Fun Boy Three

As inner-city Britain rioted in 1981, The Specials had just topped the UK charts with the doomy and foreboding Ghost Town. And then they split up! 

Band-members Neville Staple, Lynval Golding and Terry Hall wasted no time in forming Fun Boy Three and signing to Chrysalis, who had marketed The Specials' 2-Tone label. The trio had been working with producer Dave Jordan since January and had recorded a cover of American garage classic 96 Tears and an early cut of their debut single, The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum.

"The record company wasn't massively happy about the split," Hall said, "because The Specials had grown into quite a strong brand name. But they understood that it wasn't just a whim. The knew we were having troubles - they were paying for our recordings and bills for separate hotels in separate cities". There had been problems and clashes of egos. Specials leader Jerry Dammers had claimed that Ghost Town was entirely his creation, while Staple felt that he had made a significant contribution to writing it.

The 1982 debut album by Fun Boy Three reached Number 7 in Britain and the band went on to enjoy six hit singles and another Top 20 LP before expiring in July 1983.