In 1977 Horace Panter was recruited by fellow art student Jerry Dammers, at Coventry’s Lanchester Polytechnic to join his band The Automatics.  The band became The Specials. They led the British ska revival of the late 1970s and created the highly influential 2 Tone Record label. Their hybrid of old school Jamaican dance music, punk attitude, ant-racism stance and social awareness made them one of the most revered bands in the history of popular music.

Horace Panter is still playing bass with The Specials who reformed in 2008 after the band acrimoniously imploded in 1981 when their classic single ‘Ghost Town’ was top of the charts.