This year marks the 45th anniversary of the release of debut album "Too Much Pressure" by Coventry band The Selecter, who toured with The Specials and Madness in 1979 as 2-Tone ska swept the nation and stormed up the charts.
Still recording and touring, and with a slot at this year’s Glastonbury music festival, 71-year-old lead singer Pauline Black looks back on the turbulent history of the band, its part in the 2-Tone movement, and her own remarkable story in feature-length rockumentary Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story, previously released in cinemas and now on Sky Arts.
Born Belinda Magnus, Black was brought up by middle-aged white adoptive parents, and recalls feeling like an outsider during her Essex childhood. "The environment was a little alienating, from the point of view of a little brown girl," she recalls. "Most people had hardly ever seen or spoken to a black person!"
Moving to Coventry to study science, Black found herself with more like-minded people, was inspired by the civil rights movement in America and the rise of feminism, and was recruited as the lead singer of ska band The Selecter, newly formed on the back of the first 2-Tone ska single, co-released with the Specials.
"Neol Davies had written 'The Selecter', an instrumental on the flip side of the Specials’ Gangsters," Black recalls. "And then he wanted to form a band. It was serendipity!"
Having been told as a child: "You’re not black, you’re coloured!", the singer decided her stage surname would be Black.
"Slogans like 'Black is beautiful' were everywhere, but my family still called everyone who was a different colour 'coloured',’ she recalls. "So I thought: 'I will change my name to Black by deed poll.'"
The Selecter notched up a string of hits, including "Three-Minute Hero", "On My Radio" and "Missing Words", but the original line-up, noted for their thrilling live shows, soon parted ways.
"There’s an old Jamaican expression: 'Two bulls can’t rule in one pen', and we had two bulls!" says Black. "There were different ideas about what direction the band should go in."
Based on her memoir, the film also reflects the turbulent times during which the 2-Tone movement was formed, as well as the racism and sexism Black faced as a black female lead singer and subsequently a broadcaster and actor.
Forty-five years on, while progress has been made, there’s more to do, she says. "The conversation has started — but it’s not the end of the journey!"
Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story will air on Sky Arts on Wednesday April 16 at 9 pm.
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