘Johnny Vegas’ Burton (saxophone) completing the line-up of the original Bosstones. After a laconic lacuna during the Reagan years the band returned as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, having enro Read more