Paperback of Original Rude Boy out soon

The paperback of Original Rude Boy will be published in the spring of 2010.  My mole tells me that there will be plenty of tales from the recent Specials tour while Jerry Dammers will be faded out earlier in the story. 

When the hardback came out in March 2009, it seemed that Dammers' row with the band might overshadow the tour.  The air was thick with talk of legal action and so on.  But with the huge success of the tour, it seems we can all now move on from that episode.

The front cover of the paperback will be white in contrast to the black cover of the hardback.  And rumour has it....Amy Winehouse will be writing a new intro. 

Neville at the Notting Hill book signing for Original Rude Boy

Notting Hill Waterstone's - books run out at signing

Neville signed so many books at the Notting Hill Waterstone's - they ran out.  I was there to see shop staff phoning the Piccadilly store to see if they could get some more copies sent over.  In the end, Neville got in a cab, went down to Piccadilly and signed some more copies there.  There was a huge turnout for a Nottingham signing with fans queueing round the block.  The original rude boy has never been so popular!

Notting Hill book signing this week - Wednesday 25th November

Neville Staple Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to the "Specials"- A Life in Crime and Music
WATERSTONE'S NOTTING HILL GATE Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
Come and meet 2-tone legend and singer with the band, The Specials as he signs copies of his book, 'Original Rude Boy' at the store.
Further details: 0207 229 9444

Book signings bring in huge crowds

Neville has been doing book signings at HMV stores and Waterstone's stores the length and breadth of Britain.  Notting Hill gets the treatment this week.  The time for the signings was moved forward from 1pm as Nev's been gigging most nights with The Specials or his own band and getting up at the crack of dawn to get to a bookstore was wearing him out.  So he's shipped up at 3pm to write his name in fans' copies of 'Original Rude Boy' - which has, according to my mole, made a tidy profit in hardback.  Unusual in publishing these days. 

HMV book signings

If you haven't caught Nev at one of the current signings, catch him soon.


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Amy Winehouse to write Neville Staple intro???

Rumour mill grinding again.  This time - can there be any truth to the rumour that Amy Winehouse is going to write the intro to the paperback version of Neville's "Original Rude Boy" biography - due out in the spring of next year.  Keep your eyes and ears open for more on this little story......she did present him with an award at the Q magazine bash last month.

Look out for book signings during Specials tour...

The Original Rude Boy is likely to be at your local HMV or Waterstone's over the next few weeks - especially if the Specials are gigging nearby.  Check out your local store.  He's already been doing a few signings and queues have gone round the block.  Make sure you don't miss out on a chance to get your hardback copy signed.

Neville in The Sun today - with Amy Winehouse

Neville Staple has picked up a gong from Q magazine presented by Amy Winehouse who was sporting a fine pair of Q stickers in an appropriate place.  Rumour has it, he's recording with her in the near future.  And she may write the intro to the paperback version of his biography 'Original Rude Boy'. 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2702480/Special-of-the-day-for-Neville-Staples-after-winning-The-Q-Inspiration-Award.html

Interview in Primrose Hill Park

Neville Staple and Trevor Evans were interviewed in Primrose Hill Park, Coventry this weekend just gone about the big fight they had with local skinheads there back in the early 1970s. 

Book signings for Original Rude Boy

Get down to your local HMV on these dates!!!


Monday 2 November - 1.00pm - signing only


hmv Scarborough - 109 Westborough, Scarborough, YO11 1LD - tel: 01723

379 986



Wednesday 4 November - 1.00pm - signing only

hmv Blackpool - Unit 1, Tower Shopping Centre, Bank Hey Street,

Blackpool, FY1 4RZ - tel: 01253 291393



Saturday 7 November - 1.00pm - signing only

hmv Thanet - Unit 9A, The Fort, Westwood Cross, Margate Road,

Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 2BF - tel: 01843 609 790



Monday 9 November - 1.00pm - signing only

hmv Wolverhampton - 8 The Gallery, Mander Square, Wolverhampton, WV1 3NJ

- tel: 01902 429 978



Thursday 12 November - 1.00pm - signing only

hmv Edinburgh Princess St. - 129/130 Princes Street, Edinburgh,

Scotland, EH2 4AH - tel: 0131 225 7008



Thursday 19 November - 1.00pm - signing only

hmv Brighton Churchill - 48-50, Churchill Square Shopping Centre,

Brighton, BN1 2RG - tel: 01273 749919

Coventry skinhead reunion

Down at the London Road social club, a load of former skinheads from the 1970s got together this weekend just gone.  They included a lot of blokes Neville knew back in the day like Bri Falconer and Nasty Norman - both mentioned in his biography 'Original Rude Boy'.  Back in the early 70s, Neville and his mates ambushed some of these skinheads in a huge fight that's referred to in ska lore as the 'Battle of Primrose Hill Park'.  Unfortunately, Falconer was stabbed and badly injured.  But these days, strange to say, they're all best of buddies - rude boys and boot boys.  Though Nev and his rude boy friends were not at the reunion.  However, one famous black face from Coventry in the 70s was there - none other than Dancing Danny.  The man who was DJ at the Locarno before Pete Waterman took over the turntables.  A good time was had by all we here.

Skinheads of the world unite!

We hear that some of the Coventry skinheads mentioned in Neville's biography are meeting up this month for a reunion.  The 1970s skins include blokes like Nasty Norman, Bri Faulkner and Hatchet who are mentioned in 'Original Rude Boy'.  Although Nev and his gang had some nasty fights with them - most notably in Primrose Hill Park in 1972 where one of the skins got stabbed badly - they are now all good mates.  Seems time can be a healer after all.

Calling all Japanese publishers....!

We hear that Neville is dying to get his book translated in to Japanese and on the bookshelves in Tokyo and Osaka.  He's got quite a fan base in Japan where his Special Beat combo has toured over and over again.  They're very keen on ska in Japan.  The Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra has something like 600,000 views for its songs on YouTube.  And when they dress the part of rude boys and rude girls, they really go for it.  Even some of the old Jamaican ska bands tour in Japan, guaranteed a good audience.  It's not just a kitschy thing - they really know their ska over there.  So, here's hoping that 'Original Rude Boy' gets translated and flogged in the land of the rising sun.

Little bit of trouble at Luton gig...

Neville Staple, Pauline Black and The Beat were playing in Luton last Saturday at an open air gig which was very well attended.  But things got a big out of hand when security guards started throwing members of the audience around like they were rag dolls.  Staple stood with the audience and using his mike urged the security guards to calm down.  It did look for a while like a good old fashioned ruck - 80s style - was about to break out.  But the whole thing calmed down.  Still, there's a lot of youth unrest out there at the moment - is this a sign of things to come?  Our mole tells us that Coventry boxer Errol Christie was in the audience - he's about to bring out his biography hot on the heels of Neville's "Original Rude Boy".  Let's how that reads.  There may be some overlap as the guys hung around in some of the same places though Christie is a decade younger. 

£1.5m going in to Neville Staple movie - breaking news

My spies tell me that the planned Neville Staple movie has a £1.5m backer and production will start in a few months - probably early 2010.  Anybody who has details - drop us a line.  The rights to the movie have been held by EMU Films and the screenwriter is Tony McMahon.  More than that - we know nothing.  All gossip gratefully received.

Neville makes waves down under in NZ

Neville has done some TV and press interviews around his new biography in New Zealand.  But I understand the great man has his sights fixed on Japan where he'd like his book to be translated, sooner rather than later.  Anyway - here's a review from NZ:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102002829286

Mojo review of Original Rude Boy

Mojo has given Original Rude Boy a big thumbs up calling the book "fascinating but harrowing". It praises the author for giving an honest insight in to a life that was tough, uncompromsing and including a spell behind bars. Let's hope that bumps up the sales further. My mole in publishing tells me the hardbacks have outsold another ska tome I won't mention here.

Movie on Neville Staple

News on the grapevine that a movie which includes Neville Staple's character is in development. It also includes Errol Christie - the Coventry boxer. "Ghost Town" is being produced by EMU Films and I'm told that the budget will be around four million quid. Not bad for a British flick - chicken feed for Hollywood of course. My industry sources tell me that it will be set to a ska soundtrack and be set in the Coventry of the 1980s. I'll keep you posted.

Neville back in the UK!

After his little brush with the forces of law and order in Jamaica - Neville returned to the UK on Monday, 22nd June. To clarify - he was "detained" and not arrested in Jamaica. No charges have been pressed. Interestingly, USA Today ran the story as did a few online blogs and of course, the mighty Coventry Evening Telegraph.

Jah Baddis comeback?

Ex-Specials roadie Trevor Evans and Neville Staple have been doing DJ sets together after recent gigs giving rise to speculation that their old sound system - Jah Baddis - might re-surface. Readers of the holy book - I refer to Original Rude Boy of course - will know that Jah Baddis was the sound system set up by Nev and Trev back in the 1970s. They had a residency - well, that's a rather grand way of putting it - at the Holyhead youth club....where Nev later bumped in to the Coventry Automatics (who subsequently became The Specials). Anyway - Nev the toaster and Trev the selecter seem to be itching to re-live old times and why not? Nev's done a cracking job with The Specials gigs so now let's salute the genius of Jah Baddis.

Update on Neville's arrest

The Coventry Evening Telegraph ran a piece today - http://tinyurl.com/ng5yn6 By all accounts, Neville wasn't too bothered with the press coverage though my Fleet Street mole tells me that The Times pulled a piece that was going to be in their "People" column. I don't know why. Meanwhile in Montego Bay, Neville is waiting to be let out of the country - Saturday is the predicated departure day - and he's missed a couple of Neville Staple Band gigs as a result of this episode. Next week, the great man will be treading the boards at the 100 Club on Oxford Street with The Specials. A kind of pre-Glastonbury warm up act. I'm told you can't get tickets for love or money and don't even think of a guest list.

Neville Staple arrested in Jamaica

Proving that he's still seen as one big rude boy - Neville Staple was arrested this week at Montego Bay airport. He phoned friends to say that he was strip searched and then taken to a local hospital to be X-rayed. Cops found nothing on him and no charges pressed. But he's stuck in Jamaica till Saturday this week. As a result, he's missed two Neville Staple Band gigs. The great man is reportedly furious at the way he's been treated.

Are American 'Third Wave' bands really ska?

Chapter ten in Neville Staple's book 'Original Rude Boy' talks about the so-called Third Wave of ska - bands like Rancid and No Doubt that came out of the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. But I've heard plenty of 2Tone purists say to me that...well...are these bands REALLY ska outfits? They don't look like it. They don't sound like it. So they can't be ska bands at all.

But then you can say - well, The Specials and The Beat developed the sound of earlier Jamaican ska combos - and music should never fossilize. All musical genres need to develop and grow. The US Third Wave bands are just as ska as the 2Tone groups that influenced them a quarter of a century ago.

On balance - I think the 'Third Wave' is a legitimate extension of ska. That many of those who sneer at it are stuck in a nostalgic time warp. And it alienates many American ska fans to discover that fans in the UK look down their noses at them. After all, Neville produced and played with Rancid, No Doubt and Unwritten Law - was he mistaken to do so?

The Death of 2 Tone

Why did 2 Tone die?

In Neville's book "Original Rude Boy", the blame is put on bubblegum pop. Pauline Black, lead singer of the Selecter recalls going to the Chrysalis record company headquarters in 1981 only to find they had turned their back on 2 Tone.

Everybody was dressed as New Romantics - Spandau Ballet was now the record bosses' favourite band. She says in the book that 2 Tone had fallen off the ionosphere. And she alleges that this was the end of political pop. Maybe it was the riots that saw cities burn in the summer of 1981 that put the British pop industry off 2 Tone. They wanted something safer - less contentious. There's no doubt that twenty five years later, we have pop that is so bland - it says nothing to anybody.

So are we really dooomed to Pop Idol pap for ever or can something like 2 Tone emerge?

Neville Staple in the Metro

In case you missed Neville Staple featured in London's Metro newspaper - click or copy the link and read: http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/interviews/article.html?Rude_Boy_Neville_still_in_with_the_ladies&in_article_id=628418&in_page_id=11

Nev was also featured in a great article in the Daily Star written by Oi music expert Garry Bushell - all about Nev's ongoing womanizing. Very funny and I understand Mr Staple found it amusing.

Oh dear, somebody doesn't like Original Rude Boy

There's a review of Neville Staple's biography on the 2Tone website (written by somebody who obviously loved Horace Panter's drier tome on The Specials) which makes the most bizarre critique you can imagine of Nev.

Nothing to do with his music, voice or role in 2Tone. No - there's a long moan about the fact that Nev admits that when he was five years old, he used to torture animals. Now - I'm not condoning that. But he was five. This was the late 1950s in Jamaica. And he's making a point about his rough upbringing. But this guy decides that on the basis of that and later in his teens working in a slaughterhouse (well, there were three million unemployed at the time and you took what jobs you could get), Nev is a very bad man and his book is not to be read lest you become an animal torturer yourself!

Then we have a moan about Neville admitting that he was a burglar. And he did time in borstal. But because he says burglaries were "exhilarating" - that drives our reviewer on 2Tone nuts. Again, Neville was a rude boy - what do you expect? He says Nev is glorifying burglary. That's like saying - don't watch the Godfather in case you end up supporting the mafia.

Original Rude Boy finally shows the black British influence on 2Tone and some white folk don't like it. They don't take the sound system scene that Nev came from seriously because sound system DJs didn't pluck guitars. But I for one am glad Mr Staple has finally put pen to paper and upset the right people.